Purple comb on rooster

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ksguy

ksguy

Songster
Jun 9, 2015
151
49
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Kansas
Hi - my 19 week old rooster Moe has developed some purplish tinting on the back half of his comb. We've been experiencing true autumn weather lately, especially overnight, recently dipping down into the 40's. Within the last 2 weeks he's started crowing and started trying to mount the pullets, so I know he's going through hormone changes. His voice sounds normal, and he's acting normally - normal activity level, normal appetite, etc.

Is this normal, or something to worry about? I feel like his comb and wattles are especially large for his age, so I wonder if it's just a circulation issue?

 
It might be a circulatory or respiratory issue. In other words it's blue because blood either doesn't have enough oxygen or because the blood isn't being circulated properly. Chilling (is the weather very cold?) is one way to cut circulation to the comb.

Other things can affect comb colour, though I find when hens are molting the comb tends to go smaller and paler rather than blue.

Perhaps more commonly if the roost area has built up a little too much with droppings, ammonia can harm the lungs and therefore make the combs go dark. That's easily fixed but it does open the door to other respiratory complaints, so it's always a good idea to keep roost sheds fairly clean (so you can't smell ammonia easily).

Blue combs can also be from respiratory disease and from cardiac (heart) trouble, e.g. ascites (also known as 'water belly'). I'm sure there are other possible causes too.

-Erica

Hello, I quoted this from another conversation, and i agree with it.
 
Thank you for the post. When I was hanging out with them today, his comb was back to completely red. Weird. I'll just keep an eye on it.
 
I'm new to chickens and have a 25wk old roo who gets the same purple tips at the back of his comb. I noticed he gets the purple more often on the days he crows more. Maybe he needs to catch his breath! It usually goes away and it isn't like that all the time, and he didn't get it when it was super cold out. I noticed he also doesn't crow as much when it is cold or rainy outside.
 

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