ISA Brown with one blue leg

[Es_In_Miami]

I have a chicken with an extra toe on one leg. Just one bird with characteristics of two breeds. Stranger things have been known to happen. Although bi-colored legs is pretty curious. I hope it's just aesthetic and nothing medical. Looking forward to learning how this develops. Fingers crossed for your chick.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hello fellow poultry people! I have a very strange pullet that I acquired at a few days old from a tractor supply. When I first brought her home she had two yellow legs and recently her leg started to turn blue. She is walking fine and the leg appears healthy. I have scoured the internet and a few books but have found nothing. She was labeled as an ISA brown which I believe to be true. I’m just dumbfounded. The tint is only on her one leg.
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I would say it's genetics, but I don't know genetics.
@keesmom @nicalandia or @Gray Farms may be able to give you more info.

Her eyes are interesting as well. She's young, so likely they will change colors maybe to Bay or somewhere in between. I've had green eyed BR and they end up with Bay eyes.

 

[NatJ]

Well I have around twenty of them and I just noticed this today. I’m not sure if it gradually happened or not but it was not that color a few weeks ago.

I would say it's genetics, but I don't know genetics.

I would not say it's genetics unless it persists for at least a few weeks. Right now, I think it's more likely to be a bruise or a circulation problem, because the genetics of leg color usually affect both legs equally. On second thought, probably not a circulation problem, because the toes all look normally-colored, and a circulation problem should affect toes more than the shank, not less.

 

[Gray Farms]

Genetic fluke I'd say. I've seen a few cases like this "not personally in my birds though". It doesn't seem to be passed onto further generations.

 

[21hens-incharge]

I have a starlight green layer with legs just like that. I find it fascinating.
I noticed it when mine was about 6 weeks old. She is over a year now.

 

[BunnyEberhart]

I have a starlight green layer with legs just like that. I find it fascinating.
I noticed it when mine was about 6 weeks old. She is over a year now.

Oh! Could you post a photo? I would love to see her legs! Please if you are ok with it that is.

 

[preciouschick]

Hello fellow poultry people! I have a very strange pullet that I acquired at a few days old from a tractor supply. When I first brought her home she had two yellow legs and recently her leg started to turn blue. She is walking fine and the leg appears healthy. I have scoured the internet and a few books but have found nothing. She was labeled as an ISA brown which I believe to be true. I’m just dumbfounded. The tint is only on her one leg.
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Found this on the internet. The picture is from the writers web page.
Hen coloring and leg color - Janicki Buttercups
Also note the leg color difference between the two birds: Buttercups are required to have willow green legs, and the hen to the right clearly has slaty blue legs. Why is this acceptable? Well let us first examine what causes leg color in chickens.

There are several different leg colors in the chicken world, including white, yellow, blue, and green. The willow green of the Buttercup leg color is caused by a very dark under color, with an overlay of yellow skin. A slaty blue leg is caused by a bird with the same under color, but white skin, such as a Polish.

Like all Mediterranean breeds, Buttercups are bred primarily for egg production, and are required to have yellow skin. Their yellow skin provides them with yellow pigment to supply to their egg yolks during egg production. While they are laying, hens begin to go through a bleaching process as all the yellow pigment in their skin is used up. Eventually, all their skin bleaches to white, and the dark under color of their legs shines through as slaty blue.

The hen on the right has been laying for several months now, and the yellow skin on her legs has bleached to white, causing her legs to turn from green to blue. The pullet in the center has just started laying, and still has plenty of yellow pigment in her skin.

 

[preciouschick]

Found this on the internet. The picture is from the writers web page.
Hen coloring and leg color - Janicki Buttercups
Also note the leg color difference between the two birds: Buttercups are required to have willow green legs, and the hen to the right clearly has slaty blue legs. Why is this acceptable? Well let us first examine what causes leg color in chickens.

There are several different leg colors in the chicken world, including white, yellow, blue, and green. The willow green of the Buttercup leg color is caused by a very dark under color, with an overlay of yellow skin. A slaty blue leg is caused by a bird with the same under color, but white skin, such as a Polish.

Like all Mediterranean breeds, Buttercups are bred primarily for egg production, and are required to have yellow skin. Their yellow skin provides them with yellow pigment to supply to their egg yolks during egg production. While they are laying, hens begin to go through a bleaching process as all the yellow pigment in their skin is used up. Eventually, all their skin bleaches to white, and the dark under color of their legs shines through as slaty blue.

The hen on the right has been laying for several months now, and the yellow skin on her legs has bleached to white, causing her legs to turn from green to blue. The pullet in the center has just started laying, and still has plenty of yellow pigment in her skin.

maybe it has some genetics to the hens in my reply. just a thought. it would explain the greenish blue leg.

 

[21hens-incharge]

Oh! Could you post a photo? I would love to see her legs! Please if you are ok with it that is.

She is pretty skittish. I will see if I can get a hand holding her for a picture today.
I figure with the starlight green layer being a mixed breed my birds weirdness is due to genetics.

 

[nicalandia]

She could be a chimera.

If she is a true ISA Brown then even if she is a genetic Chimera both of her shanks would have been Yellow as neither of her parents have slate shanks