Rose comb?

[Downshifting]

I have 2 6-week old Golden Laced Wyandottes and one of them has a comb that appears different from the other. I'm wondering if she is a rose-comb. Is this what a rose-comb looks like at 6-weeks?

(Sorry for the less-than-ideal picture. Anyone who has tried taking pictures of chicks with a cell-phone camera will understand the complexity)

 

[canada-goose]

All Wyandottes have rose combs. It could be that one of them is a rooster, roosters usually have bigger and redder combs than hens.

 

[burquechick]

agreed. that's a boy.

 

[Downshifting]

Well...I'm just going to have to keep a close eye on these two. The other one (the blur in the backgroud of the picture I posted) appears to have a single comb. I purchased them as pullets...but I understand that mistakes are made.

 

[V Comb]

They are called cushion combs

 

[burquechick]

Quote:
Cushion combs and rose combs may look very similar, but the rose comb forms a point at the back which turns slightly upward. A cushion combed has no point. This chick looks like a Wyandotte. Wyandottes are a particular breed of chicken that are defined as having a "rose comb". Therefore, if this is indeed a young cockerel Wyandotte, he should grow up to having a rose comb with a point at the back, and not a cushion comb.

Rose comb:

Cushion comb:

 

[burquechick]

Quote:
Many of my Wyandottes also have single combs. The single comb in the Wyandotte is NOT part of the breed specifics, so you cannot show that bird, but it is very useful for breeding. Single comb genetics were put into the Wyandotte because the rose comb appears to be connected with low fertility. I have read the literature on why rose combs have lower fertility and it appears to be that rose combed birds are just less aggressive. Therefore, they mate less often, and eggs get fertilized less often. It does not appear to affect sperm or egg production and does not appear to be embryonically lethal. Furthermore, people have also suggested that the addition of single comb genes may promote genetic fitness by introducing more genes to the breed. So, if you are planning to breed Wyandottes, and you have access to single combed birds, it is recommended that you have a single combed male and mate him to rose combed females. But I'm sure there are plenty of rose combed males out there that do just fine.