The Official Forum of the Ameraucana Breeders Club > Ameraucana Marketplace

Leg color in chicks

<< < (3/5) > >>

Guest:
Can someone provide a synonym for the willow color?  For example, sage could be considered green.  Or mauve a form of purple.  Or turquoise a form of blue or green depending on the area the stone came from.

Guest:

--- Quote from: DevilsThoughts ---Some chicks are born with willow or yellow legs.  They acquire the slate after some period of time (varies).
--- End quote ---


In this statement, I\'m using willow and yellow interchangebly as the same.  I\'ve always considered willow to be a dingy yellow.  Not the bright yellow that you would find on a White Leghorn, for example, but more of a mottled, dingy yellowish, greenish, slatish look.  Sort of a blend of yellow, green, and slate together.

Does somebody have a different definition of willow?

Guest:

willow is a color description based on the willow tree. the tree has is a light yellowish greenish bark on it\'s branches, therfore willow is a light greenish-yellowish color, hard to describe any other way..but I tend to also call the ones with darker green \"willow\" or green legged, and the lighter ones with distinct yellow, \"willow\" or yellow legged, so it is easy to get confused as the the exact shades, but all are generally conciderd as \"willow\".
we tend to have a problem with the willow showing up, mainly because our fondation stock was hatchery easter eggers, that had willow leggs..even after many generations, with much improved breeding, the willow will still pop up, even from nice legged parents...it is perhaps the hardest flaw to breed out, and who knows? it may well never be totally gone
I am sure to tell folks this as I don\'t want them surprised when their very nice birds start producing some not so mice chicks.

One thing I learned in birds, way more so than anyother animal I raised, it is extreemly hard to get a nice showable baby from the parents, even nice show birds!! the ratio is not so good. the best bet is to hatch in large numbers to get a few choice birds to show.
{this is not just for Ameraucanas, ALL breeds tend to have this problem}

John:

--- Quote ---willow and yellow interchangeably
--- End quote ---

They are not the same, but yellow is present in willow.
Keep in mind the shank color comes from the colors of both the dermis and epidermis, plus other genes that can be involved (but we won\'t go there).  The colors or lack of them in these two layers together make the shank color.
Here is the way Jeffrey charts shank/leg color, on page 22, of BANTAM CHICKENS:

Shank             Dermis         Epidermis
white                   none            none
yellow                 yellow           yellow
green (willow)      black             yellow
blue                     black            none
slate (light black)  none            black
horn                     none             horn
black                    black            black

I am not familiar with horn, but the rest are ones that I have had to deal with.

Guest:
OK, so everyone considers willow and yellow as two separate colors.  That\'s fine.  I just lumped them together as both \"yellow colored\", or yellow.

My real point wasn\'t really a debate on willow color, but that the colors do sometimes change.  My blacks with the flesh-toned toes turn completely black by the second or third week.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page