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Yellow feet
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:
--- Quote ---would it be identifiable at hatch or later?
--- End quote ---
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
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