Leghorn Chicken (Gallus domesticus)

Description:
Leghorns are active, even ambitious chickens. On range they are splendid foragers and small eaters. The breed is prolific, highly fertile, and hardy. Leghorn chickens lay very large numbers of white eggs – in fact, they lay as well or better than other breeds. It is the combination of hardiness, rate-of-lay, and small appetite that turned Americanpoultrymen’s heads and won the Leghorn chicken lasting popularity

Habitat:
Farms.

Status:
Common.

In Northern Italy, near the port of Leghorn, were found a type of fowl, known as Livornese, that were smallish in body, but which lay a lot of eggs. In 1852, Captain Gates entered the harbor at Mystic, CT, and arrived with the first importation of Leghorn chickens that were to be ancestors of today’s flocks.