Is this the same chicken?

[emilysteng]

Hi - I have read about hens' combs getting bigger during laying and then getting smaller after hatching? I didn't know about this till now - so my question is about this wild chicken friend of mine - who we called Sakka. Sakka had been coming around to eat since about August - she was still developing. This is how she looked around October:

Around the end of November she started coming around once a day - we assumed she had a clutch of eggs because she was acting like my other hen when she was sitting on eggs - all crazy and in a rush to eat. At that time her comb got really huge and floppy and she even had a wattle. Here she is then:

For awhile she stopped coming around. Then one day we heard lots of peeps and there was a chicken out in the bushes with what must have been 10 or 11 little chicks. She wouldn't come very close but I thought it looked like Sakka. Every few days we'd hear her around, but just this week she started coming around closer so I got a picture of her. But she didn't have the big comb and wattle at all. Here she is:

So I thought, oh, that's not Sakka. Must be one of the other many hens around who look like her. THEN, yesterday it was raining and the chicks were out near the house and this chicken came up to the outdoor refrigerator where we keep the chicken food and asked for food - just like Sakka did. So I gave her some food and she ate some and ran off back to the chicks - who were loudly peeping nearby. This is the only picture I got of her before she ran off.

So I thought, well that must be Sakka. No one else would come up to me like that and ask for food. That's when I looked up the comb shrinking thing. So is that what happened to her? Just got really big when she was laying and then shrunk down again? Even the wattle disappears sometimes too? You think this is her in all the pictures? So interesting.

 

[Illia]

The comb will shrink when a hen is brooding (either over the eggs or even in taking care of chicks) and will get larger when she's laying. All those photos looked like the same hen except for one, which who knows, maybe it's just the photo. Very pretty game hen though

 

[happyhens44]

I believe thats the same hen, but with chicks now

 

[emilysteng]

Thanks.

She's a funny chicken. Which picture did you think didn't look the same? One of the ones with the chicks? Yesterday I wasn't totally sure she was the mom because this flock of chickens hangs out in the same area. There's a rooster and five hens - four of which look just like Sakka. And yesterday when she came to beg for food, they were out there right where all the chicks were peeping. But then again, I just talked to my friend - whose parents are here for the weekend so are at the house (the nursery where I work - that is where these chickens are). Anyways, she said her mom said that she came to the door again today with the chicks wanting food. So it must be her who is the mom - and who is my friend Sakka I guess! oh yeah, and the timing seems right too.

 

[Qi Chicken]

That's funny because I have been thinking about this lately too. We have a barred rock, Amelia, who was sick last fall. We never did discover what was wrong with her, she just kept falling over as though drunk. We have one other barred rock and the only way to tell them apart is by their combs. Amelia's is big and flops over. I would watch her in the yard while she was improving and I could tell it was her by her comb. Last week I was in there and neither of the barred rocks had a floppy comb. Both fairly small and upright. I could still tell which one was Amelia but not by her comb. I was in there this morning and there was old floppy again. I don't know what is up with that. She has never been broody. It was floppy when she was sick, which seems weird, I would think it would shrink then. Your hen had some extreme changes, it went from nothing to HUGE! but for whatever reason I would guess that it is the same hen. Interesting.

 

[emilysteng]

Hello Qi Chicken! That is an interesting story! Chickens are so fascinating - I never tire of learning about them. I'm glad Amelia is getting better - whatever was wrong with her.

Yeah, from what I read online it would seem that it would get bigger when she was getting better, not vice versa. It's funny how you talk about being able to tell Amelia from her comb. Back when Sakka would come around every morning for food, she had this friend/enemy hen we called Francis - who has the same coloring as her that would come around and try to eat the food we put out also. That's when Sakka's comb was getting bigger and from inside the house we would watch them. I could tell which was Sakka and which was Francis from Sakka's big comb.

 

[WizChick]

The pic from november appears to be a different chicken to me.
I've had a couple chickens go broody and another get sick and stop laying for several months. Their comb and wattles became a lighter color and shrank just a tad. I can't believe your friend's comb or wattles would shrink that much.

 

[emilysteng]

Thanks for everyone's replies. I'm certain now that this hen is the same hen in all the pics - my friend Sakka. She has 6 chicks and is now back to her old self before she had chicks - coming around to the house asking for food. But she's more demanding now than she used to be. Guess she's really hungry with 6 mouths to feed! The chicks are cute. They hang around in the front yard along with the other gang of Bart and 5 aunties who look alot like mom, and another auntie who looks different. Today I was watching them from inside. There is a fruit tree (A fruit called Wi here in hawaii) that has dropped all its fruit and the chickens like it. Two of the chicks strolled up next to one of the auntie hens and basically took over the fruit she was snacking on. She didn't seem to mind too much - just walked away. I could watch them all day.