Chicken feet change colours

[Paz]

I have a few leghorn hens, and they used to have whitish feet, and now their feet are bright yellow.
My cock used to half bright yellow feet, and now they’re orange brown.
Is that a normal thing? They look fine, and they act fine.

 

[azygous]

Do you have a lot of iron in your soil? Is it reddish?

Does this discoloration extend up the legs , as well?

 

[Eggcessive]

Some leg color can change or fade with seasons, and hen’s leg color changes in their laying cycles, and age.

 

[NatJ]

I have a few leghorn hens, and they used to have whitish feet, and now their feet are bright yellow.

That is perfectly normal.

For chickens that naturally have yellow legs (like Leghorns), the legs get very yellow when they are not laying. But when they are laying eggs regularly, their body puts the yellow into egg yolks and not into their skin, so the legs fade.

It's predictable enough that people have used it when selectively breeding good layers: the ones with the palest legs have laid the most eggs in the past few months.

I'm thinking yours probably had the whitish feet while they were actively laying last summer, and now they've had a molt and a nice break that let their legs turn yellow. It takes quite a while (weeks or months) for the legs to fully change color, so you don't see it right away when they start or stop laying.

(What I said above applies to chicken breeds who naturally have yellow skin. Breeds with white skin still lay eggs with yellow yolks, but their skin does not turn yellow when they quit laying.)

My cock used to half bright yellow feet, and now they’re orange brown.

I don't know for sure about him.

The amount of yellow (male or female) can also change if their food has a different amount of yellow pigment. For example, if the feed company uses white corn in the recipe and then changes to yellow corn, the chickens' legs might change color over the next few weeks or months.

Roosters with white legs often show some pink or red in the legs (from blood vessels under the skin), and that can change from one season to another. Maybe the same mechanism could make yellow legs look different colored too?

And of course dirty legs is another possible explanation, as someone else already suggested.

Is that a normal thing? They look fine, and they act fine.

If they look fine and act fine, they probably are fine.

 

[Paz]

Y

Do you have a lot of iron in your soil? Is it reddish?

Does this discoloration extend up the legs , as well?

Yes, and yes. How did you know that?

 

[Paz]

That is perfectly normal.

For chickens that naturally have yellow legs (like Leghorns), the legs get very yellow when they are not laying. But when they are laying eggs regularly, their body puts the yellow into egg yolks and not into their skin, so the legs fade.

It's predictable enough that people have used it when selectively breeding good layers: the ones with the palest legs have laid the most eggs in the past few months.

I'm thinking yours probably had the whitish feet while they were actively laying last summer, and now they've had a molt and a nice break that let their legs turn yellow. It takes quite a while (weeks or months) for the legs to fully change color, so you don't see it right away when they start or stop laying.

(What I said above applies to chicken breeds who naturally have yellow skin. Breeds with white skin still lay eggs with yellow yolks, but their skin does not turn yellow when they quit laying.)


I don't know for sure about him.

The amount of yellow (male or female) can also change if their food has a different amount of yellow pigment. For example, if the feed company uses white corn in the recipe and then changes to yellow corn, the chickens' legs might change color over the next few weeks or months.

Roosters with white legs often show some pink or red in the legs (from blood vessels under the skin), and that can change from one season to another. Maybe the same mechanism could make yellow legs look different colored too?

And of course dirty legs is another possible explanation, as someone else already suggested.


If they look fine and act fine, they probably are fine.

Thanks a lot. Your answer was very informative.

 

[azygous]

Red soil would make yellow legs appear orange, if the dust is clinging to the feet and legs. It would make while legs appear yellowish to pinkish. If this is the cause, dipping these legs and feet into a pail of warm water with some dish soap will tell you. The legs would wash clean and revert back to normal color.

If washing the legs and feet doesn't change the color back to normal, then the cause would be hormonal as the others have suggested.

 

[Paz]

Red soil would make yellow legs appear orange, if the dust is clinging to the feet and legs. It would make while legs appear yellowish to pinkish. If this is the cause, dipping these legs and feet into a pail of warm water with some dish soap will tell you. The legs would wash clean and revert back to normal color.

If washing the legs and feet doesn't change the color back to normal, then the cause would be hormonal as the others have suggested.

Thanks mate!

 

[Paz]

I think that’s something people who raise chickens should know, I never heard of it before, so it was strange, I bet others were wondering about this phenomenon as well. Almost all my previous birds had blue or gray legs and feet, and they never had their colours change.
Well you learn something new every day.