Tumor on Comb/Face? Also Purple and Cold

[jlwquilter]

Ok, I’m ready to eat crow! I posted a few days ago about purple discolouring on a few hen’s combs. I thought it was leftover from putting iodine on peck marks from when we had some new hens and the pecking got bad for awhile.

@Wyorp Rock and @CountryFlock thought the purple might be from lack of oxygen. So I looked them over again today. And now I agree that there’s some bigger issue going on. All 3 leghorns in the separate coop are showing purple comb colouring and the combs are cold where they are purple. 2 of the 3 leghorns are laying good eggs every day. The 3rd hasn’t laid in a couple of days and her comb is now quite pale as well as having growths shown in pictures below. I checked them for crop and mites and all of that and didn’t see anything. They are maintaining their weight as well.

I wondering if it’s something in the coop triggering this - mold, fungus, etc - lack of oxygen. The hens are not sneezing or coughing. I think there is some nasal discharge as the some of the nares are dirty. I’m going to look at that more closely tomorrow.

Also during the comb check I saw these growths on Isis:

Does it seem to be tumors?

 

[jlwquilter]

A pullet Ginger spends a lot of time in the leghorn coop also is showing purple comb. Her comb however is not as cold as the leghorn combs. Ginger has been laying just fine and act completely normal. She’s very active.

 

[CountryFlock]

For the bumps on the upper eye lid and comb—- I have had a couple chickens who develop a single “wart” on their face like that, in which it eventually went away. I wouldn’t be concerned immediately about that unless it starts spreading and white coloration around the “wart” starts popping up.

The thing on the comb—- again I’ve had a rooster with something like that. He developed it and still has it. For him it’s harmless but it doesn’t mean that they’re couldn't be something worse developing for your hen.

Back to the purple comb—- some roosters of mine who have massive combs have blood circulation issues in the comb causing the tips or part of it to turn purple. A couple of my roos with purple combs are
3+ years old, so it’s not an issue.

What bedding, if at all, do you use? Cedar can cause respiratory problems.

Also what feed? Are you feeding them something outside of pellet food?

 

[jlwquilter]

That’s reassuring to hear! I’m primary concerned about Isis as her comb is pale and she’s stopped laying.

The run they use is wood chips. The roost floor is sand and pdz. Although there are roost bars in there they sleep on the floor. It’s a pre-fab coop so not laid out the best but it’s plenty big enough for 3 small hens. I keep an internal door open in addition to the windows to increase ventilation.

Everyone gets the same food - ferment feed of a mix of layer and flock raiser crumbles. Access to the compost pile and grass. Free access to grit and egg shells and I recently added oyster shell too.

Egg production is very good except for 2 leghorns - Isis as already noted and Angel who also stopped laying but recently started up again although she’s only laying soft eggs right now. The leghorns did come from a distressed situation and have behavior issues. I also think there may be underlying developmental issues, specifically with calcium uptake. Maybe there’s heart or circulation issues too.

That’s probably way more background than needed - lol!

My biggest thing is I leave Saturday for 3 weeks and I don’t want to leave sick hens for the sitter to deal with. It’s a neighbor family that doesn’t have chickens plus their young son comes as he loves the chickens and I don’t want him to come across a dead hen.

It’s becoming a trend where one of the hens gets sick while I am gone or just before I leave. Grr.

 

[jlwquilter]

The 2 leghorns that have the purple on combs and are in the separate coop both laid early this morning and the eggs are large and good. Angel the leghorn in with the flock also laid - another soft egg off the roost. Only leghorn Isis hasn’t laid - she’s the one with the pale comb and growths. I let them out to mingle with the flock.

I raked thru their coop. It was dry. Very dry. So I don’t think mold or fungus is an issue. I thought it smelled a bit so I did toss in some sand/pdz mix.

I forgot to say that I did give Isis vitamins yesterday. I’ll give her another does later today. She came out and was mingling fine - no isolating herself or acting off.

Any idea what could be effecting her?