Different comb types in the same breed?

UGAchick

Songster
9 Years
Mar 7, 2010
355
11
159
Riverside, CA
I have two SLWs and two GLWs and each is has a different comb. Meaning, one of each breed has a straight comb while the other of that same breed has a rose comb. Here are some pics that I took last week of the SLWs

50487_100_1411.jpg


50487_100_1414.jpg


Other than the combs (and potentially wattles) these chicks look just like each other.

Can the same breeds have different comb types?
 
Wyandottes are supposed to have rose combs but single combs can pop up in the breed. Expecialy with hatchery birds, hatcheries will keep single combs to breed since they have a better fertility rate. So that is why you can get single combs expecialy if your birds are from hatcheries and not breeders that will cull that trait and make sure it doesn't get passed down.
Here are pictures of my GLW (rose comb)
About 2-3 weeks old
100_1977.jpg

At about 23 weeks old (lays a pretty big egg and is a hatchery bird)
100_2523.jpg

SLW (single comb)
About 2-3 weeks old
100_1973.jpg

At about 23 weeks old (she doesn't really fit the conformation for a SLW but she lays a prett big egg and is a hatchery bird)
100_2504.jpg
 
Wyandottes are supposed to have single combs, but hatchery-stock Wyandottes are so oddly bred that there are so many single-combed ones. I believe it was something to do with increasing their fertility. Either way, I would NEVER trust a single combed Wyandotte, whether it be claimed purebred or not.

If you get a Wyandotte that is claimed to not be of hatchery stock but has a single comb. . . That is a false claim.
 
Quote:
Not exactly correct. Rose comb is dominant to single comb, so a bird with only one copy still displays the rose comb, but only passes it to half its offspring. Double-gene rosecomb MALES have reduced fertility (not so one-gene males or females with either one or two genes). Some breeders use males with only one rose comb gene to increase the fertility. Thus you will get some one-gene females and thus some 0 gened offspring--single combs rather than rose.

I would definitely expect hatchery birds to use one- or even 0-gened males, but knowledgeable breeders use single gene males, too, and thus you can get single combed birds.
 

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