All about chickens' Combs and Wattles
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 ก.ย. 2024
- All chickens have combs and wattles even though they might be very small and not obvious. Other birds have them too. Even a dinosaur, the Edmontosaurus, had a fleshy comb on its head, very like a rooster.
In general, younger chickens have small combs and wattles and they get bigger as the chicken gets older. This also occurs in the opposite direction - when a hen goes off the lay her comb gets smaller and paler. So the size and colour of a hen’s comb is an indication of whether she is laying or not.
Roosters have bigger combs and wattles than hens do.
And there are differences between different breeds of chicken too - Mediterranean breeds like Leghorns have bigger combs and wattles than chicken breeds from colder climates.
Most combs and wattles are red, but they can be other colours - the combs and wattles of Silkie chickens are black or a very dark mulberry.
In a poultry show the shape and proportions of the comb and wattles are important for judging - an extra spike or uneven sides will lose points.
The size and shape of the comb and wattles are also used by the chickens themselves to help recognize other chickens. Did you know chickens can recognize up to 100 individual chickens?
Chickens' combs and wattles function as cooling devices. Chickens can’t sweat but their comb and wattles carry blood to the skin to be cooled.
Their other major purpose is for sexual display. Hens are most attracted to roosters with a big comb and wattles. It’s also true that roosters are more attracted to hens who have bigger combs and wattles.
The single comb shape is genetically recessive to all other comb shapes. That’s why Wyandottes with a single comb can suddenly crop up in the chicks of apparently pure Wyandottes many generations after the last breeding with a bird with a single comb.
Roosters that are purebred for the rose comb tend to be less fertile than roosters that carry at least one gene for a single comb, even though both roosters actually have a rose comb shaped comb, so it seems that the genes for comb shape must be close on the chromosome to genes for fertility.
A chicken’s comb contains a lot of a substance called hyaluronan, a gel kind of substance similar to the lubricating fluid in your joints. It has several uses in medicine, including to treat osteoarthritis of the knee, in ophthalmic surgery and to make artificial tears for a condition called Dry Eye, and as a dermal filler for facial wrinkles and lip augmentation. Early formulations of hyaluronan were made from roosters’ combs, but these days most preparations are made by bacterial fermentation.
A chicken’s comb can tell you a lot about the health of the chicken.
If the comb is pale and too floppy for the breed, that might mean the chicken is suffering from anaemia, perhaps caused by mites, worms or coccidiosis.
If the comb is blue, that might be a condition called cyanosis in which not enough oxygen is getting to the blood, because of heart or breathing problems, including avian influenza.
If the comb has white powdery spots, like sprinkled flour, that might be a fungal condition called Favus, also known as avian ringworm.
White or yellow nodules or bumps might be a symptom of fowl pox, which is not, by the way, the same as chicken pox.
Black patches, especially on the edges, are typical of damage by frostbite. Naturally enough, chickens with big combs and wattles are more at risk of frostbite damage than are chickens with smaller ones.
Black marks on the comb can also be a scab from pecking injury. Chickens sometimes peck each other to reinforce the pecking order , and the other chicken’s head and comb are a convenient target. The comb is very vascular and if it gets pecked it can bleed a lot. If pecking injuries are minor and occasional you don’t need to be concerned, unless of course you needed your chicken looking perfect for a show. But if pecking injuries are frequent and serious, you might need to work out who is the bully of the flock and either remove the bully or separate out his victim.
So now you know all about those ornamental decorations on your chicken’s head, and you too can appreciate and admire when they indicate that your chicken is healthy.
If you want to learn more about chickens, check out my playlist Amazing Facts about chickens. I bet you’ll learn something new.
For more fascinating facts, hints and tips about caring for your chickens, and the sheer pleasure of chickens, subscribe to my channel: Chickens in my garden - New Zealand
/ chickensinmygarden
Catch up with me on Facebook / chickensinmygarden
Or if you are more interested in gardens than chickens, you can follow my garden page / myplentifulgarden
Next time you hold one of your chickens, rub their wattles. Chickens love that.
i actually think chickens are cuter with small combs!
Becuz if their combs were bigger, they might be TRANSitioning...😏🐔->🐓
Very informative about comb and relationship to fertility!
You must be watching lots of my videos. Thank you 🙂
Thank you for all the useful information. Found your video helpful & educational. Was looking for a video to explain the purpose of the chicken's combs for my little 1 who asked when we found yours. So glad we did too!
Thank you. I'm not sure how old your little one is but I'm 68 and I still have questions about such things and love to find out and share the answers.
Have a great day 🙂🐥🐥
I love your water tank with float😍 I think you know the best thing! Do you have a video how to make that??
This one?
th-cam.com/video/qQwo3laMjOQ/w-d-xo.html
Excellent. Thank you🐔
Thank you for saying so 🙂
I have a chicken named Ambra and she's been broody four times the last year❤.She is very cute and she has 2 combs that look like they are glued together.
Love this video! I especially love all the footage of the chickens! I think I like the smaller combs, but do admire the big combs. You didn't mention the "rose" comb. I have one Dominic hen; she has a "rose" comb. It's very cute. The comb on the chicken that you used for the cover of this video, is very nice!
Thank you.
Lovely to hear from you again.
The chicken on the cover is supposed to have a single comb, hers is just wonky. But it's kind of fun 🙂
I have 23 chickens. My 2 favorites are the smallest. My serama hen loves to be with us indoors. I made a pen from an old dog kennel. Her husband stays outside. He's small, but has a very loud crowd. He has a nice headdress though! Her name is Little One. The roosters name is Foghorn Leghorn.
I love that name - Foghorn Leghorn 😀
Great video as always.. Keep it up, and we’ll keep watching.
Thank you 🙂🙂
AKA birds have been around for a long time
I put a Rhode Island Red rooster in with my hens a wk and half ago my hens have all together quit laying, does anyone know why!
Well, they could be stressed by the presence of the rooster. Stress will make hens go off the lay, and since some eggs are already in the pipeline it takes a couple of days for the stress to result in absence of eggs. Introducing any new member to a flock results in a rearrangement of the pecking order.
Since they have all gone off the lay, whatever the cause is is something that has affected all of them
Good Video/Info.
Thank you 🙂
Just like our faces turn red like blushing. You can smell if a woman is happy
Hi. this is one of the best chicken videos Ive ever seen! Thanks. One question: Do you know why do some chcickens have rosecomb? Is there a specific origin we should know about?
Well it's genetic.
And the gene for rose comb is dominant over single comb so a chicken with even one rose comb gene will have a rose-shape comb.
And the gene for rose comb is associated with lower fertility in roosters so it must have some other selective advantage.
The rose shape comb is less subject to frostbite than the single comb.
So my guess is that the rose comb originally arose in chickens that lived somewhere cold - maybe high in a mountainous area.
And now of course chicken breeders select their breeding stock to perpetuate the rose comb in certain breeds, to meet the accepted Breed Standard.
That's my best answer 🙂
@@chickensinmygarden So it might be possible that single comb chickens lived in mountainous areas and their genes mutated. I remember having read about the single-to-rose comb mutation. I appreciate your answer. Greetings from the South of Chile!
Chile ! Some interesting chicken breeds come from there 🙂
👍❤🥰
plz make a video about aseel roosters...this is a game bird from asia especially in pakistan and india...i also have one...also i am facing problems about viral diseases in my roosters
I expect you know more about them than I do
@@chickensinmygarden No I don't think so but do you wanna see my rooster???
I bet he's beautiful 🐥
@@chickensinmygarden hey I need to show you my roosters....can I get your number I mean what's aap??? I just love roosters and I want your moral support for farming
You can email me. Chickensinmygarden@gmail.com
My rooster have a huge comb....i think its the world record he is 11 months old.....plz do guide
Different breeds have different size combs. The rooster with the biggest comb that I have had is in this video, about 2:43
@@chickensinmygarden do u know the world record for that......and how we can measure
Its just like that the big one
No. I tried to find out for you but I couldn't.
@@chickensinmygarden thank you for helping
Yep, for sure, a person will learn watching THE Kiwi chicken channel. Mine are living inside a converted garden shed of which the coldest Winter temperature so far has been -15°C. There is no evidence of frostbite. Your remark re: coop humidity is completely accurate, dear Lady. A duct fan, 2 opened windows and door provide fresh air. Manure on the roosting bars is hard as cement; however, my trusty drywall taping knife lifts it with ease. There are a dozen hens and two roosters in the flock. An application for a zoning by-law ammendment is currently underway. No roosters and a maximum of 5 hens are allowed. I feel so much emotion over the prospect of having to part with my pets, and would value any insight which you and your husband may have to impart, Madam. Adieu! 🐔
Thank you for your kind compliments.
And thanks for sharing your experience with the kind of really low temperatures that we just don't get here.
I know what you mean about not wanting to part with your roosters and some of your hens. When we moved from the country to town last year I had to downsize my flock considerably, and no roosters are allowed here either so my breeding days are over. I do buy fertile eggs to hatch but I miss my gorgeous roosters.
Sorry I don't have any tips for you about getting your zoning bylaw stopped except to explain how beneficial chickens are for people's physical health and mental well-being (do you know they even have visiting chickens in old people's homes in the UK, and chickens are good therapy for autistic children? ) and to gather signatures from as many supporters as possible.
Good luck 🙂