I was wondering if you know of any resources or other information about comb spike number inheritance, specifically rose comb but open to anything. I haven't found a whole lot about breeding for a specific number of spikes and that's one of the main things I'm working on in my flock. (My bird sideblog is disabledhomestead)
There is the Rugged/Smooth Comb genes.
Rugged is wild type, it creates regular single combs and with the rose comb gene it creates a rougher, bumpier texture with larger papillae.
Below is an excerpt about the smooth mutation.
"Â SMOOTH COMB, he^iÂ
Autosomal recessive; He + > he^iÂ
The recessive allele of a two allele locus which influences comb appearance. When homozygous it produces a smooth surface rose comb in day-old chicks and in adults it makes the rose comb less bulky, relatively smooth with few to no papillae, its influence on a single comb is one of reducing the number of points when compared with its dominant allele. The penetrance of this allele in chicks is incomplete among males."
Source is the International Registry of Poultry Genetics Stocks. (Everyone interested in a deep dive into poultry genetics check out this source, it is useful.)
In conclusion, more spikes is dominant over less spikes.
If you are talking about triple spike rose combs, according to Kristen Garrison they are mostly dominant.
The texture gene she is talking about is the Rugged Comb gene.
