Leghorns are built light on purpose
A Leghorn chicken is a specialist: a light-framed, energetic layer that turns a modest ration into a remarkable number of white eggs. Feed her like a heavy table breed and the specialist suffers, because surplus energy in a Leghorn goes to internal fat rather than to useful size. The Mediterranean build, upright tail, tight feathering, and constant motion are your baseline; anything that dulls them deserves a feeding review. Among common breeds, Leghorns forgive overfeeding least visibly until laying drops.
Hands-on signs on the keel and abdomen
Handle a Leghorn at roosting time, when she is calm, and run a finger along her keel. On a well-fed bird the keel is easy to feel with a thin, even covering; on an overfed one it sits buried between pads of fat, and the abdomen behind it feels soft, rounded, and full. From the side, an overweight Leghorn loses her wedge outline, looking deep and low through the body, and she pants and rests in shade through hours when her sisters are still scratching. Weighing a few birds against breed expectations helps, but the keel and abdomen check needs no equipment and works tonight.
Laying and ranging behaviour give her away
A Leghorn flock fed too much reveals itself in the nest boxes and across the run. Laying tails off without the excuse of moult, short days, or age, and the birds spend prime foraging hours sitting near the feeder instead of working the ground. Scratch grains and scraps scattered generously teach Leghorns to wait for deliveries, so the run stays unworked, insects survive, and the flock's fitness slides further. Feed left in the hopper at dusk, day after day, is direct evidence the ration offered exceeds what light layers need.
Pullets, layers, and older Leghorns differ
Judge a Leghorn against her phase, because a growing pullet needs a fuller ration than a mature hen, yet can still be made too fat before she ever lays. Excess condition in pullets delays and disrupts the start of lay, so growers should look growing, not finished. In lay, match feed to production and weather, since cold snaps raise honest appetite while heat lowers it, and a fixed scoop through both invites surplus in summer. Older Leghorns that have finished productive laying fatten fastest of all on a layer ration they no longer earn, and pet birds retired from laying do best on measured, plainer feeding.
Bringing a Leghorn flock back to condition
Cut a Leghorn flock's extras first: scratch, bread, and kitchen scraps are where light layers gain their weight. Keep proper layer feed available in amounts the flock cleans up by evening, feed it before any treat at all, and scatter nothing they have not earned by ranging. Encourage movement with a larger or rotated run, perches and features that reward exploring, and water placed away from the feeder. Recheck keels monthly and watch lay recover gradually. Consult a veterinarian if a Leghorn has a swollen, fluid-feeling abdomen, persistent laying stoppage with straining, laboured breathing, or sudden deaths in the pen, because those signs exceed a feeding fix.
Assigning the Leghorn hopper fill to one person in KinsLe Care Teams, with the amount written down and completion logged, ends the top-up habit that fattens light layers.