Welsummer: paler legs and ear feathers

[pastypascoe]

Hello, I have a Welsummer who is approximately 18 months old (she turned up one day in our yard and no one claimed her, and I fell in love! So I don't know her specifics). She first started laying about 6 months or so ago. I have noticed over time that her legs which were once pretty yellow have become much paler, it happened so gradually I only noticed after looking at photos. Her ear feathers have also gotten much paler, this happened much more rapidly, in the last few months. I haven't been able to find any info online, is this just because she is getting older or might she be suffering from some deficiency or disease?

 

[Texas Transplant]

What color egg does she lay? Also,is that a white earlobe I see in picture #2?

 

[M-H-Fielding]

I think that she is bleaching. I am not an expert on this topic, just heard of it. The hen needs to eat lots of green things, like grass. I've heard bleaching is more common in leghorns, but I have had a RIR who went through the bleaching process.
As far as I've heard, the pigment that makes the yolks so yellow is the same thing that makes the hen's feet, skin and beak so yellow. when they run out of pigment for the yolks, the body takes it from wherever it can get it. In this case, the feet.
The hen's feet will most likely get yellower in the spring.

 

[pastypascoe]

I'm afraid I don't know the proper words to describe it but they are brownish with tiny darker brown speckles (egg on the left). And yes, white ear feathers in #2 (previously reddish-brown)

 

[M-H-Fielding]

Gorgeous hen though

 

[NatJ]

It is normal for a hen's legs, and other parts of her skin, to become less yellow as she lays eggs over several months time.

If she stops laying for a while (like to molt), they will get yellower again.

I even saw a chart once, showing that you can use the amount of yellow to tell how long the hen has been laying or not laying! (Chart was in an old book--it was talking about how to tell which of multiple-hundred hens were the best layers.)

As far as anyone can tell, the cycle of more yellow/less yellow does not hurt the hen at all.