Are these benign?

[slukeplass22]

Two of my ~4 month old pullets have two types of marks on their faces. One was sold as a Sapphire Gem at Rural King (with a sign showing a light and dark color variation), the other was sold as a barred rock but I think she’s a black Australorp.

Marks

1): Black patches on the face and comb, as if their skin was dyed black. I’ve seen these on the skin around the eyes and beak but never on the combs. Is this normal?

2): Brown marks on the earlobes. These are flat and brown, they look like sunspots. They don’t look like fowlpox to me.

Both pullets are healthy otherwise and haven’t had any issues. The sapphire gem one just started laying eggs around this time. Her wings are slightly drooped today (like when they spread their wings out because of heat), but she’s otherwise fine. She competes with the big chickens for treats and is an egg layer like I said earlier. The other pullet is just normal, no eggs yet from her (or any of the other pullets I have).

I’m giving garlic in the water and spraying colloidal silver on the faces of both.

Advice?

 

[slukeplass22]

Two of my ~4 month old pullets have two types of marks on their faces. One was sold as a Sapphire Gem at Rural King (with a sign showing a light and dark color variation), the other was sold as a barred rock but I think she’s a black Australorp.

Marks

1): Black patches on the face and comb, as if their skin was dyed black. I’ve seen these on the skin around the eyes and beak but never on the combs. Is this normal?

2): Brown marks on the earlobes. These are flat and brown, they look like sunspots. They don’t look like fowlpox to me.

Both pullets are healthy otherwise and haven’t had any issues. The sapphire gem one just started laying eggs around this time. Her wings are slightly drooped today (like when they spread their wings out because of heat), but she’s otherwise fine. She competes with the big chickens for treats and is an egg layer like I said earlier. The other pullet is just normal, no eggs yet from her (or any of the other pullets I have).

I’m giving garlic in the water and spraying colloidal silver on the faces of both.

Advice?

I will add that the sapphire gem has been picked on a lot. All of them have been picked on but especially the sapphire, since she’s one of my family member’s favorite chickens and one of my Orpingtons seems envious over that.

 

[slukeplass22]

Two of my ~4 month old pullets have two types of marks on their faces. One was sold as a Sapphire Gem at Rural King (with a sign showing a light and dark color variation), the other was sold as a barred rock but I think she’s a black Australorp.

Marks

1): Black patches on the face and comb, as if their skin was dyed black. I’ve seen these on the skin around the eyes and beak but never on the combs. Is this normal?

2): Brown marks on the earlobes. These are flat and brown, they look like sunspots. They don’t look like fowlpox to me.

Both pullets are healthy otherwise and haven’t had any issues. The sapphire gem one just started laying eggs around this time. Her wings are slightly drooped today (like when they spread their wings out because of heat), but she’s otherwise fine. She competes with the big chickens for treats and is an egg layer like I said earlier. The other pullet is just normal, no eggs yet from her (or any of the other pullets I have).

I’m giving garlic in the water and spraying colloidal silver on the faces of both.

Advice?

Will upload photos in a little bit

 

[slukeplass22]

Will upload photos in a little bit

This is the sapphire gem. As I noted earlier some of the marks near the back of the comb are from some sort of fighting. But near the front of the comb, on the rest of the face, and on the earlobes I'm not sure what is going on.

 

[slukeplass22]

This is the australorp. Not sure if it's just the light that's making her eye look a weird color (edit: I think it is the light). I'll check that tomorrow. Her eye has always been shaped like this.

 

[slukeplass22]

Two of my ~4 month old pullets have two types of marks on their faces. One was sold as a Sapphire Gem at Rural King (with a sign showing a light and dark color variation), the other was sold as a barred rock but I think she’s a black Australorp.

Marks

1): Black patches on the face and comb, as if their skin was dyed black. I’ve seen these on the skin around the eyes and beak but never on the combs. Is this normal?

2): Brown marks on the earlobes. These are flat and brown, they look like sunspots. They don’t look like fowlpox to me.

Both pullets are healthy otherwise and haven’t had any issues. The sapphire gem one just started laying eggs around this time. Her wings are slightly drooped today (like when they spread their wings out because of heat), but she’s otherwise fine. She competes with the big chickens for treats and is an egg layer like I said earlier. The other pullet is just normal, no eggs yet from her (or any of the other pullets I have).

I’m giving garlic in the water and spraying colloidal silver on the faces of both.

Advice?

I did some research and I believe I found out what’s going on with the black spots on the face/comb. It’s something called melanosis. It’s a genetic trait that causes the skin to appear darker in patches or on the entire bird. There are different variations manifest differently, but based on what I have I believe this is what the face stuff is.

As for the earlobes, maybe it is this too? I’ve been reading a paper on the melanosis in chickens but haven’t found anything conclusive.

The earlobe patches start out small with a slight darkening of the skin, before rising, flattening, and enlarging with increased darkening. I have a similar spot on my neck to what these hens have that appeared in very early puberty. A third one of my pullets has this now, and this is how it’s starting on her. Curiously, all these pullets came from a Rural King as chicks. RK gets their chicks from Hoover Hatchery I believe.

It’s definitely not fowl pox, which starts out pale and becomes black.

https://www.researchgate.net/profil...mestic-chickens.pdf?origin=publication_detail