My Science Teacher said something I do not particularly agree with....

FutureChickenMan ,
As you quoted me in your post, it appears that you are attempting to make some sort of argument against my statements. However, there was no new content contained within your post and the content itself has either been, disproven, is not in dispute, or is based on assumptions for which you do not have the facts to back up your claims.
I do welcome a valid argument that disproves any of the statements I have made, but you have not done that and as I have already addressed those statements that are in dispute, the need to readdress them is moot.

I will however clarify a few things about my assertions that seem to have been overlooked, despite the fact that I have stated them more then once.

Xanthophyll, contaned in egg yolk, effects the coloring of a chicks skin, shanks, fat, and beak, but does not affect the color of the chicks fluff (down).
This effect is only visable in a chick that does not have strong pigmentation to begin with.
It doesn't matter if you have a chick that has white fluff, red fluff or purple fluff, the egg yolk is not going to affect it's feathers, but if it has the lightly colord skin, shanks etc, it can often be affected by the xanthophyll pigment dereived from the egg yolk.

Secondly, unless we know exactly what the teacher was thinking and the exact words that he used, and how attentive Dinos_rock was in listening to him, we cannot know his true meaning, as presented to us in the words "Anyways, my teacher said that the reason chicks are yellow, is because the yolk is yellow. "

Please note that the words "feather","down", or "fluff" are not used in the sentance. Any assumption that makes the assertion that he meant chick fluff is affected by the pigmentation of egg yolk is speculation and not based in fact

However missleading or incomplete this statement may be on it's own, it is accurate, and without context, any assumptions that assert his full meaning is invalid.

Lastly, in the picture you posted your caption reads
"These chicks must not have had very good yolks."
Although several of the chicks in the photo have dark pigmentation which would hide any effects of xanthophyll, and despite the resolution of the photo, it does appear that you have a cuckoo chick that is expressing some yellow in it's beak, and since we know that chickens do not produce yellow pigmentation, it would follow that they may indeed have had good yolks.
 
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dlhunicorn,
I'm not sure if you added to the post you made last night, or if I was just so tired that I missed part of it. However, I just reread it and the information that says that Chick fluff is affected by yolk pigmentation, was quite interesting, and flies in the face of the information that I found.

At this point I must conceed that, there is not enough information available for me to know the truth about this and that further clarification would be necessary in order to discover the truth.
I recant any statements I made concerning the influence of xanthophyll on the fluff of chicks due to the contradictory information presented and my personal lack of expertise on the subject.

It seems as though the teachers statement may not have only been accurate, but may also have been more complete then originally thought.

I hope someone else finds a reputable source of information that may solve the discrepancy between those outside sources already posted.

Nice find!
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I agree with this but, if he wants to join in the debate, tell him he needs to cite his sources
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Just wanted to commend those teachers who posted in this thread (thankless but essential task). And, to post a couple of links for further reading.

If anyone can run down any research on preferential expression of exogenous pigments in neoptile feathering of Gallus Domesticus, please post.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenotype

http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1469-7580.2005.00471.x

Now, I wait here perched on a skyhook in anticipation of the chicken vs. egg as progenitor thread, Refereed by dlhunicorn.
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When it comes to Science from why 5 toes , vaulted skulls
and TBI to most genetics . Try Alan Standford.

Brown Egg Blue Egg if he doesn't have the answers he will usally direct you
 
I am not going to tell my teacher. He will not take it kindly, even if I were to be nice about it. Trust me, if you ever met him, you’d understand. He’s just the kind of person who does not like to be corrected... I would rather not risk my grade and at least I know the answer for myself. Thanks for all the help!
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Far more importantly....

Why can't the scientists give the tie-dyed chickens?

I'm a groovy girl, I need groovy chickens!
 
Reading this post wore me out. All I know is I remember getting pink and blue chicks when I was little but they didn't stay that way for long, and I'm still not quite clear on how injecting the yolk turns them different colors if they only use the yoke as food. WHAT gets injected with dye, the yolk or the white and why does it wear off so quickly?
 

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