Thank you Dr Bjorn Netland, Since a comb that doesn't flop is important for good Cream Legbar cockerels, we need to keep them air conditioned, I think... (trying to be funny here).Greetings all! Please note that I don't know whether the comb of the bird will shrink after the bird has been raised in a very warm environment until adulthood and subsequently placed in a much cooler location. However, I do know that birds raised in a cool environment and subsequently placed in a hot environment with fairly poor lighting (in insulated, warm barns), the comb becomes larger (and tends to lop on large single comb cockbirds who had nice, straight combs before the move inside).
Regards,
Bjorn
It would be so interesting to see a study of temperature effects on growth stages regarding the comb and wattles of the males. I wonder if it would be like certain other animals-- many desert animals have larger ears to dissipate heat.....Thinking that on a cockerel the comb and wattles would be large surface areas for heat to dissipate. Conversely frostbite is more likely on a large single comb than on a pea comb.