Comb and wattle receded

[UKchooks]

Hi, looking for some advice on one of my 3-year-old Leghorn girls. She's off lay and her comb and wattle have receded noticeably and are paler than usual. Other than that, she seems healthy - crop normal, feet normal, droppings normal, eating well and still bossing the others about (she's flock leader). She's not about to go into moult as she moulted about 5 months ago. The rest of the flock are fine - not a lot of eggs but they're quite elderly so don't expect loads (my two leghorns are the youngest). Any idea what could be causing these symptoms?

 

[Perris]

I would guess from your description that she's dealing with a health challenge, so her body is diverting resources to her immune system.

Since she appears and behaves normally, I would just leave her to deal with it; interfering with her diet and/ or immune system could do more harm than good at this stage. Watch and wait is my advice.

 

[Yardmom]

The smaller paler comb are normal for a hen that is not laying. Did she take a break from laying during her molt? Any current known stresses that could keep her from laying?

 

[MysteryChicken]

Hi, looking for some advice on one of my 3-year-old Leghorn girls. She's off lay and her comb and wattle have receded noticeably and are paler than usual. Other than that, she seems healthy - crop normal, feet normal, droppings normal, eating well and still bossing the others about (she's flock leader). She's not about to go into moult as she moulted about 5 months ago. The rest of the flock are fine - not a lot of eggs but they're quite elderly so don't expect loads (my two leghorns are the youngest). Any idea what could be causing these symptoms?

I sometimes have chickens molt twice. Once before winter, & once before spring, or during spring, or summer.

Stress may cause a hen to go off lay, or possibly a stress molt. So keep an eye for dropped feathers.

 

[UKchooks]

Thank you all! We do have foxes around and they've been quite vocal recently (mating calls), so maybe this is stressing her? (Their run is fully enclosed with a small-grade stainless steel hardware cloth - I learnt my lesson the hard way!) Yes, both the leghorns moulted at the same time and both stopped laying then, but they were laying again until this girl stopped recently.

Could worms be the issue? Should I do a worm test?