What are the genes behind Strawberry, Carnation, and Buttercup Combs?

[Gnarled Carrots]

One of my chickens has a particularly weird comb (double rows of small spikes, much like a Carnation or a Buttercup, but much shorter like a Pea Comb). This got me wondering about what genes might be in the mix.

A long way down the rabbit hole later!! there are a couple things about comb types that I'm not quite sure about.

From my understanding, there are 4 genes that control comb type:

• Pea Comb, P, p+
• Rose Comb, R r+
• Duplex Comb, d+, Dv, Dc
• Breda, Bd+, bd

Dominant Pea Comb, (P/P , r+/r+) or (P/p+ , r+/r+), creates a Pea Comb.
Dominant Rose Comb, (p+/p+ , R/R) or (p+/p+ , R/r+), creates a Rose Comb.
Any other combination of Pea and Rose Comb genes creates a Walnut Comb.
The addition of Duplex Comb, (Dv), creates a V comb.
The addition of Duplex Comb, (Dc), creates a cup-shaped comb.
The addition of Breda, (Bd+), creates combless or very small combs.

From my understanding, there are also 10 basic comb types:

• Single Comb: (p+/p+ , r+/r+ , d+/d+ , Bd+/Bd+)
• Rose Comb: (p+/p+ , R/R , d+/d+ , Bd+/Bd+) or (p+/p+ , R/r+ , d+/d+ , Bd+/Bd+)
• Pea Comb: (P/P , r+/r+ , d+/d+ , Bd+/Bd+) or (P/p+ , r+/r+ , d+/d+ , Bd+/Bd+)
• Walnut Comb: (any combination of Pea Comb genes that doesn't create a Pea Comb , any combination of Rose Comb genes that doesn't create a Rose Comb , d+/d+ , Bd+/Bd+)
• Cushion Comb: (P/P , R/R , d+/d+ , Bd+/Bd+) or (P/p+ , R/r+ , d+/d+ , Bd+/Bd+)
• Strawberry Comb: (P/??? , R/??? , d+/d+ , Bd+/Bd+)
• V Comb: (r+/??? , p+/??? , Dv/Dv , Bd+/Bd+) or (r+/??? , p+/??? , Dv/d+ , Bd+/Bd+)
• Carnation Comb: (r+/r+??? , p+/p+??? , Dv/Dv , Bd+/Bd+) or (r+/r+??? , p+/p+??? , Dv/d+ , Bd/+Bd+)
• Buttercup Comb: (r+/r+??? , p+/p+??? , Dc/Dc , Bd+/Bd+) or (r+/r+??? , p+/p+??? , Dc/d+ , Bd+/Bd+)
• Breda Comb: (any combination of Pea Comb genes , any combination of Rose Comb genes , any combination of Duplex Comb genes , bd/bd)

What I'm confused on is what the base genes for other comb types are supposed to be (obviously, weird combinations of genes sometimes create combs that look similar for different reasons and heterozygous forms of each comb type aren't 100%). I've marked the ones that I'm not exactly sure about.

 

[Alaskan]

Have you search through this guy's site?

http://kippenjungle.nl/kruising.html

I really thought that he had a good explanation on comb genetics...but now I can't find it.


But remember.. p and r are actually just blanks..... Not an actual gene.


Also, there are a crazy bunch of modifiers that we do not yet know or understand.

 

[Gnarled Carrots]

Thanks for the reply!

I have been through Kippin Jungle's site. They give a great explanation of Rose Comb, Pea Comb, and Single Comb. They don't do a great job of explaining some of the more unusual comb types, though.

They also don't delve at all into the Herrée gene, Hm, which is thought to cause smooth and rough combs. Neither do they get into the small combs and wattles present in Pea Combs. I'm not sure if their information is out of date or whether new research has nullified past beliefs about genetics.

 

[Alaskan]

You are welcome.


I actually havent seen any good data on the modifiers... I am not sure it is out there.