Neighbour making formal noise complaint.

[geb0205]

Ok, of my two bantams, only one was in lay (at around 20 weeks she started, in sept. shes a light sussex). Freckle had a huge bright red comb, which AFAIK goes hand in hand with egg laying.

 

Now, for the past 3/4 weeks she has been off lay, I presume due to the weather and the fact she is in moult. Bless her, she is looking rather moth eaten at the moment. However, her comb is now less bright and has shrunk slightly, and got a little firmer. Is this normal for a hen off lay and in moult?

 

The other, Speckle, my silver spangled hamburg is STILL not in lay, is now about 35 weeks. HOWEVER, her comb is growing slowly slowly (is it a rose comb they have... flatter and made of a group of several lumpy bits...) and has started to get a bit redder... I am holding out hope on her... I had given up the idea she might lay... and she hasnt crowed yet!!

 

Imput on the comb thing would be most appreciated.

 

G (loving hen ownership... mine are totally batty!)

[The Dogmother]

The comb does get less red if they are off colour, moulting etc. It will shrink slightly and firm-up in the winter due to the cold weather - it's full of blood vessels which also let off heat - hence batter hens have big pink floppy combs as they are kept in hot environments.

 

I hope that this helps, and that speckle is about to lay. Pure breeds do tend to come into lay later and be more fickle about their laying - the slightest thing will put them off (I've got 8 and only get 3 eggs a week at the moment!)

[Nicola H]

Yes the comb shrinking and losing colour is normal when they are off lay I only have one hen laying at the moment and her comb is bright red while the other two have pink combs, nothing to worry about once they come into lay again in the spring the comb will return to it's bright red colour.......

[ubereglu]

Also many pure breeds like yours don't lay through winter.

[snaps]

Glad to see this topic because my two Light Sussex have pink combs at present. They started moulting in October and now look very smart as their feathers are a lovely mixture of cream and white and black. However their combs both look pink still and they lost colour gradually as they moulted. I'm anticipating a long winter wait before they start to lay again.

[geb0205]

Ahhh lovely, thanks folks, I will refrain from worrying just yet then!!

 

They both seem fine in themselves, especially now they have discovered the joys of the greenhouse ("who needs the garden to run about in when you have a greenhouse?!"), are eating and drinking well and are as batty as a pair of batty things!

[Gallina]

There's been a lot on the local news here in Oxford recently about a study by the University that shows the importance of the hen's comb in reproduction. Basically, cockerels fancy the girls with the best combs. You can read about it here.

 

These girls with pale combs have "headaches": December is not a good time to reproduce, and if they haven't got any eggs available anyway, what's the point?