Backyard Poultry Forum

They all fade in the sun, you probably don't notice as much with the rhodie, the golden colours fade badly, the whites go yellowy cream.

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Lacy
A passionate breeder of the beautiful Wyandotte
Huntervalley Wyandotte Club

A lot of the old timer's swere by corn.I for one believe that hole corn or fresh cracked corn does a world of good for bright yellow legs,bright red comb and wigels,and a glossy feather.
A lot of the old timers will tell you the best time to feed them corn is in winter as it warms the blood up.But as my summers are not that hot. I mix hole corn in there diet with red hen.I don't feed them red hen all the time as the cost get a little bit up there.But I find it does help with the young to feather up nicely and it helps with the breeding season.

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Breeder of Rhode Island Reds and Rouen Ducks

I feed a lot of corn.I can get it for next to nothing from our neighbour so I use it all year round. I am also able to let my fowls free range every day which I believe is the best thing of all for good strong yellow legs and generally healthy/hardy birds. The first picture is of some young Indian game cross that have beeen locked up for about 3 weeks with no access to green feed unless I throw them in something like silver beet or lettuce.Their diet consists of 50/50 cracked corn and broiler pellets.


The 2nd pic is of some Indian game cross, the same batch as above, but ones that I am considering keeping. They get fed 50/50 cracked corn and pullet grower and are let to free range for at least 1/2 a day every day.


These last ones(sorry for the bad photography) are a bit older by about 8weeks and are free ranged all day every day and get 50/50 whole corn and wheat. They have been on this diet now for about 8-10 weeks and their legs are a brilliant yellow

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Ham and eggs. A day's work for a chicken, a lifetime commitment for a pig.

Thats pretty impressive Swallow a big difference in leg colour. Is there anything special they like to snack on when they are free ranging?

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Erika

( Wolf whistle ) Nice legs swallow!

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Breeder of Rhode Island Reds and Rouen Ducks

i won't say what my birds get other than corn and free range (they get spoilt). i like to feed whole corn but it takes a while to get them to move up from cracked to whole. mine eat loads of grass of most varieties. some of the skinniest rangy ones got into the green christmas beetles and would do nothing but look for them all day. i have locked them up more now to get them to eat proper food as they were looking terrible, like they were addicted to the beetles. they do like to get into the cow dung too when it is wet and gooey. i really think that helps too....internal and topical. then the rain and drizzle really finishes them off beautifully.

Yes, well I have a young pair of Plymouth Rocks, about 4 months now, that have been free ranging on grassed areas, and their legs and feet have come up a rich bright yellow, dare I say almost an orange tinge on the male. Now they are not pure; my guess is they may have Rhode Island Red in there somewhere due to the occasional red feather on the male and a reddish tinge to the breast of the female. This influence may have caused that reddish tinge on the male's shanks (in dots on the side close up) that from a distance, combined with the strong yellow, give an orange hue.

Their feed also contains various grains and lupins as well as chopped lucerne.

Sorry no photo (yet). ML

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"Somewhere over the mountain..." (or was that "rainbow"?)

This is what my wyandottes get whenever I can get hold of them cheaply. If I see pumpkins on a roadside stall cheap I try to buy as many as I can. On our recent roadtrip the vehicle was so packed I had them on my lap.

I bake a couple of them for half and hour, then let them cool before they go into the pens. It helps the legs to colour but also seems to have a super positive effect on their health. I guess it must be the vitamin A and others in it.

At the moment the grass around here is pretty dead and brown so we'll have to try a few other things until it comes back.

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Backyard Poultry Forum

that looks very tasty chicken07. i think i would scoop up some before the chooks got to it. i have fed pumpkins to my chooks when they used to grow in their pen. used to run them over with the mower for them to start into them. unfortunatly pumpkin vines tend to take over the place and it can be difficult to limit them with the ride on mower as it gets stuck on the pumpkins that seem to grow over night in the wet season.