Buff Orpington - Yellow legs

[peptowishboon]

I have a buff Orpington rooster. (Mix though because he has yellow legs instead of pink)

If I breed him with my Buff Orpington hens, what would likly be my outcome?

 

[sourland]

Depending upon the mix or whether, even, he is a Buff Rock some birds with and others without proper colored legs.

 

[peptowishboon]

Ok perfect . Thank you.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Yellow shanks are recessive to pinkish/white shanks, so, assuming your hens are pure and do not carry a yellow shank gene, you should get all pinkish-legged offspring, all carrying the gene for yellow shanks. The problem lies in that then you then have birds with a recessive gene that will pop back up in future generations, and since it is a recessive gene and thus birds can be carrying it without you knowing until suddenly their offspring have that recessive trait, it's a whole lot of trouble to breed that out of a line. If you're just breeding them for fun and don't plan to sell them as pure Buff Orpingtons, then that's not really a problem. But, if you do want to breed and sell pure Buff Orpingtons, you should consider replacing your male with a pure Buff Orpington male instead.

 

[peptowishboon]

Yellow shanks are recessive to pinkish/white shanks, so, assuming your hens are pure and do not carry a yellow shank gene, you should get all pinkish-legged offspring, all carrying the gene for yellow shanks. The problem lies in that then you then have birds with a recessive gene that will pop back up in future generations, and since it is a recessive gene and thus birds can be carrying it without you knowing until suddenly their offspring have that recessive trait, it's a whole lot of trouble to breed that out of a line. If you're just breeding them for fun and don't plan to sell them as pure Buff Orpingtons, then that's not really a problem. But, if you do want to breed and sell pure Buff Orpingtons, you should consider replacing your male with a pure Buff Orpington male instead.

Thank you!!! That is very helpful. We’re definitely going to plan to replace him.