My hen’s comb is pale

[abbzgrl]

My golden lace Wyandotte is about 5yrs old. I just noticed within the last 2 days that her comb is pale and she’s been hiding out when I let her out of the coop. She hasn’t been laying for maybe 2wks. She doesn’t run away so I’m able to pick her up easily. I checked her over yesterday. I don’t see any visible wounds or mites/fleas. I don’t know what’s going on with her.

Any ideas?

 

[snow5164]

It could easily just be age ,5 is a good long life for her. If she doesn’t have any bugs on her under wings and on her vent , is eating and drinking I’d say she’s just getting old .

Scramble her up some eggs or give her some tuna for a protein boost , see if she perks up

 

[snow5164]

I’d say she’s just getting old ,5 years is a nice long life for her .

You’ve checked for bugs, I’d scramble her up some eggs or tuna to give her a protein boost , but I think she’s just tired

 

[Soy Milano]

Have you tried using PoultryDVM's Chicken Symptom checker tool? I find it really useful for understanding what the possibilities could be.

 

[aart]

As long as she's eating drinking pooping and moving around OK I'd not worry.
Non-laying hens combs get paler and somewhat smaller.
She may just be getting ready to molt or has already started.

If she's not doing all the first sentence behaviors....
I'd isolate bird in a wire cage within the coop for a day or two....so you can closely monitor their intake of food and water, crop function(checking at night and in morning before providing more feed), and their poops. Feel their abdomen, from below vent to between legs, for squishy or hard swelling.

Best to put crate right in coop or run so bird is still 'with' the flock.
I like to use a fold-able wire dog crate (24"L x 18"W x 21"H) with smaller mesh(1x2) on bottom of crate under tray.
Then you can put tray underneath crate to better observe droppings without it being stepped in. If smaller mesh is carefully installed, tray can still be used inside crate.