My show quality hens leg not yellow?

[Wyandotte 123]

My very expensive silver laced wyandottes have pale legs only the females and they are all fed the same. I read that all the pigment in their legs goes to their yolk. How do I get that color back in their legs? I heard that corn helps, but they can't eat whole corn. Sooo what do I do? I have been letting them out on my grass and I have seen a slight result, but I want fast results.

 

[cavemanrich]

My very expensive silver laced wyandottes have pale legs only the females and they are all fed the same. I read that all the pigment in their legs goes to their yolk. How do I get that color back in their legs? I heard that corn helps, but they can't eat whole corn. Sooo what do I do? I have been letting them out on my grass and I have seen a slight result, but I want fast results.

If they cant eat whole corn, can you give them cracked corn. (why no corn???) and if you need fast results, like for a show. try dipping legs in food color.

 

[Matt1616]

My very expensive silver laced wyandottes have pale legs only the females and they are all fed the same. I read that all the pigment in their legs goes to their yolk. How do I get that color back in their legs? I heard that corn helps, but they can't eat whole corn. Sooo what do I do? I have been letting them out on my grass and I have seen a slight result, but I want fast results.

You said that this is a hen...is she laying eggs?

 

[Wyandotte 123]

Yes, there are 2 hens. They are Silver Laced Wyandottes. So of course they are producing like crazy. Now that its a little e hotter they are slowing down. (they aren't used to this weather, they were from back east) I have a show next month at the end so yeah.

 

[Matt1616]

Yes, there are 2 hens. They are Silver Laced Wyandottes. So of course they are producing like crazy. Now that its a little e hotter they are slowing down. (they aren't used to this weather, they were from back east) I have a show next month at the end so yeah.

A hens legs will fade out when they are laying heavily and this should be taken into consideration by judges when judging a class.
There are a few things that you can do to help the yellow leg color and most effective being feed them feed that has marigold extract in it...the other is letting them free range and eat grass, bug, etc. It also depends on where you live and what kind of soil you have as to how yellow their legs will get by eating grass and such. If you happen to live in an area where the soil is sandy and does not hold nutrients then they can eat all the grass that they can stand and it will do no good because the quality of the grass is poor. I don't believe that you can feed a chicken enough corn to make their legs yellow. You would probably have to feed corn exclusively to accomplish it and corn is not a good enough feed to feed exclusively.

Matt

 

[Wyandotte 123]

Ok well we do live in the high desert so. And lately I've been bringing them up to the grass and they go all around eating stuff. They love it and I can already see a difference in their legs. Thank you

 

[Sydney Acres]

Quote: Isn't dipping legs in food coloring considered fraud, and a disqualification? Any "painting" of the bird to improve color is unethical.

 

[Bo Garrett]

Any judge worth his/her salt will realize when a hen or pullet is in sustained production and will not discount for leg color due to lay. The reason the legs, beak and skin bleach is because birds cannot get enough pigment through diet to pigment the yolk, the body is then tapped for the stored pigment just as it is for calcium for the shell. If you want darker yolks feed more yellow pigmented feeds but this will have minimal effect on the pigmentation of the legs since the are the last to loose pigment they will be the last to get it back.

 

[Wyandotte 123]

Any judge worth his/her salt will realize when a hen or pullet is in sustained production and will not discount for leg color due to lay. The reason the legs, beak and skin bleach is because birds cannot get enough pigment through diet to pigment the yolk, the body is then tapped for the stored pigment just as it is for calcium for the shell. If you want darker yolks feed more yellow pigmented feeds but this will have minimal effect on the pigmentation of the legs since the are the last to loose pigment they will be the last to get it back.

thank you I just didn't want my chickens to get docked down