The Tale of the Shrunken Comb

[lbgreenfield]

Hi there everyone. Just curious...do chicken combs shrink went they go down in the pecking order? We adopted a chicken in June 2019 from a family who’s entire flock got killed by a coyote, except one. We adopted the lone survivor and merged her into our flock. Her comb and wattles stayed large up until about November 2019 when it started to shrink (assuming that was caused by the colder weather). It’s now late April 2020 and while my other chickens combs/wattles have gotten bigger after wintertime, the lone chicken’s has stayed small. She’s at the bottom of the pecking order, so just curious if it’s still too early to tell if her comb will come back or if it has something to do with being at the bottom of the pecking order. A few before and after pictures are attached.

 

[AltonaAcres]

Very interesting! I have no idea, we'll have to see what other people say!

 

[Chick-N-Fun]

I have never heard of such a thing!!!! Very curious, as well!

 

[pibb]

Is she still laying?

I've had leghorns combs shrink when they quit laying but they are usually pale and smaller.

 

[lbgreenfield]

Is she still laying?

I've had leghorns combs shrink when they quit laying but they are usually pale and smaller.

She is not laying and hasn’t laid an egg since we got her last year. Her previous owner said she had stopped laying after the coyote attack. We think she’s about 2.5-3 years old. It’s just odd to me that her comb/wattles were huge last year and now she has a small, spikey comb. She’s totally normal though, eating, drinking, doing what a chicken does best

 

[aart]

Size and color of comb is usually indicative of laying status.
Bird not laying will have a smaller and paler comb.

 

[lbgreenfield]

Size and color of comb is usually indicative of laying status.
Bird not laying will have a smaller and paler comb.

True. She wasn’t laying last year and her comb/wattles were large, so it leads me to believe her comb/wattles shrunk because she wasn’t laying and the cold weather. We will see if it gets larger in the summer!

 

[aart]

True. She wasn’t laying last year and her comb/wattles were large, so it leads me to believe her comb/wattles shrunk because she wasn’t laying and the cold weather. We will see if it gets larger in the summer!

Not because of temp, just laying status.

 

[lbgreenfield]

Not because of temp, just laying status.

Maybe it just took a while after she stopped laying for her comb/wattles to fully shrink, that’s why they were still large last summer even though she wasn’t laying.
She’s happy and healthy, so it was just asking out of curiosity