Ideal comb for cold weather?

[phasianidae]

I prefer tight pea combs or cushion combs. Most heterozygous pea combs still freeze here. I rarely hear of people talking about the importance of small wattles in cold weather but will also suffer frostbite here. Since small wattles are linked to the pea comb gene, pea or cushion combed birds will have the smallest wattles.

 

[phasianidae]

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That would depend on where you live.

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

My Orloff hen doesn't have a comb at all, just a little flat pink skin spot. I think it's pretty ideal for Alaska.

She looks like a wild bird more than a chicken with her brown spangled coloring, especially right now that all of her tail feathers are molted out!

 

[Celtic Hill]

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Your right! I breed duccles and they must have small wattles so its kinda 'common sense' for me. lol. But I didn't know that the small wattles were linked to a pea comb!

 

[gallorojo]

Muffs and beards are also linked to wattle reduction. So, you have at least two mechanisms for wattle reduction-pea comb, or, beard/muffs. Either one will reduce wattles.

 

[phasianidae]

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Yup, this year I hatched four roosters all heterozygous for both pea comb and beards. I have found the size of wattles on them to vary from nothing to almost an inch.

 

[RioLindoAz]

Pea combs and any other small/compact combs do well.

 

[chickenman98]

I think cushion is the best because it's smallest. 2nd best- pea 3rd best- rose. The chantecler was developed in Canada and it has a pea comb and whoever developed it wanted it to be cold hardy. We have some and they are pretty hardy even though we live in Oklahoma.

 

[phasianidae]

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Chanteclers have cushion combs.