Is this a specific symptom of some types of disease? Our black Australorp banty roo's comb and wattles turned dark purplish when it got very cold here a few weeks ago. I didn't give it much thought as he acted normal, was eating, running around, crowing. I thought it might be a touch of frostbite. But now he's dissapeared, and I'm fearing the worst. We have looked everywhere. I think he got sick and went somewhere to hide, and probably has died, because he's been missing two days now. I'm figuring he might've died or gotten so weak that a predator found him and finished him off; maybe even a rat, whicch would be wjhy we can't find him. So I 'm just wondering...what could have caused this, is it something we should worry about being contagious? Any thoughts? It has been three weeks or so since his symptoms first started, and he has acted finej, or so it seems.