I was hoping it would be possible to create a thread in which people could post about their experiences with frostbite in detail, explaining how their birds are kept, what measures they took to prevent/treat it, that sort of thing. I always learn a lot from detailed, first-hand accounts.
I experienced frostbite for the first time this year with Winger, my muscovy drake. Walked out one morning and his beautiful red knob had turned yellow.
My birds are kept in unheated hoop coops with a thick layer of shavings and straw. I take away access to pools in very cold temps and only give them buckets of water, set outside the door of the coop. We had several days of single digit/low teens temperatures, dipping down into the negatives at night, and everyone was doing fine, even my young ones that had hatched out late November. Then we had a sunshiney day in the upper 20s - the sun was enough to melt some things a bit, which always seems to be the danger zone for frostbite. Sure enough, that night temps went back down to the mid teens, and my boy was sporting his yellow knob come morning. It didn't seem to bother him in the slughtest, and the forecast showed only a couple more days of freezing temperatures, so I decided not to do anything at all. It's been a few days since then, and Winger is perfectly happy, enjoying his pools again and having long, romantic walks across the pasture with his favorite hen. His knob is still yellow; I'll update whenever that changes.
My chickens are in an uninsulated, well ventilated, metal shed. I tore down the south facing wall of it when I moved here, but in winters I put up plastic sheeting where the wall once was. I put pine shavings on their floor in winter, and straw in the run, and they spend the coldest days confused that I'm not opening the run to give them access to the world at large. I think a couple of my brown leghorns may have the mildest touch of frostbite on the toppest tip of their combs, but it also may be injuries from pecking, and they're acting so perfectly normal that I can't see any purpose in confirming one way or another. My leghorns are my only chickens with large, floppy combs - it's a feature I love, but try to avoid since I've moved away from a hot, hot, HOT climate.
My climate is pretty mild compared to a lot of others, and I'm wondering if that makes things better or worse for frostbite, since the freeze, thaw, freeze, thaw pattern we sometimes get here can wreak havoc. Or how much of an impact providing supplemental heat has on the occurrence of frostbite? I'd read somewhere about someone having issues with a large number of their ducks dealing with frostbite in winter, and came to find out they give them access to a hot tub all winter, which seems to me a perfect recipe for ensuring frostbite. I've also read varying first-person accounts of the effectiveness of Vaseline, and decided not to bother since there seems to be a pretty even split on opinions there. Overall, a very hands off approach has made the most sense to me, so that's what I've been trying to stick to.
The guineas are always perfectly happy in their forced confinement during cold weather. I've read their helmets aren't subject to frostbite since they're made of bone. I haven't checked to verify, so feel free to correct me if that's wrong.
I experienced frostbite for the first time this year with Winger, my muscovy drake. Walked out one morning and his beautiful red knob had turned yellow.
My birds are kept in unheated hoop coops with a thick layer of shavings and straw. I take away access to pools in very cold temps and only give them buckets of water, set outside the door of the coop. We had several days of single digit/low teens temperatures, dipping down into the negatives at night, and everyone was doing fine, even my young ones that had hatched out late November. Then we had a sunshiney day in the upper 20s - the sun was enough to melt some things a bit, which always seems to be the danger zone for frostbite. Sure enough, that night temps went back down to the mid teens, and my boy was sporting his yellow knob come morning. It didn't seem to bother him in the slughtest, and the forecast showed only a couple more days of freezing temperatures, so I decided not to do anything at all. It's been a few days since then, and Winger is perfectly happy, enjoying his pools again and having long, romantic walks across the pasture with his favorite hen. His knob is still yellow; I'll update whenever that changes.
My chickens are in an uninsulated, well ventilated, metal shed. I tore down the south facing wall of it when I moved here, but in winters I put up plastic sheeting where the wall once was. I put pine shavings on their floor in winter, and straw in the run, and they spend the coldest days confused that I'm not opening the run to give them access to the world at large. I think a couple of my brown leghorns may have the mildest touch of frostbite on the toppest tip of their combs, but it also may be injuries from pecking, and they're acting so perfectly normal that I can't see any purpose in confirming one way or another. My leghorns are my only chickens with large, floppy combs - it's a feature I love, but try to avoid since I've moved away from a hot, hot, HOT climate.
My climate is pretty mild compared to a lot of others, and I'm wondering if that makes things better or worse for frostbite, since the freeze, thaw, freeze, thaw pattern we sometimes get here can wreak havoc. Or how much of an impact providing supplemental heat has on the occurrence of frostbite? I'd read somewhere about someone having issues with a large number of their ducks dealing with frostbite in winter, and came to find out they give them access to a hot tub all winter, which seems to me a perfect recipe for ensuring frostbite. I've also read varying first-person accounts of the effectiveness of Vaseline, and decided not to bother since there seems to be a pretty even split on opinions there. Overall, a very hands off approach has made the most sense to me, so that's what I've been trying to stick to.
The guineas are always perfectly happy in their forced confinement during cold weather. I've read their helmets aren't subject to frostbite since they're made of bone. I haven't checked to verify, so feel free to correct me if that's wrong.
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