? about combs on my chicks

[Guest]

I bought eggs from someone off eggbid. After 2 chicks hatched one has the pea comb and the other one has a single looking comb.  Here are pictures of both chicks. Any info would be great. Thanks

Here is her post.
You are bidding on six hatching eggs from my flock of exhibition quality blues and blacks. I have several Champion and Reserve Champion AOSB birds in my flock. I don\'t often show at the local fairs, so you\'ll have to accept my results from the ABA/APA sanctioned shows My flock is NPIP certified with a bleed date of 01/12/07, #43-437.

[Jean]

Give your chicks a little more time, it\'s a little early to determine what kind of comb they have.

I have had birds I thought I would cull because they looked like single combs but as the bird got bigger the comb matured also and they turned out to be pea combs.

Your pictures are too small for me to see any detail.

The lady on eggbid does have real ameraucanas, I believe she is a memberof the ABC.  

Jean

[Guest]

Ok thanks I emailed her but she didn\'t answer my question but one does have the points of a single comb.

[John]

Single combs, clean faces and such do do up from time to time in some strains.  The recessive genes may not some up for generations and then one day you hatch some chicks and wonder what happened.
Buying hatching eggs is always risky and I don\'t recommend it.
Sorry for the disappointment.

[Guest]

Thanks for the info its just I\'ve never had one before with what looks to be a single comb. It is cute and I guess I will let my niece have that one as a pet.

[Mike Gilbert]

This could only happen if BOTH parents of the chick were impure for the pea comb gene.   If I were this lady, I would re-evaluate my selection of breeding stock, especially if she is going to be selling hatching eggs.   In her defense, it may be next to impossible to tell which chickens are impure for the right comb unless a test mating is done, but usually their combs are a bit high, narrow, or misshapen, especially in the males.   Another thing to watch for is to make sure they have three rows of tiny points, and we should  try to select breeders whose combs are fairly wide at the base.