Yellow feet

[dak]

Can you tell at hatch if a bird is going to have yellow feet?  I\'m having difficulty.  Likely just paranonia, but if this cockerel is throwing it he needs to go bye-bye.

[Jean]

What variety birds are you referring to?

The yellow skin gene is recessive, so you would have to have two birds (or more) in your flock to create offspring with yellow skin.

[dak]

Lav Ameraucana to a lav split Ameraucana.  That\'s my concern.

[Jean]

I don\'t think that line would carry yellow skin.  I believe all the birds used to create the lavenders had white skin.

I have not seen it in any of my birds and I have lines from John, and Harry.

The only concern would be if the lav splits came from an unknown black line.

[dak]

Thanks Jean, but if it would pop up, would it be identifiable at hatch or later?

[Jean]

I would imagine it would be really hard to see at hatch time.
I think it would be pretty difficult to catch on a slate or black shanked chick.  

You would see it by the time they were 4-6 weeks of age though.

[John]

would it be identifiable at hatch or later?

On blacks, blues, lavenders, splash & whites (E based varieties) the pads should show flesh (pinkish) color at hatch.  Try to cull for any yellowish pads early with these varieties.
 
 

[Mike Gilbert]

In a word, no, you can\'t tell at hatch if a bird will have yellow feet or not.   It can and often does change.  The same goes for eye color.

[dak]

Well, this will be a learning experience then.  I am comparing their bottoms of their feet to my LF cochins that hatched at the same time.  While they are not as yellow as the Cochins, they do not appear to be pink/white.  Time will tell I suppose.  When I was trying to cull cockerels last fall, Mr. Smith mentioned that yellow pads were something to check for.  I am new to this and don\'t have a feel for how often these faults can crop up.  Since the lavender (self-blue) variety is on the new side I am trying to be critical and watch for disqualifying faults that might no longer be a problem in the recognized varieties

[grisaboy]

Mark the ones that look suspicious to you.  You can use different color zip ties or some other method.  When they get older you will be able to tell if they have yellow feet and skin.  If they do, then you will know what to look for in future hatches so you can cull them early and save some feed.  Also keep track of which parents these came from.  If you are getting chicks with yellow feet, then the parents carry these genes also (It is recessive to white and won\'t be obvious).

Caution here.
If you only have a few breeders, or your best birds carry genes for yellow feet, you might not want to get rid of them too quickly.  Instead, hatch a lot, cull the chicks with yellow feet.  Raise up the best of the white footed ones, and test mate them to test for yellow feet.  Some of them will be pure for white feet and you will want to keep these for your breeding program.

Test for yellow feet/skin gene by breeding to a yellow skin breed. (your cochins would work).  You only need to hatch a few.  If any chicks have yellow feet then you have proved the bird you are testing is a carrier of the yellow skin gene. If all of the test chicks hatched have white feet, you can be reasonably certain that they are pure.  

Curtis

[dak]

Makes sense.  This is a single cockerel and pullet I\'ve been hatching from so I know exactly who to watch.

[Anne Foley]

If I culled every chick that had yellow foot pads, there would be next to no Ameraucanas on my property.  I have been keeping a close eye on this issue and yellow on a chick\'s foot is not an indication of future yellow feet/shanks in adults, at least not in my birds. If you are concerned and want to cull anyway, that is fine. If you would like to cull early but don\'t want to make a mistake and get rid of something good, look at around 8 weeks.  It there is still yellow on the foot pads at 8 weeks, that\'s a bad sign. Pigment migration during development is complicated and it pays to be patient.

[greeneggsandham]

Anne, I\'m glad you posted that.  I also see yellow pads on chicks that later turn to flesh or white color with age.  I don\'t hatch large numbers so don\'t cull early except for issues like split wings and lack of muffs.
 Also, I hatched some eggs bought from a woman who also raises Ameraucanas in order to get some newer blood in here.  I was getting very poor hatch rates and thinking maybe my birds were too closely related.  And I needed some good eye color.  Her chicks (and I did see her breeders who looked very nice) all hatched with varying amounts of yellow/willow shanks with black and/or slate.  Two colors on the shanks.  Now the ones I did keep did end up with the correct color several weeks later.  I haven\'t seen this before on any of my chicks I have hatched, so can someone tell me if this is ok and similar to yellowish feet turning the correct color later?

[John]

I also see yellow pads on chicks that later turn to flesh or white color with age.

On \"E\" based chicks the pads should be flesh color when they hatch.  Yes, some that look yellowish at hatch may not look yellow as they grow.  This is all the more reason to cull them as day-old chicks if you don\'t want to see it in future generations.  
I\'ve noticed this more in the bantam blacks than large fowl.
As Curtis pointed out once you know what phenotype to look for you can cull very early and save on feed.  

[dak]

Opened up a can of worms did I?