Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1914-10-20
Color OF Hens Legs.

For some time past there has been In
progress at the Maine station an investi.
cation of the cause of the different
shank colors observed in different
breeds and different individuals of the
domestic fowl. 1t Ia q well-known. fact
to every pouitryman and every visitor
to poultry show that different breeds
of fowls have Enthusiastically different
colors Of the skin. In the United States
generally yellow skinned birds are pre-
ferred over white skinned ones for
market purposes. In the matter Of this
preference for yellow skin color in It's
poultry the United States stands practi-
cally alone. Nearly all Of the European
countries prefer q white skinned bird
for table purposes. The cause OF the
skin color of birds is really layer OF
colored fat which lies in and below the
skin. While the matter has not yet
been completely Investigated it is very
probable that the yellow color Of chick
en- fat which gives the color to the skin
is due to the same pigment which gives
the yellow color to the milk of the Jer-
sey or the Guernsey COW.
This last consideration is one which
calls attention to the practical bearing
of these results on shank color. 1t is a
we'll established fact, both in cattle and
in poultry, that when the food does not
supply a sufficient amount of this yellow
coloring matter, carotin, for the prod
uct, whether milk or eggs, the animal
then draws on its own body fat for the
further supply of this coloring matter.
This results in bleaching Of the body
fat of it's yellow color while keeping up
the color of the milk or the eggs. From
this fact it results that the general skin
color, and particularly the shank color,
Of hen having naturally yellow shanks
is much bleached out after the hen has
been laying heavily, and furthermore
the heavier the laying has been the
greater will be the amount of bleaching
observed.
In conse quencs of this it is possible to
90 through flock at the end of laying
year and pick out at once by the color
of the shanks those birds which have
been extremely heavy layers from those
which have been drones. The drones
will be the birds which, at the end of
the season, have bright yellow legs, such
as one is accustomed to see in pullets
which have not yet begun to lay. On
the other hand, birds which have done
hard years work and produced many
eggs will have shanks completely white,
or nearly so.
Examination at this station of many
hundreds of birds, whose trap nest rec,
ords are known, makes it possible to
say positively that no bird which has
been q high producer will have bright
yellow legs at the end of the laying sea-
son. "Two- bundred-egg" hens always
have white legs at the end of their pu'let
year. This poin, is one which may be
of a great deal of value 10 the poultry
man when he is culling his flock in the
fall and deciding which of his pullets he
will keep over to use as breeders the
next year. II he has no trap nest rec
ords the color of the shanks furnishes
him one of the best indications he can
have as to the way in which these pull
let's have laid during their first year OF
life His first selection should always,
of course, be on the strength and con-
stitutional vigor, but after having picked
out the good, strong, healthy birds, he
should then choose from among those
the ones which show the whitest legs.
Poultrymen often make a mistake on
this point. One frequently hears of
poultryman practicing just the oppo-
site-that is, when he culls his pullets
in the fall for the breeders of the next
year, he will pick out carefully those
which have yellow legs. By doing this
he is systematically picking out the
poorest layers in bis flock to use as
breeders, whereas il he takes those with
the white legs he is systematically pick
ing out his best layers for breeding pur-
poses.