What causes a pale or purple comb and weakness?

[BesideStillWaters]

This is Aurora. I think she's 5 years old, I'll have to ask my friend who gave her to me to know exactly. I knew she was old when I got her two years ago and I've already lost two hens over the past couple of years from what I assume is related to old age. I can feel her breast bone, but she is very heavy. I'm wondering if it's water weight like my dog had (she was 15 and had heart problems, the vet put her on a diuretic to take the excess water out of her body).

She moves much slower than she used to. When she uses a lot of energy, her comb turns from pale to purple, almost like I would expect a person's lips to turn blue when not getting enough oxygen. She isn't having a hard time breathing, isn't coughing, isn't panting.

One of my young roosters wanted to mate while I had them free-ranging together, and by the time I got there, she had fought him but lost. (Another hen came over to her rescue quickly and beat the rooster up before I got there, so no damage was done.) Aurora sort of fell over, her comb turned purple, and she sat there, just breathing. I didn't want her to be picked on by the rooster anymore, so I moved her into the run by herself where she recovered in about fifteen minutes and ate some treats.

She's also going through a molt if that makes any difference. She doesn't live with a rooster, so I know the feather loss isn't from that. She's at the top of the pecking order, so the others aren't pecking her (they know better). These young roosters just started being interested in mating a few days ago, and I only had them free-ranging with these girls for about an hour a day, in which Aurora is usually away from the flock, doing her own thing.

I wondered at first if it was coccidiosis, but her weight is good, she's eating, she's alert, and the whole flock was treated for it back in June.

Also, her poo is a little green. Is this because she eats a lot of grass sometimes? I just noticed this today.

**Edited to add: Right before this started, she laid four fairy eggs in a row, over a two or three week period. I assumed it was because one of the older hens who was at the top of the pecking order and was her closest friend, died around that time. She stayed in the nest box and mopped for days after that. Then she sort of got over it once she moved in with the younger hens.

Do you think this is related to old age or is this is a correctable problem?

 

[BDutch]

Do you think she might be some kind of laying hybrid or a mix with one.
Laying hybrids don’t get old. The heritage breeds often live up-to 8 or 10 years old.

She nay have a hart condition getting a purple comb. If a hen gets a pale comb it can be because they molt or just stopped laying eggs. But then the comb shrinks too.

I’m no crack in this, please wait for the specialist for their/better answers.

 

[BesideStillWaters]

Do you think she might be some kind of laying hybrid or a mix with one.
Laying hybrids don’t get old. The heritage breeds often live up-to 8 or 10 years old.

She nay have a hart condition getting a purple comb. If a hen gets a pale comb it can be because they molt or just stopped laying eggs. But then the comb shrinks too.

I’m no crack in this, please wait for the specialist for their/better answers.

Oh that's really interesting, I didn't know this. Aurora is a pure-bred Rhode Island Red. So she may not be dying of old age? That's encouraging. I was expecting the worst. The two I lost were an Isa Brown and a Silver Laced Wyandotte. Looks like the Isa Brown doesn't have a long lifespan because of the insane amount of eggs they lay? Is that what you mean by they don't get old? They die young from the toll the egg-laying takes on their bodies? (If I had known this, I probably wouldn't have hatched out sex links, because I wasn't really aiming for high egg production, I wanted pets with a long lifespan.)

I see. She always molts in June - July, so if she's still losing feathers, she's a little late this year. But with the amount of feather loss, I hope that's what it is. Also, every time she molts, her appetite goes down and I feed her more fruits, veggies, and treats (mostly watermelon, grapes, mealworms, crickets, wild birdseed) because she doesn't eat as much feed. Last year, she lost a bit of weight during her molt, but she never got this weak. She also eats a lot of grass during this time.

If she does have a heart condition, should I be doing anything differently to help her out?

 

[BDutch]

Good thinking. Isa Brown are laying hybrids indeed. With a shorter average lifespan.
If a hen molts she needs good feed wirh lots of proteïnes. Not extra’s like fruits.

 

[BesideStillWaters]

Good thinking. Isa Brown are laying hybrids indeed. With a shorter average lifespan.

Wish I knew before hatching out seven hybrids. (Rhode Island Red + Silver Laced Wyandotte.) If I'd known, I don't know if I'd have done it, but they are such sweet birds and I love them so much. I wish their lifespans were longer.

If a hen molts she needs good feed wirh lots of proteïnes. Not extra’s like fruits.

Oh, I see. So... how do I get her interested in the high protein feed? I have it, she just isn't a fan. Also the five laying hens she's with aren't molting so if I swap from laying pellets to high protein, I don't know how that would affect the five egg layers? I have oyster shell if that's a concern.
Last year, she quit eating feed almost entirely. She was pretty much living on fruit, grass, and an extra large helping of mealworms. But soon as the molt was over, she ate the feed fine.

 

[BDutch]

Mealworms are high proteïne. Insects, sunflower seeds, erbs, beans, yoghurt and chick starter too. If you take her apart to feed her such a little extra she will grow her feathers back quicker.

 

[BesideStillWaters]

Mealworms are high proteïne. Insects, sunflower seeds, erbs, beans, yoghurt and chick starter too. If you take her apart to feed her such a little extra she will grow her feathers back quicker.

Good to know, thank you! She loves sunflower seeds and mealworms. I mixed some sunflower seeds into the feed and she's either picking the seeds out or eating the feed and seeds now.

I didn't know beans were okay for chickens - what kind and how do you prepare them?

 

[Finnie]

Wish I knew before hatching out seven hybrids. (Rhode Island Red + Silver Laced Wyandotte.) If I'd known, I don't know if I'd have done i

Your backyard mix hybrids are not the same as a production high yield egg layer hybrid. Yours should be perfectly fine. The layer hybrids that BDutch is talking about are the “breeds” that have been developed for commercial egg production. (Such as the Isa Brown.)

Mixing unrelated breeds like you have done should result in what is called “hybrid vigor”, which means that in the first generation, the birds should be healthy and maybe bigger than their parents.

 

[BesideStillWaters]

Your backyard mix hybrids are not the same as a production high yield egg layer hybrid. Yours should be perfectly fine. The layer hybrids that BDutch is talking about are the “breeds” that have been developed for commercial egg production. (Such as the Isa Brown.)

Mixing unrelated breeds like you have done should result in what is called “hybrid vigor”, which means that in the first generation, the birds should be healthy and maybe bigger than their parents.

That's a relief! I'm happy to know I may have years with my babies. So far, they aren't bigger than their parents but they do lay well. (Then again, they are only a year old so I suppose time will tell.)

So this doesn't apply to the second generation? One of my sex links (RIR + SLW) got with my Golden Laced Wyandotte and I wonder what to expect from her.

 

[BDutch]

Finnie is right. Wyandotte’s and RIR crosses are not what they name laying hybrids. If you mix older breeds or ornamental breeds you often get stronger birds. You certainly can expect a longer lifespan from mixed back yard breeds than with the high production layers for the egg-factories.