- Jan 5, 2012
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sounds about right. Two birds have thinner combs the third I believe just spends a bit too much time out in the cold watching over his hensBirds that are cold stressed are more prone to frostbite which you already have a handle on. The kicker is when you consider condition. Condition for me is capacity for metabolic activity. Birds with a higher metabolic rate can continue to deliver blood to extremities such as the comb at lower temperatures than birds in poorer condition because they can produce enough heat to warm those areas without compromising their core temperature. The mass producing that heat is dominated by muscle and activities of the digestive tract but you must not ignore the value of the birds overall resistance to heat loss. That resistance comes from the pelage (feathers) and proper distribution of body fat. If you handle all the birds with combs of vulnerable size to frostbite, then you are apt to notice birds with lesser amounts of frostbite will on average have a nice big breast that is dominated by muscle and the skin will be well padded by fat. Lots of fat in the abdominal cavity like promoted by too much energy in the diet (i.e. corn) does not help insulation. The better conditioned birds you will also find to have the bigger, redder and more symmetrical combs and wattles. Within limits, those bigger combed birds can be more resistant to frost bite than their smaller combed brethren. This does not hold with birds possessing the mongo racks.
Once birds make the bull-stag stage my first round of culling based on sight considers in part the comb and wattles; small and light colored gets tags removed right up front. Remaining birds handled for next round. Other attributes also considered but they do not appear relevant to cold tolerance.
Birds not completely feathered in or missing feathers anywhere except retrices of tail are also more likely to be thermally challenged by wind chill. Feather maintenance through dusting may also be important like having feathers overly moist. Real cold snaps after freezing rains early in winter before feathers completely in are real bad news when birds get iced.
