For the Rooster, Size Matters: How Size of Hen's Comb Is Linked to Ability to Lay More Eggs

ScienceDaily (Sep. 4, 2012) — A lone rooster sees a lot of all the hens in the flock, but the hen with the largest comb gets a bigger dose of sperm -- and thus more chicks. This sounds natural, but behind all this is humanity's hunger for eggs.

For thousands of years, people have tinkered with the development of domestic chickens. Through selective breeding for a few characteristics such as large muscle mass and increased egg-laying, we have at the same time caused numerous other radical changes in appearance and behaviour. A research group at Linköping University in Sweden has now shown how the size of a hen's comb is bound up with the ability to lay more eggs. The results have been presented in the scientific journal PLoS Genetics.

Continued:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/09/120904100041.htm