black comb and face

[GardeNerd]

I have a Black Australorp that had an all black comb, face, beak, and wattles for the longest time. It wasn't until about 17 weeks she started showing a slight tinge on red through the black. She is 23 weeks and still not totally red, but getting there. She still hasn't started laying, and she is from a hatchery if that matters.

 

[aveca]

I beleive they call it the mulberry comb and breeders at least of australorps to be careful of it.

We bred 4 hens to our rooster this last spring collected 4 eggs from each hen marked the eggs one hen produced three of these mulberry combs.. Im waiting to hear from a breeder as what to do? Just retire them to egg layers pen? This is a new flock for us , so Ive seen bits of it befor but dissappeared around a year, not a solid black comb.

Would be interesting to see what an expert has to say about it.

I will see if I can find the article about mulberry combs on these birds, not a good think I suppose, over all, all three hens are very well built birds, combs nice and straight nice points but just wrong color.

Out of those 4 eggs 3 hens one rooster all three had this, not a nice comb on the rooster twisted front . the other hens didnt produce this color variation.

If I find the article, I will post it in here

 

[GardeNerd]

Quote:
Thanks, Aveca. I like the name mulberry for the shade her comb and wattles are right now.

I am not concerned about my particular pullet. I like her being slightly different. I agree with Key West Chick that is kind of cool looking. It has made it easier to tell her apart from my other black pullet at a glance since they are close in size still. She is a very pretty girl. Also, my pullets are a backyard layer flock, not a show or breeder flock so breed standards for shows or sales don't matter much to me. But I understand if someone was a breeder needing to follow standards for a breed and needing to eliminate the trait.

 

[perched]

I would love to see pics of those black combs and other interesting features described in this post!

 

[GardeNerd]

I couldn't find any good shots where I could easily show it. But here are some pictures of my BA.

She was the one on the right. 4 days?

6 weeks

15 Weeks

Close up of same photo as above

15 Weeks

I will have to take some more recent pictures of her. She is not dark gray or black like these anymore. But she is also not the same red as the other girls.

 

[ChickenCharmer]

Check these black combs out-

http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/CGA/Cemani/BRKCemani.html

 

[GardeNerd]

Quote:
That bird almost doesn't look real it is so black. COOL!

 

[aveca]

I beleive I caught one of the three hens in this pic, you can see the pullet in forground has normal color comb out of same rooster different hen.

Nope sorry she just ducked out of the picture, these 2 (3 MOS) have the normal colored combs that will be red.
Darn this camera, there is a delay and hens can move around by the time the thing takes a pic.

I will try again tommorrow to get a close up, even the face is turning mulberry on the one hen. If nothing else its interesting.

 

[aveca]

on the left side of pic is one of the miss mulberries, she is the head in the far left....sorry bout my poor photography normals and then?

another miss mulberry

 

[aveca]

She is a very nice bird. She is such a nice addition to your flock. I like the looks of her.They are real reliable egg layers and sweet temprament. The three I have with the mulberry combs are the most attractive of all of ours birds. They are built a bit better by todays standards , all of the others are a little more stringy. It will be very interesting to see the combs turn out later on our three. Funny thing is, their mother won several blues and her comb was bright red, roo too.The person I got this hen from has retired and moved to florida and doesnt show the birds anymore.

The hen I have in the training coop at this time (matilda)is a bit more refined and also a bit more skittish at times than they usually are. . The rooster dundee is just so laid back he just flops down like a bear skin rug in his cage And takes the whole thing in stride. I love his big perfectly round dark eye balls. Hes just cute for a big bird. Hes just beginning to fill in a bit and doesnt look so much like a skinny teen. Hes going to be a nice bird next year and matilda will settle down a little.

There are a lot of people picking up poultry keeping and a lot of very experienced people retireing from it. I would love to apprentice like they did in the old days with an expert to teach me every point including what will happen if you breed this with that and why.

Im going to have to keep breeding to the standard to the best of my ability for the show ring. I will post pics later on of how the mulberry girls turn out.