Hens head color not looking correct

[autumnbee17]

I have had one hen start looking like this and then in a couple weeks pass away and I don’t know what I should do or even start at. She is a sweet chicken but hated being picked up but was fine when she got held and how she likes being held and wanting me to give her all my attention. This is the start of what my other hen did. I don’t know what to do. Her comb is also going a pale pink to me. Any ideas on what is going on?

 

[Eggcessive]

A comb being pale and having dry skin can be normal in winter when the daylight hours are fewer. But I would look her over for evidence of mites and lice, and treat with permethrin dust or spray if you find any. Here is some reading and pictures about what to look for:
https://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu/pdf/8162.pdf

https://the-chicken-chick.com/poultry-lice-and-mites-identification/

Can you get some Poultry Cell or Poultry NutriDrench and give her 2 ml daily? How old is she? What does she eat? What do her poops look like. Has she laid eggs recently?

 

[ladybug3698]

The combs are a big indicator of a chicken's circulatory health. If it is cold, it will also pale. What happened to the last hen like that?

 

[autumnbee17]

The combs are a big indicator of a chicken's circulatory health. If it is cold, it will also pale. What happened to the last hen like that?

My last hen got very sick and died within two weeks of the comb changing and she was in perfect health. It’s been warm for a couple days now and all my other chicken have bright read coloring on there faces she is the only one.

 

[autumnbee17]

A comb being pale and having dry skin can be normal in winter when the daylight hours are fewer. But I would look her over for evidence of mites and lice, and treat with permethrin dust or spray if you find any. Here is some reading and pictures about what to look for:
https://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu/pdf/8162.pdf

https://the-chicken-chick.com/poultry-lice-and-mites-identification/

Can you get some Poultry Cell or Poultry NutriDrench and give her 2 ml daily? How old is she? What does she eat? What do her poops look like. Has she laid eggs recently?

She will be 2 in end of April. She doesn’t lay eggs daily but once in a while now. Her poop looks normal. She eats like everyone else but gets a far look like she can’t see where the food is in distance. I was watching her yesterday and she had trouble getting on a perch bar outside. And this morning she was laying on the floor by the door. This is the second time I have seen her do that.

 

[Eggcessive]

Chickens can have eye problems. Can you look at them and note if the color and pupils look normal, and the same on both. Is there any cloudiness of the pupils? You might want to take her aside, and offer a small bowl of wet chicken feed, some vitamins, and a bit of cooked egg or tuna, to see if she will eat by herself a couple of times a day.

 

[Henry&Friends]

Could you also use DE against mites or lice?

 

[autumnbee17]

Chickens can have eye problems. Can you look at them and note if the color and pupils look normal, and the same on both. Is there any cloudiness of the pupils? You might want to take her aside, and offer a small bowl of wet chicken feed, some vitamins, and a bit of cooked egg or tuna, to see if she will eat by herself a couple of times a day.

Her eggs look the same no cloudiness. She just like to hang around everyone but she hasn’t the two days I saw a huge change. Like she can get up on the perch bars and I have two at different heights. I tried looking at her wings and she did not like me touching them and normally my girls don’t care what I do when I’m doing my monthly check on them.

 

[autumnbee17]

Can I put DE onto her back?

 

[Eggcessive]

DE is worthless if she has a mite infestation. It also can be irritating to eyes and breathing. Try to find any lice or mites by giving a thorough skin exam. Usually you may see them under the vent on the abdomen, under wings, and around the neck. There may be brown specks of mite dirt, and or clumps of lice eggs at the base of feathers. Some mites only come out at night, so examining then with a flahslight might be helpful. I would not treat unless I saw evidence.

Some hens her age and older can suffer from reproductive disorders (internal laying, egg yolk peritonitis, salpingitis, ascites.) Feel of her lower abdomen between the legs to check for any enlargement. They may lose weight, and when you pick them up or feel of their breats bone.