Last post about comb drama, I swear
I looked at the shipped egg pullet again, and I think she actually has an injury and not the same defect as my chicks. So that clears up the "my farm is deforming animals" worry. Although I am going to change up my feed and have added some Poultry Cell to the breeder pen because I have concerns about my ration, but that's another topic entirely.
I finally truly hit on what defect this really is. I know a defect is a cull and it shouldn't really matter, but it bugs the life out of me not to know things.
It's an inverted comb. More common in rose combed breeds, where it's known as an inverted leader or inverted spike. The genes can be present in single combed breeds and just hide out until they hit the right cross to surface.
I'll never know how it popped up in my hens from the local breeder, and it's really not important at this point as I'm not getting anything from them again. Considering it is present nearly fully in one hen, and less so in another, I have to assume they had to see it. It would have been nice for a heads up, like, "Hey, watch the combs on these, I've gotten a few off ones. Working on it." Oh well.
I'm going to run one more hatch on the visibly normal hens and see if I get any clean chicks. Out of curiosity more than anything. I do find it interesting that at this point of growth there are still 3 cockerels that appear normal. I don't really need one, but a friend wants a fresh one in the spring, so we'll see just how often this defect comes up.
I'll get my pullet next month and hatch from the pair next spring, that will give me a good line since they're a matching pair. I'll see what else I get from these guys and play with the breeding a bit to see if I can make it come out again or if as long as both parents are normal, it won't surface. As long as I keep everything banded and recorded, it will be fine. I can use more layers and more freezer cockerels, and if I ever have interest for 4H chicks or the like, I'll have the good line to pass on.
