Shrinking cones and wattles?

[SurferchickinSB]

I don’t know if anybody else has had this experience on here, but my chickens combs and wattles seem to be shrinking and getting paler in color. There combs used to be so large and red. Should I be worried? My chickens are 6 1/2 to 7 months old and the two that have noticeably smaller combs and wattles are also losing a few feathers.

 

[lilmillefleur]

Likely it's stress from molting. Just supplement them with extra protein and they should be okay.

 

[Abriana]

Maybe molting? If it is molting I wouldn’t be worried. extra protein will help. There are special shakes that you can make them if you want to get real fancy

 

[Eggcessive]

It is probably due to the decreasing daylight hours in fall and winter. Are they still laying or have they stopped for winter?

 

[CCUK]

I have this with one of my whitestar hens. She is a leghorn hybrid. She had a bad prolapse earlier this year and I nearly lost her. She's made a fantastic recovery but has only layed two eggs since. Her comb went from large and flopped over to the size of a pullets in a couple of weeks. She did have a bad moult as well but finished that some time ago.

 

[SurferchickinSB]

It is probably due to the decreasing daylight hours in fall and winter. Are they still laying or have they stopped for winter?

The two with the shrinking combs and wattles have also stopped laying for the past two weeks. I also noticed they are dropping feathers. I didn’t think they should be molting because they are only 6 1/2 months old.

 

[SurferchickinSB]

I have this with one of my whitestar hens. She is a leghorn hybrid. She had a bad prolapse earlier this year and I nearly lost her. She's made a fantastic recovery but has only layed two eggs since. Her comb went from large and flopped over to the size of a pullets in a couple of weeks. She did have a bad moult as well but finished that some time ago.

Oh, OK, thanks for your reply. I think maybe it is a normal thing so maybe I shouldn’t be worried.

 

[SurferchickinSB]

Maybe molting? If it is molting I wouldn’t be worried. extra protein will help. There are special shakes that you can make them if you want to get real fancy

I notice they are dropping some feathers, but since there are only about 6 1/2 to 7 months old, I didn’t think that they would be molting this year. I thought they were too young and that it didn’t happen until they were 18 months old.

 

[CCUK]

Oh, OK, thanks for your reply. I think maybe it is a normal thing so maybe I shouldn’t be worried.

I'm not sure it's normal on a young hen. But the weather could have alot to do with it. If it's cold and she's having a light moult than maybe.

 

[Eggcessive]

They normally do not have a large molt until they are close to 18 months old, then yearly thereafter. Most pullets in their first season do lay through the first winter, but most hens need 12 hours of light each day to lay eggs. I would keep an eye on them for any other problems, but hopefully they will resume laying after the first of the year. If you have a light on a timer in your coop, you can set it for up to 3 hours before daylight to go off at daylight, then let them go to sleep normally at dark, to see if giving them 12 hours of light per day helps them to lay through winter.