I have searched and searched and serched. Still nothing on my question so, here we go. My vets do not have an answer yet either. I noticed the other day that both of my seabright hens are having "issues" with their combs. I can't really explain these issues so tomorrow I will go and take a picture of them. They seem to be shriveling up, but the chickens are fine and dandy. They are less than six months old so its not old age. Vitamin defficiency? Lacking something other than vitamins? Health problem? Has anyone else experienced this or something similiar or at least heard of something like it? Just as a side note, these are not just back yard chickens for yard ornaments, I spend alot of time with them and they are very well kept. But could the rooster be doing some damage?
Did they recently molt and stop laying? Combs tend to shrivel up a bit and grow paler in the fall when the birds molt and stop laying. They plump and brighten up again when the bird starts laying.
I'm not sure if this is what is happening or not, but one of my girls was getting pecked on and she was really stressed out. She would run from her attacker and her comb started to "shrink" and was not as red as it was before. The problem has since resolved and her comb has grown back and is bright red.
I believe mine may be in the same situation as your pecked one. All of my birds are laying regularly right now so I know thats not an issue. I'm just hoping its not a disease of some sort but I could see the rooster pecking the 2 smaller hens.
