I have 20 five-week old chicks and 3 guinea keets in a brooder getting ready to go out into a separate but adjacent pen next to my adult flock of 14 birds. I've been watching this one chick in particular, because I noticed a week or so ago that it's comb looked really odd. I thought that perhaps it was just an weird stage of growth - as though the base of the comb is growing faster than the points - but it's not changing or improving. I'll attach a couple of pictures because it's difficult to describe. The closest similar description I found on here was of an "inverted" rose comb? This is a single-comb bird, though. Also, his eyes have more visible white conjunctiva(?) in front of the iris than the other chicks, so at first I was worried about something infectious.
More details - this is a black jersey giant and I'm pretty sure it's a roo because of the bright wattles already growing. The red area of the comb matches the wattles in color. I got all the chicks at the same time from the same hatchery, when all were 1-5 days old. None, including this guy, have shown signs of illness, though it's apparent that three others are smaller/slower growers. This guy is good sized, acts normal, has no discharge, and breathing is clear and normal. I keep the chicks in a home-made cardboard box brooder with pine shavings over paper. We've taken them to an outside pen just a couple of times (it hasn't been warm enough!) to introduce them to the sun and grass/weeds. So there has been exposure to the outdoors and various plants.
Has anyone ever seen anything like this? It just seems really unlikely to me that it could be anything infectious without illness developing by now, but I'd love others' opinions.
More details - this is a black jersey giant and I'm pretty sure it's a roo because of the bright wattles already growing. The red area of the comb matches the wattles in color. I got all the chicks at the same time from the same hatchery, when all were 1-5 days old. None, including this guy, have shown signs of illness, though it's apparent that three others are smaller/slower growers. This guy is good sized, acts normal, has no discharge, and breathing is clear and normal. I keep the chicks in a home-made cardboard box brooder with pine shavings over paper. We've taken them to an outside pen just a couple of times (it hasn't been warm enough!) to introduce them to the sun and grass/weeds. So there has been exposure to the outdoors and various plants.
Has anyone ever seen anything like this? It just seems really unlikely to me that it could be anything infectious without illness developing by now, but I'd love others' opinions.
