Question About Change In Wattle Color In One Of My Chickens

[RowanTheRed]

I was just feeding my chooks some treats and noticed that one of my brown leghorns' wattles are thick and somewhat dark purplish in color. Her comb is a very healthy red and she appears to be acting completely normal, very talkative and social as always. I don't see anything else unusual in her appearance or behavior. She is just shy of a year old and has finished molting and began laying again at the beginning of February.

Is this normal or is it something that I need to be worried about? Here are a few pictures of her from when the wattles were red and today where they are thick and dark.


Before when they were normal:

today:

here is a photo of my other brown leghorn from today to see that hers is normal

 

[happyhens1972]

Have you had very cold temperatures which could have caused frostbite? Or sometimes this can be an indicator of heart problems....but in both cases, I would expect to see a similar involvement of the comb whereas your girl appears to only be affected in the wattles. If you've had low temps, I suppose she could have got frostbite in the wattles only as a result of dipping them in water while drinking???

 

[alexa009]

Looks like frostbite to me. Every single one of my chickens got it during the winter. The same color and plump just like yours. They seemed to go pretty quick but I think that is probably what it is.

 

[happyhens1972]

Looks like frostbite to me. Every single one of my chickens got it during the winter. The same color and plump just like yours. They seemed to go pretty quick but I think that is probably what it is.

Frostbite doesn't 'go' as it is the total freezing of cells, leading to necrosis and eventual loss of the affected part/area....maybe it's chill blains you are experiencing in your chooks? If so, they will go when the weather warms up. They can be soothed with calomine lotion and prevented from re-occuring by applying vaseline in cold weather to insulate.

 

[alexa009]

Frostbite doesn't 'go' as it is the total freezing of cells, leading to necrosis and eventual loss of the affected part/area....maybe it's chill blains you are experiencing in your chooks? If so, they will go when the weather warms up. They can be soothed with calomine lotion and prevented from re-occuring by applying vaseline in cold weather to insulate.

Sorry, I didn't mean actually go away. It did lose the skin part where frostbite occurred, I only got it in the chickens with the huge comb and waddles like my red sex link and plymouth rocks. It never occurred in my brahmas and Easter egger. It doesn't actually seem as of the whole wattle went away. It just looks thinner like there is skin missing.

 

[hmarg06]

To me it look like her throat area is actually swollen. I'm not sure what that would indicate, but she looks like shes sporting a hefty double or triple chin, when she used to have none. I know there are illnesses that can make this area swell, I'm just not sure what, I'm sure someone else with more knowledge on that will chime in.

 

[RowanTheRed]

Have you had very cold temperatures which could have caused frostbite? Or sometimes this can be an indicator of heart problems....but in both cases, I would expect to see a similar involvement of the comb whereas your girl appears to only be affected in the wattles. If you've had low temps, I suppose she could have got frostbite in the wattles only as a result of dipping them in water while drinking???

not saying it's NOT frostbite, but I am inclined to think that isn't it. We certainly had temp during the winter that I would expect to see frostbite, however last week our temps only had lows in the upper 50s to low 60s. This last few days we have gotten down to the 40s overnight but no where near freezing temps. Is it possible to get frostbite with temps in the low 40s?

 

[RowanTheRed]

Frostbite doesn't 'go' as it is the total freezing of cells, leading to necrosis and eventual loss of the affected part/area....maybe it's chill blains you are experiencing in your chooks? If so, they will go when the weather warms up. They can be soothed with calomine lotion and prevented from re-occuring by applying vaseline in cold weather to insulate.

I am not familiar with "chill blains" I will have to look that up.

Funny thing is that out of my 6 girls, she is the only one that is like this. The other 5 are just as normal as they always are. They are another brown leghorn (in the bottom phot) 2 golden comets, an orpington and a chocin.

 

[RowanTheRed]

To me it look like her throat area is actually swollen. I'm not sure what that would indicate, but she looks like shes sporting a hefty double or triple chin, when she used to have none. I know there are illnesses that can make this area swell, I'm just not sure what, I'm sure someone else with more knowledge on that will chime in.

are you referring to the last photo by chance, that is the only one that looks somewhat swollen to me. If so, that one is actually the other leghorn and not the one with the purple wattles. To me their throats don't appear swollen, or at least they appear to be the same size as they normally do.

 

[imnukensc]

I don't know what it is, but it sure doesn't look like frostbite to me. If her comb was exhibiting the same characteristics as her wattles, I'd say it's possible frostbite, but even the tips of that big old comb show absolutely nothing and the discoloration from her wattles is going all the way up into her face/cheeks. The OPs location is SC. Almost all of February was very mild here.