Chicken Combs: Problems and Care

Jessica Mitchell: Welcome to the Mother Earth News and Friends podcast. At Mother Earth News for 50 years and counting, we’ve been dedicated to conserving the planet’s natural resources while helping you conserve your financial resources. In this podcast, we host conversations with experts in the fields of sustainability, homesteading, natural health, and more to share all about how you can live well wherever you are in a way that values both people and our Mother Earth.

So settle in, and enjoy today’s episode.

We’d like to thank our sponsor for this episode, Brinsea. That’s B R I N S E A, chicken incubation specialists. They’ve been focusing on egg incubator design [00:01:00] continuously since 1976, resulting in egg incubators, chick brooders, and incubation accessories. They offer unparalleled practicality, reliability, superior hatch rates, and healthy chicks. Innovation you can trust.

[00:01:17] Introducing Heather Levin

Kenny Coogan: Good day, everyone, and we appreciate you for joining us on another exciting Mother Earth News and Friends podcast. I am Kenny Coogan, and joining me today is Heather Levin, an educator, herbalist, and chicken wrangler of 30 plus chickens. Today, we’re going to discuss chicken combs. Heather Levin is the founder of the Backyard Chickens Summit and Chicken Health Academy, a pioneering online learning academy that teaches natural and emerging chicken care strategies. Welcome to the podcast, Heather.

Heather Levin: [00:02:00] Thank you so much for having me on. I’m really looking forward to talking about chicken combs with you.

[00:02:04] What Is a Chicken Comb?

Kenny Coogan: All right. So the first question is, what is a chicken comb?

Heather Levin: So, the, a chicken comb is a fleshy red organ on top of the chicken’s head. Sometimes it can be purplish, like in Sebrights, or entirely black, such as in the Ayam Cemani chickens. But most chickens have just a regular red comb on the top of their head.

Kenny Coogan: The title of this podcast is “Chicken Combs,” but do other types of poultry or do other birds have what we call a comb?

Heather Levin: As far as I can tell, it’s really just chickens, turkeys, and pheasants that have combs. And pheasants just have really small ones. You almost can’t even see them when you’re looking at their heads, so they’re very tiny, but it’s really just those those three breeds as far as I know.

Kenny Coogan: And what does the chicken comb do for a chicken?

Heather Levin: Well, the [00:03:00] chicken comb has several different functions. One of the most important is it acts like an air conditioner for chickens because they don’t sweat like we do. So they have to have some way to cool off when it’s really hot out. And the comb and the waddles are one way that they do that. So, because the comb is not covered with any feathers, the blood vessels are very close to the air’s surface. So as the blood is circulating next to the cooler air compared to the chicken’s body temperature, the blood can cool off, and it in turn cools the whole chicken off.

It’s pretty much the same way like when you are working outside and you get really hot and you put like a cold wrap, a cold wet wrap around your neck, and that will kind of cool off your whole, your whole body. Well, it’s the same way with chickens. So the, the comb really just helps them cool off, especially because they have such a high body temperature. Their, their body temperatures ranges from 104 to 107 [00:04:00] degrees. So the comb is just really important for helping them stay cool because they, they really suffer when it’s, when it’s hot out.

Breeds that are better suited for hot climates are going to have a really large comb because it’s just easier for them to cool off. And then breeds that are better suited for colder climates are going to have a much smaller comb because they just, they don’t need that cooling system.

Another important function of the comb is to kind of work in mate selection. So we all know that roosters have really big showy combs compared to the hen. And one of the assumptions is like the bigger the comb, the better the mate is going to be. But there’s actually research out. It was a 2012 study in behavioral ecology, where researchers discovered that size has less to do with virility in roosters compared to color. So roosters [00:05:00] that have a really dark red comb actually have higher sperm counts compared to roosters with maybe a larger comb, but is less vibrantly red. The, the comb is definitely like a, it’s like a mating beacon, you know, for roosters, like, “I’m super strong, pick me, I’m the best.” And it also can indicate rank. So this isn’t always true, but a lot of times the rooster with the biggest comb will be at the very top of the pecking order. He’ll be like the head roo, and then roosters with smaller combs will often be lower down in the pecking order.

Kenny Coogan: I also noticed that when hens are laying, they have beautiful combs, colorful combs. And then when they’re molting or in the winter, their combs are less vibrant. So there’s a wide range of different types of chicken combs. We have literally hundreds of chicken breeds. Do you know people were consciously breeding for [00:06:00] combs? Or was that like an afterthought of like, oh, this chicken happens to lay more eggs, this chicken has more meat, and they just happen to have a cushion comb or a single comb?

Heather Levin: Yeah, that’s a great question. I’m actually, I, I dug around forever, forever looking for the answer to that question. I could not find it. I did find something interesting. So, these genetic researchers were trying, were looking into breeding hens that just laid more eggs. And they discovered that as they began breeding hens for increased egg laying, the comb naturally got bigger as they were breeding. So just as a rooster’s comb can indicate virility, in hens, it can also indicate that she’s a better egg layer. If, if she has a bigger, brighter red comb, she is more likely to lay more eggs in her lifetime. So I thought that was an interesting study in terms of like breeding, and they kind of found that out by [00:07:00] accident.

But in terms of like the different comb types, as far as I know, it all I was able to find definitively is that just the kind of the common sense knowledge that hens and roosters with bigger combs are better suited for hot climates. And then the, the chickens and roosters with the smaller combs are better off in cold climates. But in terms of the different shapes, I, I don’t even, I have no idea how that came about, but that’s super interesting.

[00:07:27] Nine Types of Chicken Combs

Kenny Coogan: All right, I’m gonna go through the list of nine different comb types, and I would like you to paint the audience a picture, because this is a podcast.

Heather Levin: Okay.

Kenny Coogan: So I want you to describe the combs and then maybe list just a handful of popular breeds that have those types of combs.

So the first comb we’ll go with is a single comb. And I imagine the listeners can imagine what a single comb looks like.

Heather Levin: Yeah, this is definitely the most common type of [00:08:00] comb. When you picture just any breed of chicken, this is probably the comb that you’re going to picture. It’s just a, a single smooth comb that runs just along the center of the chicken’s head from front to back, and contains anywhere from five to seven, like, fleshy, almost like fingers in a glove.

And some breeds that have the single comb, like I said, this is really the most common comb, but you can see it in Leghorns and Australorps, Barred Rocks, and Orpingtons.

Kenny Coogan: You know what the least common type of comb is?

Heather Levin: I think that would probably be the buttercup. Because there, there’s only one breed of chicken that has the buttercup comb, which is the Sicilian Buttercup, is the breed. And that, the buttercup is a warm weather comb. With just, it’s kind of hard to describe this one. It has a short single comb down the center with two larger combs on either side, so it’s almost like you would take a single comb and kind of [00:09:00] split it in half. And if it folded open, you’ve got these two fleshy, they look like single combs, but there’s two of them, with a little ridge going, going right down the middle.

So that’s the buttercup, and there’s only the one breed, the Sicilian Buttercup, that has that one.

Kenny Coogan: All right, the next one we can do is the V comb.

Heather Levin: The V comb is exactly the way it’s said. It’s a V shaped comb with two solid thick points kind of at the base of the beak. They almost look like little devil horns coming out. And there’s just a handful of breeds that have a V shaped comb. And CrèvecÅ”urs and La Flèches and Sultans are three of those that have a V shaped comb.

Kenny Coogan: All right, now whoever named these combs, I think they enjoyed food or they enjoyed flowers. So the next one we can do is the walnut comb. And again, I feel like listeners can imagine what a walnut looks like and you combine it with the comb.

Heather Levin: [00:10:00] Yeah, well, it really does look like a walnut. And Silkies have a walnut comb. You know, if you, if you pull back their beautiful fluffy tops, you can see the walnut. And it really does look like a walnut shell. It’s just a medium sized, very solid comb that kind of looks like a combination of the rose and the pea comb. But it’s just, it’s just kind of like a blob that looks like a walnut.

Kenny Coogan: All right, so you mentioned two other combs. Can you talk about the rose comb?

Heather Levin: Yeah, the rose is a great cold weather comb because it’s very flat and close to the head. So it runs from the base of the beak to the back of the head, and the front two thirds of it are covered in these little small round bumps that kind of looks like the bumps on a rose. So I guess that’s where it gets its name.

But the back end of the rose comb comes to a point. And in some breeds, that point will kind of curve upwards. In others, it’s going to lie just flat against the [00:11:00] head. And Wyandotte’s, Hamburg’s, and Dominique’s are some breeds that have the, the rose comb.

Kenny Coogan: And then you also mentioned the pea comb.

Heather Levin: Yeah, the, the pea comb is another really great comb for cold weather because it’s, it’s very small. So it’s, it’s low and close to the head with three ridges from the top of the beak that goes from the top of the beak to the back of the head. So, in the center of those ridges, there is a center ridge, which is kind of, think of them like little mountain, little mountain ranges. So, there’s two on, two smaller ones on either side, and then the one in the center is slightly higher than the other two. And you can see the pea comb in Brahmas, Sumatras, and Ameraucanas.

Kenny Coogan: All right, and then going back to the flower theme, there’s a carnation comb.

Heather Levin: Yeah, this is another really rare comb. There’s only two breeds that have this comb. The, and I’m going to mess up the pronunciation, I’m sure, the [00:12:00] Empordanesa and Penedesenca. Gosh, those are two really rare breeds that I really don’t know that much about. But the carnation is just a single comb with just random spikes in the back. It kind of looks like a regular single comb that kind of flares out a bit, bit at the, at the very back of it with just spikes coming out the back.

Kenny Coogan: And then the last comb is the cushion comb.

Heather Levin: This is another great comb for the, for cold weather because it’s, it’s round and very smooth without any ridges or points. And it runs from the top of the beak to about the middle of the head. This one is really kind of unique to the others because it is so smooth that there’s no bumps on it. And one breed that I know has this particular comb is the Chantecler chicken.

Kenny Coogan: Now I know we want to focus on saving heritage breeds of chickens, but I wonder if people are interested in breeding like [00:13:00] a new breed or just breeding for fun, if we could get more than these nine types of combs?

Heather Levin: I would, I would think so. Breeding is definitely not one of my specialties, but it seems like if you were selecting particular chickens based on their combs, like, it seems like you would be able to come up with some really unique combinations.

Kenny Coogan: We’re going to take a quick break in our conversation to hear a word from our sponsor. And when we return, we are going to be discussing chicken comb health.

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Kenny Coogan: We are back with Heather Levin, the founder of the Backyard Chickens Summit and Chicken Health Academy.

So we kind of mentioned in the beginning of the podcast that a healthy comb is usually bright, brightly colored. Is there any other defining characteristics of what a healthy comb should look like?

Heather Levin: You can get a feel for how, how a healthy comb should feel so that when, if you suspect that one of your chickens is not doing well, the texture and feel of the comb can kind of, give you a clue as to what’s going on.

A healthy comb is going to feel kind of firm and very pliable. And, you know, it should feel like there is a healthy amount of fluid in the, in the comb. So when a chicken is not doing well, the comb can shrivel and feel very dry ,and just the texture will change subtly. Getting into the [00:15:00] habit of touching your chickens’ combs when they’re, when you know that they’re healthy and getting a feel for what a healthy comb feels like can help you identify problems when they are sick or injured with something.

Kenny Coogan: I’m thinking about the single comb. The listeners can kind of visualize like if you put your hand up on your head with your little fingers, but I know some breeds, they’re supposed to have like a floppy comb. So, I guess the rigidness of the comb doesn’t necessarily have to have them like erect. They could still be floppy and healthy.

Heather Levin: Yeah, so one of the birds in my flock is a Sapphire Gem. She has a very large comb and it’s always flopped over. So I know that that is normal for her. But if one of my other breeds that normally have an erect comb suddenly had a floppy comb, then that would be a huge indicator that something is off and I need to kind of go digging and figure out what is wrong with that chicken. So definitely understanding which, which of your birds normally [00:16:00] have an erect comb and which ones kind of just naturally flop over is, that’s an important factor to pay attention to for sure.

[00:16:06] Chicken Comb Problems: Frostbite

Kenny Coogan: Also at the beginning of the podcast, you were mentioning that some combs are better suited for cold weather or people who are in freezing climates. Can you kind of give a summary of what types of combs would be better for cold weather?

Heather Levin: Oh, for cold weather? Yep. So cold weather combs, you need to look at breeds that have a, as small a comb as possible. The combs that are going to be very close to the chicken’s head, which will reduce the chance of them suffering frostbite in the winter. So breeds like Easter Eggers and Ameraucanas, Orpingtons, Brahmas, and Wyandottes. There’s so, there’s so many that are great for the cold weather, as Cochins and Welsummers. All of those are suited for a cold weather climate.

And then conversely, breeds that are better for hot weather are going to have larger combs that are going to help them stay [00:17:00] cool in the hot weather. So Australorps and Rhode Island Reds, Leghorns, Bard Rocks, Cinnamon Queens, those are all going to have, you know, the bigger, the bigger combs that are, that are going to help them stay cool.

Kenny Coogan: Now for Backyard Poultry Magazine, I wrote an article last year about frostbite in chicken combs. Can you talk maybe a little bit about how to prevent that?

Heather Levin: Yeah, so one of the, one of the most important things to know with frostbite is that it’s not really the temperature that has a lot to do with it. It has more to do with moisture. So if your coop is not well ventilated and that’s coupled with cold temperatures, then frostbite is definitely, it’s definitely a risk for your birds.

And it’s important to know how to spot frostbite so that you can take action to kind of treat it and make sure the rest of your birds aren’t at risk. So any, any type of discoloration in the comb, especially if you see the [00:18:00] tips turning white, that’s an, that’s like signs of early stage frostbite. And eventually, those whitish tips will turn black. But at the beginning, it’s, it’s like a pale yellow or a white color. But definitely during the winter time, you know, just make sure that your coop is well ventilated, especially kind of at the top of the coop. Maybe have some open slats or some windows so that there is at least a little bit of a cross ventilation going on. And then always make sure that the bedding is dry and then you’re not keeping any water inside the coop. And those are, those are just easy ways to, to keep your birds from getting frostbite in the winter.

Kenny Coogan: How would you treat frostbite on a comb?

Heather Levin: If you suspect that your chickens have gotten frostbite on their comb, you definitely want to warm it very slowly with just warm wet rags. Definitely don’t rub it because any type of rubbing is going to cause quite a bit of pain. And you don’t want to trim off the affected tips, because those are actually helping protect [00:19:00] the rest of the comb. So just leave the affected tips on there. Definitely, please don’t trim them off. Just warming slowly, don’t rub. If the comb has blisters on it, you definitely don’t want to pop those, because that blister is acting like a band aid for that wound. And if you think about frostbite, it’s, it’s really similar to a burn, except with, you know, from cold instead of heat.

So last year in Tennessee, where I’m at, we had a really severe cold spell. It was like in minus 20 with the windchill, and my roosters were out during the day. And they ended up getting a little bit of frostbite because they have huge combs. Because here in Tennessee, I’ve got mostly hot weather breeds. So that was just something we were not expecting at all. So some of them did get some frostbite on the tips of their combs. And I treated mine with St. John’s Wort oil that I make here on our homestead, because St. John’s Wort oil is great at preventing infection and relieving pain, [00:20:00] and it’s anti inflammatory. It’s easy to make your own but you can also get that at places like Mountain Rose Herbs, and that’s a great natural way to treat frostbite because it’s, it’s a really great remedy for burns.

And again, that’s, that’s kind of like what frostbite is, it’s a burn. You can also do any type of healing herbal salve, like especially with calendula or comfrey or putting manuka honey on, on the comb can also help speed healing and prevent infection. If it’s a mild frostbite, then aloe vera will work great to just help speed healing.

But just keep in mind, it’s going to take about a month for the bird to completely heal from, from frostbite. So you need to just keep, keep putting these salves or oils on it on a fairly regular basis to help speed healing and prevent infection.

Kenny Coogan: Are there any other problems or injuries that occur during the cold weather?

Heather Levin: You mean just with chickens in general or just with the….

Kenny Coogan: With the chicken combs, or is it [00:21:00] just, is it mainly frostbite?

Heather Levin: I, I think it’s mainly frostbite. I mean, that’s, that’s all I’ve ever experienced with my own flock. There’s definitely other viral infections that can spread. But just from, from the cold really, it’s, it’s frostbite. That’s, that’s the biggest risk in the wintertime.

[00:21:16] Natural Remedies for Chicken Comb Problems

Kenny Coogan: All right. So can you talk a little bit more about those viral conditions or other injuries or diseases that we need to watch out for?

Heather Levin: One, one great way to check for dehydration in your birds in the summertime is to use the comb and you can actually do a press test. In a normal comb, when you squeeze it, there’s so much blood in there that it will refill very quickly, you almost won’t even be able to tell that you pressed it. But in a dehydrated bird that comb is going to be a little bit slower to refill, so it will almost look a little bit white. If it takes about a second for that to fill in, then the bird is roughly 5 percent dehydrated. And if it takes two seconds to refill back in, then the bird is 10 [00:22:00] percent dehydrated. So you can use that squeeze test as a way to test for dehydration and then monitoring how fast it’s refilling. You can kind of gauge, you know, it’s not completely foolproof, but you can at least get an idea of the severity of the dehydration based on how, how quickly that blood refills.

Another common problem with combs is just pecking injuries, especially between roosters. Or if you are adding new birds to your flock and everyone’s trying to figure out where they belong in the pecking order. Pecking injuries to a comb can be pretty common. And I always advise people to try to use like a natural disinfectant if possible if they see a pecking injury, or at least put something natural on it like a calendula oil, or I use yarrow all the time on my chickens. It’s such a great blood stopper and it helps prevent infection and just especially if you have some injuries that are already getting infected. The yarrow can pull that [00:23:00] infection out and prevent new infection from forming. So it’s really, that’s one of those herbs that I think everybody should be growing on their homestead because it’s just so useful.

You can put yarrow in a salve, a beeswax salve, along with calendula and St. John’s Wort oil. That’s kind of like the, the trio of wonderful, wonderful herbs that I love putting in my salves. But yeah, keep an eye out for those pecking injuries because sometimes they can be quite severe and they will bleed really heavily if, if a chicken has gotten real, a real good peck. And that’s when you want to have some type of blood stopper on hand, like yarrow, or you can even purchase like styptic powders on Amazon. Or cornstarch will work in a pinch. But It’s definitely useful to have some of those on hand for those pecking injuries.

[00:23:45] Fowlpox and Other Diseases in Chicken Combs

Kenny Coogan: All right, and then the last thing about chicken health, are there any diseases that are seen in combs?

Heather Levin: Yeah. Fowlpox is one that you can, it’s probably the most prevalent, the dry form of fowl pox, because it’s [00:24:00] really obvious when a chicken has this disease because it really just shows up in the comb and the wattles. So fowlpox is a slow spreading, highly contagious viral infection that looks like chicken pox. So it’s like our version of chicken pox, but for chickens. It spreads through mosquitoes as well as like scabs and feathers and dried blood and dander from infected birds.

Early on in the infection, the lesions on the comb are going to be really small and kind of yellowish, almost like pimples or blisters. And you’re going to be able to see those around the eyes as well as the combs and the wattles and sometimes on the feet. So after those lesions have started appearing over the course of about three to four weeks, they’re going to grow and then get these nasty looking scabs and then turn, turn kind of black, like there’ll be a dark brown or black. And then these scabs eventually are going to fall off. And the, the problem with the [00:25:00] fowlpox is that the, the scabs contain the live virus. So, as these fall off, chickens will eat the scabs or, you know, it’s just, it’s so hard to contain this virus once it appears in your flock.

But thankfully the mortality for the dry form of fowlpox is fairly low. So, you know, you’ll just see these, you know, nasty looking scabs on your chicken’s comb and waddles, and then it’ll run its course and pretty much, you know, just go away after most of your birds have become infected with it. So treating the scabs, everything’s going to fall off on its own, but if you want to put something on it, I always recommend just an herbal salve. Or if you don’t want to make one Green Goo is a brand that I think you can get it on Amazon. They have a lot of really great herbs in their products. And then Vetracin is another great spray for chicken injuries that would be, would be good to put on the, the combs just to help prevent infection and speed [00:26:00] healing.

But the recipe that I like to use and I teach in Chicken Health Academy has calendula and yarrow and myrrh gum powder and golden seal and comfrey in it. That particular salve, I just, I love it so much and use it all the time, but I just put that on pretty much any wound, but you could use those herbs in any type of combination to to help speed healing from fowlpox.

But again, thankfully, the the mortality is really low with that, with that particular infection. So, and it won’t spread to humans, which is another, which is another great thing to know. We don’t have to worry about that.

[00:26:34] Resources for Chicken Keepers

Kenny Coogan: All right. So Heather, you are the founder of the Backyard Chicken Summit and the Chicken Health Academy. Where can listeners go to learn more?

Heather Levin: Everyone can head over to www.ChickenHealthAcademy.com. It’s a, it’s monthly membership that I created that teaches natural and emergency care techniques for backyard chicken keepers. So I do a lot of Zoom lessons with my members and [00:27:00] the, the focus is, is heavily on natural techniques. So I, I teach a lot about how to use herbs to prevent illness and disease. So anybody who wants to learn more, please head over to ChickenHealthAcademy.com to, to find out more.

Kenny Coogan: Excellent. And for those following along in the show notes, the link will be in the description.

So thank you so much, Heather, for speaking with us. Our conversation on chicken combs and their health has been very educational and inspiring.

Heather Levin: Thank you.

Kenny Coogan: And remember, no matter how brown your thumb is, you can always cultivate kindness.

[00:27:36] Podcast Credits and Brinsea Ad

Jessica Mitchell: Thanks for joining us for this episode of Mother Earth News and Friends. To listen to more podcasts, to learn more, and get connected on our social media, visit our website, www.MotherEarthNews.com/P odcast. You can also email us at Podcast@OgdenPubs.com with any questions or suggestions.

Our podcast production team includes [00:28:00] Jessica Mitchell, Kenny Coogan, John Moore, Carla Tilghman, and Alyssa Warner.

Music for this episode is “Travel Light” by Jason Shaw. The Mother Earth News and Friends podcast is a production of Ogden Publications.

Thanks again to Brinsea, our sponsor for this Mother Earth News and Friends podcast episode. You too can experience the Brinsea difference and maximize your hatch rates with Brinsea incubators that monitor temperature and humidity and are made of antimicrobial materials.

Brinsea ships worldwide and provides stellar customer support to answer all your questions. Hatch your chicks with Brinsea, the leader in innovative incubation research. Learn more at Brinsea.com. Again, that’s www.Brinsea.com .

Until next time, don’t forget to love your [00:29:00] mother.

Meet Heather Levin

Heather Levin is an educator, herbalist, and chicken wrangler of 30+ chickens. She’s also the founder of The Backyard Chickens Summit and Chicken Health Academy, a pioneering online learning academy that teaches natural and emergency chicken care strategies.

Additional Resources on Chicken Comb Problems

Learn more about Heather and the Chicken Health Academy

Thanks to Brinsea for sponsoring this episode!

Our Podcast Team

Jessica Mitchell, Kenny Coogan, John Moore, Carla Tilghman, and Alyssa Warner
Music: “Travel Light” by Jason Shaw

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