# Not Funny - More Blue Combs!



## WeeLittleChicken (Aug 31, 2012)

My old Serama Henny Penny (who has run out of eggs to lay) went broody for the first time in her life last week and has been protecting a patch of grass like a little dragon. Nothing too weird about that.... but because of the threat of the skunk I have been dragging everyone in at night (big girls get locked in their coop and the Seramas enjoy a suite in the shed.) 

So this goes on for a little over a week... and then I notice Henny Penny's comb is really quite blue. OK. She's old. It's possible she's just suffering an old age disease. I prepared myself for the inevitable. Then I noticed this morning Popcorn's comb was a little blue in one corner. I checked on him later in the day, no blue. Odd... but what can I say? Now here's the really maddening part - when I was taking in the new rooster his comb is also blue! Looks like he rolled in Blue-Kote! He's been on bottled water since he came here, has been in a quarantine cage, has not shared any area with any other chickens and has been sleeping in the house at night (until quarantine breaks.) What is going on here?! What am I doing so wrong?? I added mother apple cider vinegar, vitamins, and electrolytes to everyone's water... SIGH. If Henny Penny dies I'll be sad but I'm not going to say I wasn't expecting it. If either of those young roosters die I think I'm going to throw in the towel and call it quits. This is just not working.


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## Bee (Jun 20, 2013)

Are they all on soil? Maybe something in the soils? Blue usually indicates cyanosis..or lack of oxygen to that particular tissue. 

I don't know where it is that you live but I'd be packing up house and moving far away.....too many strange symptoms and illnesses in your animals. Gotta be something going on there.


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## WeeLittleChicken (Aug 31, 2012)

OK - update. Since bringing the new rooster inside the house his comb is now perfectly red and pretty. I'm thinking maybe something's off-gassing on the property?? That's the only thing besides the soil/grass they're standing on that makes any sense whatsoever. 

And yes... we're in the process of saving up money to move. I've wanted to move for a veeery very long time for exactly these reasons. I just never had the finances to do it. Now that we're getting there I am both excited and worried (as I'll be leaving behind my family who'll still be living here. UGH.) I feel like I'm living in the Love Canal. That's never good....


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## Bee (Jun 20, 2013)

Been reading a little about these birds that fall from the sky in large numbers with no explanation and they've said it could be methane gas release as birds are more sensitive to it than humans. 

In China one place had 89 dogs and 238 pigs die suddenly and all at once and they were gasping as they died. The villagers described a bad smell prior to the incident coming from one of the local chemical plants..said it is usually bad but that day it was way worse. Methane emissions? Who knows? 

It would certainly explain the lack of oxygen(blue combs) to your birds as methane replaces oxygen in their respiratory intake.


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## WeeLittleChicken (Aug 31, 2012)

I agree, I think it is methane. A few days ago the tap here reeked of rotten eggs and I read somewhere that this is often cased by a leaking septic, not methane but some other compound that often accompanies methane, it also explains the nitrates in the water, the protozoa infestations in the cats, etc. Since this little bit of research my chickens continue to randomly turn blue in a matter of a minute before my eyes like a chameleon! A minute later they are often back to being a normal red, and so on and so forth throughout the day. It does not seem to matter where I put them. Most disturbingly I even took three in the house to see what would happen and they did the same thing. I'm not happy. My boyfriend asked me why I was suddenly blaming the septic, I explained it before then asking, "What else could cause my chickens to turn blue?! You've seen it too!" He just says that he thinks that means we should get out of here. SIGH. 

Right now I am slamming my head against the proverbial wall trying once again to convince the owner of this house there is something wrong and it needs to be fixed (I want to septic completely replaced!) He thinks it's a fair compromise to just suck it out. He's always LOVED this house and could never see or believe there was anything wrong with it even after fifteen years of weird illnesses and deaths. I mean for crying out loud I am failing at raising chickens and fresh water fish! The only animal easier to breed would be a sea monkey! And since moving in here my health crashed so bad that I am not capable of living a normal life right now and haven't for years... coincidence? I just hope moving out will help with that. It's been fifteen years of hell.... I have tried to move out no less than four times. Now I am at a point where staying out is feasible. My boyfriend and I have been saving up for a house - we were aiming to move out next Spring but expensive things keep coming up and when do these things ever go as planned? Frustrated. Tired. Getting rid of my freshwater tank as I can't keep up with the nitrates and am seriously considering getting rid of my flock as well and starting over at the new place. It's just too much to emotionally deal with and it's depressing the hell out of me. Sorry for writing such a downer of a post. I'm off to go make supper in some store bought water....


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## powderhogg01 (Jun 4, 2013)

Ah man, rough drag. It can really be tough sometimes, just living.
I hope things improve for you, it's possible you could get someone out to test for these issues and then take that to your landlord?


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## Bee (Jun 20, 2013)

I understand completely and even _I_ want you out of that house and it can't be soon enough for me! I think you will find it was the house and the soils/grounds there. If it were me, I'd be getting rid of the flock and using all my resources to get out of there..and NOW.

You poor thing! How scary is it that your air quality is bad enough to turn chickens blue....it's like when they would take canaries down in the mines to check if the gas levels were safe. It would be interesting if you could rent some kind of machine that would test the gases seeping out of that land so that you could turn it over to the state health departments and they could make the man do something before he rents out that place to some other unsuspecting person.


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## GratefulGirl (Sep 10, 2012)

This makes me want to go out & check my girls combs NOW! Prayers coming your way hang in there!


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