Telescoping Comb *pictures*

Glad I am not losing my mind! I knew I had seen it somewhere. Thanks CynthiaM and gubi, solved the mystery for me!

I've raised Wyandottes for a few years now and have had the odd telescopic comb. I have also had the same on Rosecombs. I can't really say if it is generics or not because it occurs very seldom. If it shows up in many birds, then it is a problem and the only thing to do is cull it out. I have been able to fix the telescopic comb by working the spike out slightly and then pulling the leader/spike straight back with a pair of tweezers. It may go back in a bit again but if you check on it and work on it, it will stay out and fill in like normal. The earlier you catch it the better so it has time to correct itself.

I have used these birds for breeding and seem to give normal combs. But I must say that I only had one bird or two birds at most and it didn't seem to throw any more telescopic comb problems. A missing leader is different problem as Heather mention and that is not good and cannot be corrected and will pass that fault on to the off springs. Birds that produce missing leader/spikes must be culled out.

Well Monika don't know what to say about that quote. Wyandotte bantams were introduced into the Standard of Perfection in 1933 I believe. If the Comb wasn't an impotant part of breed type and telescoping combs were already happening I doubt it would have been mentioned as a Disqualifying fault way back then.
To my way of thinking the head is an important part of breed type it's part of what makes this breed a Wyandotte, The head should be pleasing to look at.

I think that it's a lot of this thinking of "so what if this bird has a D.Q" I will use it anyway thinking that has put so many breeds in peril. Lets face it Wynadottes are not an endangered breed lots of them around with out having to use birds that set these types of traits even deeper and believe me these things always come back to bite you somewhere along the line. So with a breed that there is no shortage of: having 30 percent with the said DQ is for me not acceptable esp since some the ones that don't have it will likely carry the gene for it. What about when you sell these offspring most people are not going to tell the buyer Oh Yeah by the way I used a bird that had this bad breed fault. So then the buyer wonders what the He-- when he hatches all these young that are showing up with the said fault.
So I guess if you are never going to sell any birds or if your are going to be honest with the buyers of offspring that you knowingly mate with DQ,s I guess it might be alright but for me and my birds I don't think so.

So to the Wyandotte back- when you place your hand on the back of the bird it should be broad and carry that width from front to back. The back should have a concave sweep to it. To go along with the broad back is a broad breast.
One of the big thing on Wyndottes is the tail esp. in the bantams. One of the main faults in them is the bunny tail(think of just that) The tail should be short and well spread when viewing it from the back and there should be stiff and broad main tail feathers. The angle should be 40 degrees. In my travels I have seen some really stunning Wyndottes both in Large Fowl and Bantam so they are out there.

Rico thanks for your insight on this as although I have had Rosecomb breeds for some years I have not encountered this problem.

Heather

Here are a few of my combs.
The SLW hen with what I think is a telescoping comb.
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Here is the SLW rooster.
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Here is one of the BLRW.
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The roosters were not as cooperative as my hen, but an idea of their combs, not sure if their's are good or not?

Nice, clear pics Hidden. In the first, is that an indent on her comb?

Well I've had no luck finding any pictures of telescoping pea combs. Now I’m really curious to see one. (Would like to see if the picture in my mind matches the reality, because I've learned that is not always the case. )

Great pictures HR, I could use some of your camera skills The first picture looks like a telescoping comb to me, but then I am just learning about this. The third picture looks like a nice comb, there is no telescoping comb or hollow in the center. I can't see too much of the comb in the roo in the second picture but wow nice shape and size! Thanks for posting your pictures.


XOX Monika