Margo is in Trouble

[rebrascora]

@AHPFblack star
Can you link the thread you got it from. It is easy for misinformation to be spread, even here on BYC, so just wanting to verify the information.... Cheers

 

[casportpony]

Fascinating! Do you remember the source? Margo has not shown any sign of a blue comb since her antibiotics. Coincidence? Hmmm...

I got it from BYC.

@AHPFblack star
Can you link the thread you got it from. It is easy for misinformation to be spread, even here on BYC, so just wanting to verify the information.... Cheers

The source:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/blue-comb.58306/

 

[micstrachan]

Roxy has a little bit of blue at the back of her comb. She seems healthy. She also has a little bit of scabbing near the blue part, so I thought perhaps it was bruised from pecking. Does that happen?

 

[AHPFblack star]

Could be but it could be Bluecomb so play it safe

 

[micstrachan]

Thanks. I’ll keep an eye out, but don’t want to get in the habit of treating prophylactically, so I’m not taking action right now. Roxy seems healthy. I don’t even know for sure that Margo had an infection and not a horrible reaction to impending molt (though my gut says it WAS an infection and the molt is a stress response.) I plan to search for scientific articles on blue comb.

 

[AHPFblack star]

Good call, to much antibiotics can cause a resistance and if one of your chickens got a bad case you would want them all to be as responsive as possible.

 

[micstrachan]

@casportpony and @KikisGirls, you are both excellent scientific article researchers. Do either of you have any articles on bacterial infections causing a comb to turn blue? Have you ever heard of an oncoming molt turning a comb blue? I am aware of the redness changing, and the yellow pigment returning to their skin when they go off lay, but I don’t have anything on hormone changing causing blueness. I also understand that Margo’s blue comb may have been unrelated. However, it is suspicious that it was blue for a few weeks before her falling ill and hasn’t returned since treatment.
I swear I meant to end this Margo thread (she seems fine now, other than molt), but I feel there may be more to learn here.

 

[Kiki]

@casportpony and @KikisGirls, you are both excellent scientific article researchers. Do either of you have any articles on bacterial infections causing a comb to turn blue? Have you ever heard of an oncoming molt turning a comb blue? I am aware of the redness changing, and the yellow pigment returning to their skin when they go off lay, but I don’t have anything on hormone changing causing blueness. I also understand that Margo’s blue comb may have been unrelated. However, it is suspicious that it was blue for a few weeks before her falling ill and hasn’t returned since treatment.
I swear I meant to end this Margo thread (she seems fine now, other than molt), but I feel there may be more to learn here.

I'll see what I can find.
How blue is it?
Current photo?

 

[micstrachan]

Margo isn’t blue at all now, but the back was blue for a few weeks before getting sick.

Roxy doesn’t have any blue at the moment, either, but hers looked similar to Margo’s photo, with an even smaller blue area.

 

[micstrachan]

Roxy right now (no blue) and seeming perfectly healthy. Maybe the blue was just a bruise.
Regardless, I do wonder if Margo’s blue comb for weeks was an early sign of illness that responded to antibiotics. I do understand we’ll never know for sure.