Question about my Silver-laced Orpington chicks

[PineHavenMama]

I have a couple of questions about my new chickens. I’ve waited so long to get chickens again and I’m feeling a bit concerned about the ones I got tonight. I did go and look at the parent birds prior to buying these and the parents were beautiful. I noticed they all had white legs which I’ve read they should. I purchased eight chicks three weeks ago and didn’t notice anything odd about their appearance until today. Two have yellow legs and a couple look like a slate color. That leaves four out of eight with the proper leg color. I’m wondering if this is something that just happens or was I taken advantage of? They weren’t as expensive as online prices, but I still paid $15 a piece. I guess what’s disappointing is that I was looking forward to hatching chicks from them in the future. I know that the ones with off leg color shouldn’t be used in breeding. I appreciate any feedback.

 

[NatJ]

Yellow legs and dark legs are both caused by recessive genes--so it is quite possible to breed two chickens with white legs and get chicks with yellow legs, slate legs, or green legs. (Yellow + slate = green, when dealing with chicken leg colors.)

But it also works to breed a yellow-legged rooster to a slate-legged hen and get some white-legged chicks

If half of your chickens have the wrong leg color, the others are likely to carry the same genes, but it is something you could breed out if you're willing to work on it.

If the chickens are otherwise good quality, and all the parents have white legs, then the breeder is probably working on the issue--but it takes time to breed out two different recessive genes for wrong-color legs. Using only white-legged birds, which you say the breeder did, is a good start.

White legs require two different genes to be right. Yellow legs have one gene wrong, slate legs have the other one wrong, and green legs would be wrong both ways. Do not breed from green-legged birds

Choosing birds for breeding:
White legged hens are best, slate legged hens almost as good (keep only daughters, not sons, from hens with slate legs.)

White-legged roosters are best, but yellow-legged roosters would be the second choice here.

The slate leg color should be caused by a sex-linked gene, located on the Z chromosome. In chickens, the males have two Z chromosomes (ZZ) and the females have ZW.

So a hen will have slate legs if she has only one copy of the gene, but roosters need two copies to show it. That means your slate-legged birds are likely to be females. It also means that slate-legged hens pass that gene to their sons but NOT to their daughters. So breed slate-legged hens to white or yellow leg roosters, and keep only daughters, and you will be making good progress at getting rid of the dark-leg gene.

If you like to play with genetics calculators, this one includes the leg color genes:
http://kippenjungle.nl/breeds/crossbreeds.html
White vs. yellow is W+ (white) or w (yellow)
Dark vs. light is Id (light) or id+ (dark)
They're in the list of genes at the bottom.
(That calculator is either a fun toy, or very frustrating--depends on the person using it. I don't know which it'll be for you.)

 

[PineHavenMama]

@NatJ , that is such helpful information to have. I can’t thank you enough. I have little to no comprehension of genetics. I am interested in learning however. Is there a resource you would recommend so that I could slowly try to educate myself?

Also, I didn’t notice the off leg color when I purchased. Would it have been evident at hatch? Or could it have developed/changed in the last three weeks? The breeder insists all of their birds/chicks have white legs and that these yellow legs will hopefully turn white. I don’t know much, but I’m thinking that’s not very likely. Again, I’m so grateful and appreciative of your response.

 

[NatJ]

Leg color: often not obvious at hatch, becomes more obvious later.

Yellow legs can become white in a laying hen, because the yellow goes into her egg yolks. But legs that are bright yellow before the hens start laying are probably genetically yellow, which is not right for an Orpington. (Roosters don't lay eggs, so their legs would probably stay yellow.)

I "know" these things from reading internet pages and forums, so this particular breed might have something different going on--but I agree that it seems unlikely.

I am interested in learning however. Is there a resource you would recommend so that I could slowly try to educate myself?

http://www.edelras.nl/chickengenetics/
This page has links to several pages about genetics, and I keep going back to look things up on them. By the time I found them, I already knew something about genetics, so I can't tell how good they are for someone just beginning to study it, but it's the one of the two I use most often.

Edit to add:
http://sellers.kippenjungle.nl/page0.html
I knew there was another site I used a lot, just had to remember what it was called. There are about three pages, but this page has links to all of them.


I also like to play with the genetics calculator that I linked in a previous post: just click to change the genes, and see the picture of a chicken look different! (I usually just watch the effect of a gene on the picture on that page, rather than calculating actual crosses--but it has helped me understand better how some of the genes interact, and is just plain fun to make it show different chicken colors )

 

[PineHavenMama]

Leg color: often not obvious at hatch, becomes more obvious later.

Yellow legs can become white in a laying hen, because the yellow goes into her egg yolks. But legs that are bright yellow before the hens start laying are probably genetically yellow, which is not right for an Orpington. (Roosters don't lay eggs, so their legs would probably stay yellow.)

I "know" these things from reading internet pages and forums, so this particular breed might have something different going on--but I agree that it seems unlikely.



http://www.edelras.nl/chickengenetics/
This page has links to several pages about genetics, and I keep going back to look things up on them. By the time I found them, I already knew something about genetics, so I can't tell how good they are for someone just beginning to study it, but it's the one of the two I use most often.

Edit to add:
http://sellers.kippenjungle.nl/page0.html
I knew there was another site I used a lot, just had to remember what it was called. There are about three pages, but this page has links to all of them.


I also like to play with the genetics calculator that I linked in a previous post: just click to change the genes, and see the picture of a chicken look different! (I usually just watch the effect of a gene on the picture on that page, rather than calculating actual crosses--but it has helped me understand better how some of the genes interact, and is just plain fun to make it show different chicken colors )

Thanks again. For some reason, I can’t get that first link you shared to work. I did look up images of green legs after you shared that info. Now my husband thinks one that I thought had yellow legs actually has green legs. In which case, I couldn’t do anything with that one. I’m going to try and get some pictures and perhaps someone here can help me figure out whether I’ve got yellow or green on the one and then there are a couple where it’s iffy if they’re white or a bit on the slate side.

The “breeder” has said I can exchange the ones with off leg color if I want to. I’m not sure what to do because I’ve cared for these for three weeks now and they’re healthy birds. I’d feel like I was starting all over and the new one’s leg color could end up being off too.

I did really want to check into the possibility of my boys being able to do some 4-H with our new chicks. I guess we could turn this into a science project.

 

[NatJ]

For some reason, I can’t get that first link you shared to work.

https://kippenjungle.nl/kruising.html
You could try this calculator link--it's on the same site, with a few minor differences (just feather colors, not leg/comb/etc)

I’m going to try and get some pictures and perhaps someone here can help me figure out whether I’ve got yellow or green on the one and then there are a couple where it’s iffy if they’re white or a bit on the slate side.

If it's iffy whether the legs are white or not--you might have only one wrong gene. Try looking at photos of Hamburg chickens: they have blue legs, and that's what I thought you meant. (It's pretty unmistakeable.)

Posting photos is a good idea.

The “breeder” has said I can exchange the ones with off leg color if I want to. I’m not sure what to do because I’ve cared for these for three weeks now and they’re healthy birds. I’d feel like I was starting all over and the new one’s leg color could end up being off too.

I suggest posting photos first, to hopefully figure out more precisely what you're dealing with.

If half of the current ones are good, then exchanging the other half might get you a few more good ones.

I did really want to check into the possibility of my boys being able to do some 4-H with our new chicks. I guess we could turn this into a science project.

Science projects are fun!
I have very little experience with 4-H, so I don't know how important it is to have the legs be the right color for that. You did say that some of yours are right, though.

 

[gunslinger33]

I have a SLW I crossed with my Orpington rooster. I was thrown off because the chick had yellow legs for the first 3 or so weeks. The legs have now turned white , so it could take a while for leg color to change.

around 2.5 weeks

around 5 weeks

 

[PineHavenMama]

I have a SLW I crossed with my Orpington rooster. I was thrown off because the chick had yellow legs for the first 3 or so weeks. The legs have now turned white , so it could take a while for leg color to change.

around 2.5 weeks
View attachment 2206889

around 5 weeks
View attachment 2206884

 

[PineHavenMama]

That’s interesting. I’ve spent considerable time studying these little one’s legs the last couple of days.

After reading what @NatJ shared, my husband thinks one might have green legs. I’ll share a couple of pictures below. The lighting isn’t great in my building so forgive the poor picture quality. I hope someone can tell me if I’m dealing with yellow or green. The bottoms of their feet are definitely yellow. One chick’s legs look more yellow than the other. That one seems to have a greenish tinge to them. It will be interesting to see if their legs change color. They are about four weeks old now. Some are a few days older than others.

The fourth picture is the one we thought might have green legs. @gunslinger33, what kind of Orpington too did you use on your SLW? To clarify, was your SLW also an Orpington?

 

[PineHavenMama]

And here are some of the others. The bottom two pics show what looks like a slate color to me.@NatJ