double comb?

[Svarthona]

I am reading a Swedish poultry book which is citing older texts about the appearance of the native farm chickens from the time before "modern" hatchery breeds were imported to Sweden around 1900... very briefly it's stating that "single and double combs were common". Unfortunately there's no picture to show what a double comb is and the official landrace breeds which survived until today all have a single comb

(Google pictures was not helpful

for some reason I got mostly flea combs and punk hair)
Does anybody know what a double comb could be? It sounds interesting

and I'm curious.

 

[Illia]

Quite likely a "butterfly" or "leaf" type comb?

 

[Svarthona]

Nice! Thank you Illia! guess I'll have to read up on butterfly/leaf combs now, it's intriguing

I can totally see this one being referred to as a "double comb". especially if there's variation in how the sides angle towards each other. a little bit more upright and it would look like two single combs side by side. it's really sad that those are no longer a common thing, it's a nice comb shape.
hmm could this comb shape be related to "side spikes/bumps" on a single comb? I know quite some people who have issues with them suddenly appearing in their otherwise single combed flocks. Maybe that's a leftover of the mysterious double comb from back then?

 

[pgpoultry]

Illia...that chicken is amazing....what breed is it? I guess that would be a butterfly comb?

I hatched 5 La Flèche 11-12 weeks ago and they are developing the beautiful (in the eye of the beholder!) pair of horns that passes for a comb with a second little pair of horns below the 'snout' that these birds have for nostrils, but that comb in the chook in the pic. is truly amazing.

i loved the thread that was around for showing off your huge combed birds.

 

[Illia]

The bird pictured is a Houdan. Outside the US, Houdans commonly have "butterfly" combs.


And then yes, there's V combed birds like LaFleche, but, I don't think anyone would call that a double comb.




Sidesprings on single combs are not leftovers of that though. Sidesprings in the back are often leftovers of Carnation combs, especially in Marans, but in other breeds I'd only assume it is from pea combs, but even then, not all.


The butterfly like comb though is actually a single-influenced V comb.

 

[gmendoza]

well I have only seen my roo-hen,one comb on each end..

Twice the chicken,without the mess:

Double comb would be interesting!!!!

 

[Chris09]

When you read the term "Double Comb" in some of the older texts they are referring to a Comb that looks like two Single Combs running parallel to each other much like a Pea Comb with out the center row of spikes.
The comb is the result of crossing and back crossing the Rose and Single Comb for a log period of time.
If I get the chance I will take a picture of a Rhode Island Red that I have that has the starting of a Double Comb.

Chris

 

[Svarthona]

Those side springs are definitely not from Marans. Marans are relatively new here and the flocks showing the odd side spikes in the back of the comb are small barnyard chickens with tiny combs and wattles, laying off-white eggs. No French or Spanish breeds in there for sure.

It'd be great if you could take a picture of your Rhode Island Red with the starting double comb Chris

Do you remember about which areas or breeds the old texts were which mentioned the double comb?
Backcrossing rose and single combs over a long time wouldn't surprise me, inbreeding local barnyard flocks for generations was very common.
I'll really need to ask some of the older folks, if they remember "odd" comb shapes from the chickens they had when they were kids.

 

[Gerry2011]

Quote:
Good meat chicken!

 

[Chris09]

Svarthöna :

Those side springs are definitely not from Marans. Marans are relatively new here and the flocks showing the odd side spikes in the back of the comb are small barnyard chickens with tiny combs and wattles, laying off-white eggs. No French or Spanish breeds in there for sure.
It'd be great if you could take a picture of your Rhode Island Red with the starting double comb Chris

Here is a picture of the R.I. Red with a Half Double Comb and a Inverted Spike.
You can see 2 distinct combs at the front but merges to one in the back.

Chris​