A Leghorn move looks simple — chickens travel in a crate and the paperwork fits in one folder — but that folder does real work. Leghorns are kept in flocks, recorded as flocks, and regulated as poultry by address, and a white Leghorn is almost indistinguishable from her flockmates, so the written record is the only reliable way to know which hen has which history. Updating it properly after a move means the address, the flock registration, and each bird's banded identity all point at the new garden at the same time.
Flock registration and the rules at the new address
Registration comes first because poultry rules are written per property. Check the new address against local ordinances and any neighbourhood covenants on backyard chickens: hen limits, whether roosters are banned, coop setback distances, and permit requirements all change between addresses, and your flock file should hold the rule you checked, not just your memory of the old garden's. Update any premises identification or flock registration connected with disease-control records, and register the new premises if your area requires it, keeping the old registration until the new one is confirmed. If you moved rental properties, keep the landlord's written poultry permission in the flock file; a Leghorn's legality at the new address should be provable in one page.
Band numbers: the individual records inside a flock file
Individual records matter more for Leghorns than for almost any other breed, precisely because the birds match. Go through the flock with your notebook on moving week: read each hen's leg band number, note her age as far as you know it, her laying rhythm, and any health flags — the hen who laid thin shells at the old address, the one treated in a flock treatment, the flighty bird who needs watching at the new fence line. Restart the laying log under the new address so the post-move dip Leghorns typically show can be measured against her real pre-move output; these are high-production white-egg layers, and a hen who quietly stops laying is telling you something the flock total can hide. A band list tied to notes is what turns 'a Leghorn looks off' into 'band twelve, the thin-shell hen, is off again.'
Veterinary and flock health records
Health paperwork moves third. Update your veterinary practice with the new address, or find and register with one near the new home that will see poultry — many will advise on flock health even if they rarely treat individual hens, and the relationship should exist before a respiratory outbreak moves through a Leghorn flock. Transfer the flock health summary: past outbreaks, parasite control routine, any laboratory results, and the feed and supplement programme the flock runs on. Note the new property's health-relevant facts in the file too: wild bird pressure around the new garden, standing water, the neighbour's flock over the fence, since a change of disease neighbourhood is exactly what a future vet will ask about first.
Suppliers, sitters, and one current flock folder
Finish with the working details: feed and bedding delivery accounts updated to the new address, the egg-box or egg-sale arrangements if your address appears on them, and the name and number of the flock sitter who will work from this file, briefed on the new coop's latches and layout. Then retire the old paperwork properly — keep the old address on a cover sheet until each registration confirms, and replace the coop copy of the flock sheet with the new-address version so nobody works from stale details during a rushed evening lock-up. Held together as a KinsLe Pet Passport, the Leghorn flock's records form one portable packet, so vet calls, sitters, and any official query all meet the same current file.