White chick down color

[Cesar Villegas]

Here are some White chicks that I hatched out yesterday. There was a total of 5 that hatched. i noticed only one had the smoking color along with dark shanks. The remaining 4 where light/yellow with light legs.

The parents aren't the best. Since he inherited them due to a death, the owner has no idea where they originated from.

Any ideas in the down/leg color differences?

[John W Blehm]

The more they look like the one in the photo on our Photos page the better.
http://ameraucana.org/photos_files/ameraucana%20large%20fowl%20white%20chicks.jpg
The most consistent adult chicken color/pattern will come from chicks with the most consistent down color/pattern...overall phenotype.

[Cesar Villegas]

The more they look like the one in the photo on our Photos page the better.
http://ameraucana.org/photos_files/ameraucana%20large%20fowl%20white%20chicks.jpg
The most consistent adult chicken color/pattern will come from chicks with the most consistent down color/pattern...overall phenotype.

John, I guess Im trying to understand is genetically what does the chick down/leg color tell you? Are the lighter ones dominant white, Silver based, why the different down/leg color? I never really bred whites before so im out of my element

[Mike Gilbert]

If the underlying e locus is E, Er, or even e I think the shanks will be dark and the chick down smoky colored.   When the shanks are pink or yellow at hatch they are probably based om eWh (wheaten).   Wheaten, blue wheaten, and buff chicks are all eWH, and they are hatched with pink or yellow legs.   It takes a few weeks for them to turn dark. 

[John W Blehm]

John, I guess Im trying to understand is genetically what does the chick down/leg color tell you? Are the lighter ones dominant white, Silver based, why the different down/leg color? I never really bred whites before so im out of my element

The down color/pattern and shank/leg color can help identify the e-locus a chick is based on.
E and ER Ameraucana chicks will have dark shanks, while e⁺, e^Wh & e^b will have flesh colored shanks generally.
There is a list of links to genetic sites pinned to the Breeding subforum.  Studying some of them and some related topics on this forum will help understand the relationship between day-old chick phenotype and the e-locus.  Reading some of the papers on chicken genetics by the famous poultry geneticists show how important it was to them.  They wrote out the descriptions and included photos of dead chicks.
Here is some suggested reading to start with...
http://chickengenetics.edelras.nl/The E locus Chicken/Down Colour Pattern
Genetics of chick down color:
Chick down phenotypes and genotypes
Chick down colour: MASTERCLASS!!!

[Mike Gilbert]

John, don't your silver chicks have dark legs at hatch?   It seems like mine did.

[John W Blehm]

John, don't your silver chicks have dark legs at hatch?   It seems like mine did.

Maybe not as pinkish as wheaten, but more flesh color than dark colors.  My memory isn't great on this stuff and I have to refer back to photos. 
This reminds me of bantam silvers that would start out with willowish shanks, as I recall, before turning slate as they matured.  Some of that is color from the yoke, I believe, that eventually dissipates or is expelled.  I did select against it as I have yellowish foot pads on other varieties.  I know some say only judge that when the chicks are several weeks old, but I get fussy.       
(This also brings back memories with LF buff shank color that I'll try to research before posting.)

[John W Blehm]

...eb will have flesh colored shanks generally.

Note: There is a color variety called wheaten and an E locus gene called wheaten (e^Wh).  The two are not the same, but yes the wheaten and buff varieties are based on wheaten (e^Wh). 

I said the subject was bringing back memories with LF buff shank color.  Buff Ameraucanas are assumed to be based on wheaten (e^Wh) and should hatch with flesh colored shanks, because dermal shank color is suppressed in day-old e^Wh based chicks.  As they mature the shanks will darken.

Day-old buff and wheaten chicks showing dark shanks aren't pure for e^Wh and so you wouldn't want to raise them up and breed from them.  For many years I had some LF buffs hatch with dark shanks, as in the photo below.  I figured there was E^R or e^b in my line and when a chick was pure/homozygous for either they would hatch with dark shanks.  I was able to breed it out over many years.  The point here is that all e^b chicks may not hatch with flesh colored shanks.