Pale comb and wattles on my austrolorp

[RebeccaRN]

I've noticed lately that 1 of my black austrolorps has a pale comb and wattles, she eats and drinks and hangs out with all the others, is something wrong with her? I've attached a picture of her and 1 of her sister for comparison

 

[coach723]

How old is she?

 

[Celeste Cannon]

Looks like she's just younger/not as matured

 

[Sally PB]

Has she started laying? My three looked pale like that until close to when they started laying at 19 weeks.

They look pale now because they have stopped laying due to the short hours of daylight. They are also going through a partial molt. They've lost feathers around their head and neck, and the "flag" part of their tails. It looks like their heads have shrunk!

 

[RebeccaRN]

How old is she?

10 months

 

[RebeccaRN]

Looks like she's just younger/not as matured

That are all 10 months old

 

[RebeccaRN]

Has she started laying? My three looked pale like that until close to when they started laying at 19 weeks.

They look pale now because they have stopped laying due to the short hours of daylight. They are also going through a partial molt. They've lost feathers around their head and neck, and the "flag" part of their tails. It looks like their heads have shrunk!

They have all been laying for months now, they are 10 months old

 

[coach723]

Just looking at comb and wattles, she seems less developed than the others. Some birds do develop slower than others, even in the same breed. I would suspect that she hasn't laid yet, or the shorter daylight hours have effected her more than the others and she's stopped. Were her comb and wattles red like the others and then became paler, or have they always been pale? How sure are you that she has actually laid? If she seems normal otherwise, then I wouldn't worry too much, see if she reddens up in time, and begins laying then, maybe in the spring. If there are other symptoms, then reassess.

 

[Celeste Cannon]

You know what, it might just be the cold weather shrinking it. I have a welsummer with a usually big red comb, but during the colder months it’s seemed to shrink/dry out. Nothing concerning, I think she’s a warm weather breed so it makes sense. I attached pics of Daisy in March vs her this week

 

[coach723]

Comb redness is most often due to hormones. Birds that go out of lay due to molt, or short daylight hours will lose the redness and get paler. Some get very pale. Once hormones start flowing again they redden up again and then you know laying will follow soon. Young, slower to develop birds will stay paler until they are getting ready to lay when more mature. Point of lay is often considered 20-25 weeks, but it can take some birds much longer to mature and start laying. Older birds will often take the winter off and resume in the spring.