What kind of comb does he have? Is it a pea comb? It looks like it might be, but that area is pretty shadowed in the one photo that would show it. This is a dewlap, and is not uncommon with pea combed birds. Pea comb reduces wattle size. Sigrid wrote an article about it: http://chickencolours.com/What Wattles-lowres.pdfI have a just-breeding-age Black-from-Paint Showgirl that appears to NOT have wattles at all, but DOES have a single, thin bit of skin that resembles a "centered" wattle. This would be what bearding would normally grow from on a bearded bird, but he has never shown signs of a bead, and he is quite healthy. No parasites, he stands up fro himself just fine, so it isn't being picked out by others...what do I make of this? He is really lovely; good dark skin and great feet and eyes, so I'd hate to have to eliminate him from breeding just because of this weird skin flap, but I've never even heard of such a thing...not a clue if it's a bad trait to be culled or just an odd presentation of "bearding." It did not appear until he began crowing, just like wattles normally would. At 4 months, he had nothing on his chin at all.
Take a look and let me know what you think:
At 4 months, nothing there at all, and still masquerading as a girl:
Crowing now:
^ That is ONE flap of skin, perfectly centered on his chin.
You can see his teeny tiny wattles on either side of the mysterious flappy thing.
Here's a good frontal view.
Is this just a clean-shaven "bearded" bird? What can I expect to be passed on to offspring?
I'm really excited. he/she was hatched out a couple days ago. I'm getting him/her from a friend. Will post pics asap.
Love my showgirls
Beautiful!Love my showgirls
I'm getting my first ShowGirl today
One chick... Hahahaha...They are here!!!!!The show girls are on the left.. the little one hiding is a silkie. Went to pick up ONE showgirl and left with 2 plus one
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