birdieopolis

combs + wattlesyes, i'm a bit stuck on fair thoughts these days...when i saw this chicken at the fair and others that had next to no combs or wattles i had to ask why some chickens have extraordinary adornments while others don't. a 4-H chicken dad told me that you can tell the origin of a chicken species by their combs. the larger the comb the more southerly environment it originated in. the combs are used to release excess heat from the bird so mediterranean birds would have huge ones but those that were developed in northern germany would have itty bitty ones. if a bird with a big comb were to live outdoors in a frigid climate the comb would get frost bite. yikes. it's fun to learn new things all the time. now i have a new appreciation for chicken appearance.