Comb coming off? Oil slick on the head?

[Daniellebell1]

Help, please!
I have 4 hens, all a little over a year old. (No roosters.) They free-range in my medium-sized backyard during the day, and sleep in a secure coop at night. We had a spate of fowl pox in December, but only one of them seemed to have a really hard time with it. Ladybird had a couple of little black spots that faded quickly.

Ladybird is (to the best of my knowledge) a New Hampshire Red, and has been pretty much the number 2 chicken in the pecking order since I got them at a couple weeks old. Maybe 3-4 days ago, I saw what looked like slick mud on either side of her comb. But it's been raining a lot, so I didn't worry too much. And since it's been raining so much, we haven't spent much time just hanging out with them and observing. Then today I noticed that the mud-looking-stuff is still there and her comb seems to be coming right off. Like...it looks like someone has started peeling it off from the back like a band-aid.
Aside from the comb, she seems find. She hasn't displayed any unusual behavior, and is still eating, drinking, and pooping enthusiastically. And she seems to be the same weight (although I haven't measured.) None of her sisters have combs-falling-off or mud-stuff on their heads.
She's not my most friendly gal...hard to catch and strongly objects to being held or petted.

So...any thoughts on what could be responsible for ? Or making her head feathers black? And any suggestions about how to help?

With gratitude,
Danielle

 

[Northwest_Wannabe]

More photos would be great if you have anyone else to help hold her! (It's always the wild ones who seem to get hurt huh??) I'm gonna make a guess that the mud you saw (while could also have been mud) might have been dried blood. It looks like an injury at the back, base of the comb (which you probably already know)

Do you know if you have a poultry vet nearby? I've never dealt with comb injuries quite like this, mostly just the aftercare once a piece gets off (either via attack or injury from them getting somewhere they're not supposed to) Part of me wants to say maybe a vet could suture it back into place? or perhaps they'd partially dub her to help take some of the weight off as to not increase the size/tear the wound more? Hopefully someone else can help more specifically with the care to the wound, it could heal on it's own, but it may also need some help.

Without actually being in your yard and coop to look around at everything and poke around, I'm not certain what could have caused it. Maybe she put her head in somewhere and when pulling it out, caught the edge of something and made a small wound/tear? and then the weight of the comb to the side like that made it a bigger wound? It looks like it's scabbing in the area where the combs come off of the head, does it look like it's scabbing, infected or raw there?

 

[Daniellebell1]

@Northwest_Wannabe , thank you for your input!

Tomorrow I'm going to try to clean off the top of her head, and slap on some green goo near the wound area. I think you're probably exactly correct...It makes sense that the black on her head would be dried blood, and I'm only just now able to see the injury. I know they work really hard not to show signs of weakness. And now that I'm thinking about it, I bet I know how she got injured. We've had some trouble keeping our garage door latched...I've never "caught" the chickens in there, but it's possible they went investigating and Ladybird's comb got snagged on something. They also love to stick their heads through the chain-link fence to eat tasty weeds from the neighbor's yard.

I'm not a professional, but it looks like scabbing at the base of the comb, and raw-looking skin underneath. I'll ask my spouse to hold her so I can take more pictures in the morning. If we can get her well without involving the vet, that would be MOST convenient, but I'll find one if I need to!

 

[Northwest_Wannabe]

Chain link fence or garage stuff sounds like a totally possible culprit!

 

[Daniellebell1]

Drat. I've been putting off fixing the garage door because procrastinating is my jam. But I definitely don't want any more chicky injuries! But still, this is a much less scary problem than the hypothetical comb-eating-virus I was imagining.

 

[Daniellebell1]

Just wanted to let y'all know how we're doing over here! What caused the rip in Ladybird's comb is still a mystery, but whatever it was hasn't happened again. I cleaned off the little blood that was left, and administered Green Goo once a day. And now it's healed up! I guess the combs heal fast because they're so highly vascularized? Anyway, there's healthy red tissue, and most of her comb now rests on her forehead like a cap set at a jaunty angle.