Roosters combs turned black

[Bikergrl]

I have a flock of 22 hens and 3 roosters. This morning when I went to feed them two of the roosters were exhibiting very black combs. One of the roosters in an australorp and the other is a wyandotte-cochin cross. As far as I can tell they were both fine yesterday. The wyandotte-cochin also looks like his feathers have lost their luster. I checked all the other birds and they all look fine.

Both roosters are acting normal. There is no chance that this is frostbite - it's been warm here. I've also looked at pictures of pox and the pox seems much spottier than this - it's like the combs have just completely changed colour.

Any suggestions on what this could be or how to treat it? We HAVE had rain non-stop for the past four weeks which makes me wonder if this could be a fungus of some sort.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I looked up Favus thinking it might be this fungus but it mostly talks about the comb being white. So not sure what it could be, you can look up favus and other fungus diseases in the search box in upper right hand of this page. sorry i couldn't help you more. heres a link that might be of some help to you. all the best.
http://www.organicvet.co.uk/Poultryweb/Index.htm

 

[Happy Chooks]

When were they last wormed? Comb discoloring can also be a sign of lice/mites.

 

[Bikergrl]

Oddly enough they turned back to the normal colour with no obvious ill effect. I'm guessing there may have been some heart or liver stress... maybe they had a little kerfuffle or something.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Are your roosters meaties?

 

[Bikergrl]

Nope, one is an Australorp and the other is a Wyandotte / Cochin cross.

 

[scratch'n'peck]

Every now and then my roosters get in a fight and the scabbing can look really black. I don't know if you ruled this out, it sounds like you examined them pretty closely.