It Has To Be The Environment

[Dimondca2]

I ordered 16 Cornish Cross from a breeder and gave 8 to my daughter. We fed, housed and treated our own 8 basically the same. At 6 weeks we brought them back together to finish growing in a tractor. However, my eight look different then hers. Mine have white legs hers has yellow. Mine are also smaller than hers. In the beginning, for about two weeks, I didn't have Meat bird food so I mixed Starter feed with Game bird feed (to average to the 24% needed). I finally put them on Meat bird feed only and continued to feed it to them until the small bag was gone which was about 2 weeks after they were supposed to be change to the lower % of protein feed. We both fed 12hrs on and 12hrs off. My tote that I had them in was smaller by about 8" in length. I know that I picked up mine and let mine play and forage outside a few times. We both had red lights for heat.
Could these things make a difference in skin color and size? She said mine looked funny. Not sure how but they do look different. I looked up white legs vs yellow and it kept saying that it was certain breeds but the same breed?

 

[NatJ]

I ordered 16 Cornish Cross from a breeder and gave 8 to my daughter. We fed, housed and treated our own 8 basically the same. At 6 weeks we brought them back together to finish growing in a tractor. However, my eight look different then hers. Mine have white legs hers has yellow. Mine are also smaller than hers. In the beginning, for about two weeks, I didn't have Meat bird food so I mixed Starter feed with Game bird feed (to average to the 24% needed). I finally put them on Meat bird feed only and continued to feed it to them until the small bag was gone which was about 2 weeks after they were supposed to be change to the lower % of protein feed. We both fed 12hrs on and 12hrs off. My tote that I had them in was smaller by about 8" in length. I know that I picked up mine and let mine play and forage outside a few times. We both had red lights for heat.
Could these things make a difference in skin color and size? She said mine looked funny. Not sure how but they do look different. I looked up white legs vs yellow and it kept saying that it was certain breeds but the same breed?

It sounds like you were feeding different food than she was for at least most of that time. I think that is probably what made the difference.

Leg color:
There are some breeds with white legs and some with yellow legs, caused by different genes for leg color.

But to have legs really look yellow, the chickens must also eat certain feeds. Things like green plants and yellow corn can help the legs be yellow. If hers ate a feed made with yellow corn, and yours ate a feed made with white corn, that might be enough to explain the difference in leg color. (Laying hens also tend to lose the yellow legs over time, because their bodies are putting the yellow into egg yolks instead of into their skin, and then their legs get yellow again when they stop laying to molt. But of course none of the chicks will be laying eggs, so that is not a factor here.)

Size:
I would have expected your food to be fine, but considering the differences in size, it probably did make a difference. Either that, or hers ate more than yours for some reason, even though both groups had the same feeding schedule.

Breed:
A different breed certainly could explain this, except that I can't see how you and she would have split the chicks that perfectly. Unless one or other of you did pick all the chicks with some particular trait (different shade of yellow, different size, or something.)

Males vs. females do grow a bit differently, with males being bigger at all ages, so the growth difference might happen if she had males and you had females. But that has the same problem as the two-breed explanation: how the chicks got sorted so neatly into the two groups. I suppose dividing by bold chicks vs. timid chicks might almost manage that, but it still seems unlikely.

 

[Perris]

If the chicks are roughly 6 weeks old (as seems to be what you're saying), the leg colour hasn't stabilized yet. There are multiple genes impacting shank colour, not all of them understood yet. Have a look at this page for example
https://scratchcradle.wordpress.com/2012/09/02/gms10-skin-and-shank-color/

 

[Dimondca2]

It sounds like you were feeding different food than she was for at least most of that time. I think that is probably what made the difference.

Leg color:
There are some breeds with white legs and some with yellow legs, caused by different genes for leg color.

But to have legs really look yellow, the chickens must also eat certain feeds. Things like green plants and yellow corn can help the legs be yellow. If hers ate a feed made with yellow corn, and yours ate a feed made with white corn, that might be enough to explain the difference in leg color. (Laying hens also tend to lose the yellow legs over time, because their bodies are putting the yellow into egg yolks instead of into their skin, and then their legs get yellow again when they stop laying to molt. But of course none of the chicks will be laying eggs, so that is not a factor here.)

Size:
I would have expected your food to be fine, but considering the differences in size, it probably did make a difference. Either that, or hers ate more than yours for some reason, even though both groups had the same feeding schedule.

Breed:
A different breed certainly could explain this, except that I can't see how you and she would have split the chicks that perfectly. Unless one or other of you did pick all the chicks with some particular trait (different shade of yellow, different size, or something.)

Males vs. females do grow a bit differently, with males being bigger at all ages, so the growth difference might happen if she had males and you had females. But that has the same problem as the two-breed explanation: how the chicks got sorted so neatly into the two groups. I suppose dividing by bold chicks vs. timid chicks might almost manage that, but it still seems unlikely.

It sounds like you were feeding different food than she was for at least most of that time. I think that is probably what made the difference.

Leg color:
There are some breeds with white legs and some with yellow legs, caused by different genes for leg color.

But to have legs really look yellow, the chickens must also eat certain feeds. Things like green plants and yellow corn can help the legs be yellow. If hers ate a feed made with yellow corn, and yours ate a feed made with white corn, that might be enough to explain the difference in leg color. (Laying hens also tend to lose the yellow legs over time, because their bodies are putting the yellow into egg yolks instead of into their skin, and then their legs get yellow again when they stop laying to molt. But of course none of the chicks will be laying eggs, so that is not a factor here.)

Size:
I would have expected your food to be fine, but considering the differences in size, it probably did make a difference. Either that, or hers ate more than yours for some reason, even though both groups had the same feeding schedule.

Breed:
A different breed certainly could explain this, except that I can't see how you and she would have split the chicks that perfectly. Unless one or other of you did pick all the chicks with some particular trait (different shade of yellow, different size, or something.)

Males vs. females do grow a bit differently, with males being bigger at all ages, so the growth difference might happen if she had males and you had females. But that has the same problem as the two-breed explanation: how the chicks got sorted so neatly into the two groups. I suppose dividing by bold chicks vs. timid chicks might almost manage that, but it still seems unlikely.

To fill in some more info...the combs were also white not just the feet. When my daughter said mine looked weird she was referring to the lack of feathers covering my chickens body. Hers looked a bit more covered with feathers than skin showing. Also, I gave my 8 nutri drench in there water for the 6 weeks I had them. The only variance I can see is maybe the food given for the 5 weeks once i got it worked out after the first week. It was the right % but maybe different brands. I'll have to ask her. It would be interesting if I had split them into 1 female group and 1 male group. No characteristic or breed differences though, we just grabbed one at a time. I did have a chick that we called slim because she didn't gain the weight like the others. She passed thought not sure why. Looking at the pic it looks like we had 2 slimmer ones.