CrazyCochin
~Crazy~
(I love mood rings)Can you recall the 70s and "mood rings"? They were supposed to change color according to your mood. Roosters' combs are a lot like mood rings. Depending on how they feel emotionally, excited, stressed, relaxed, etc, their comb color can change with the tips appearing purplish, sometimes bleeding down into the lower comb. It usually returns to a normal red in mere minutes.
A rooster with circulation issues or a heart and lung condition will have a dark comb all over, not just the tips.
Frostbite causes the comb to go white, not purple, as tissues freeze and lose the blood supply as it is drawn in toward the body's core.
Normal, healthy comb color is a dusky red. If you ever see a bright cherry red or fire engine red comb, it means the chicken has a fever or body temp is elevated above normal. It means the chicken should be immediately moved to a cooler environment or examined for other signs of illness so they can be treated.
I don't know if I really knew that, about their combs and how they are like mood rings, that is really cool.