Rooster with swollen comb and wattles

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missnu01

missnu01

Songster
7 Years
Nov 16, 2012
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He is acting normally, not sneezing, wheezing, gasping, or excessively shaking his head. He is eating and drinking normally and his poops are also normal, but his face looks awful. His wattles are especially swollen. It has been very cold here lately, but not like Northern US cold...but cold for us...Down into the teens...anyway here are the pics, let me know if I should do something or just leave him be since he seems to be doing fine.




As you can see he has some spotting, that I notice he gets anytime it is cold, but once it is warm and they go outside for a bit his comb reddens back up, but look how swollen his wattles are...Could it be because they hang in the water bowl when he drinks or something?
 
Let me add that this morning when I went up to the coop all the chickens were very sneezy...I witnessed at least 8 of the 12 sneezing...2 more than others, I count this as odd because I haven't heard a chicken sneeze before today...The coop isn't smelly, but the chickens haven't been able to go out for quite a few days...Anyway Just thought I would add that bit.
Also he is a rather old rooster, and his wattles have been swollen for a couple of days like this...His comb and wattles have always been thick though. Never thin like most roosters I see. The rooster isn't sneezing, but his favorite hen, and a 4 month cockerel were having sneezing fits...It's also possible that they were drinking water too fast...Anyway enough rambling, let me know what you think.
 
Ok. I thought that might be it...but so far we have gotten a few days of terrible cold, and then a couple days of fairly warm, so he has turned blue and then normal...blue and then normal...but for the past little bit it has just been cold cold cold...So perhaps I need to bring him in to get warm...I don't really have anything large enough to put him in...he is a big fella.
 
taprock said:
It looks like frostbite to me. Especially the tips of the comb. I know you can get some swelling with frostbite.
Click to expand...
He looks to me that he has suffered some pretty bad frostbite in the past before we got him...I say that because he has never had points on his comb. They are all rounded off.
 
He has frostbite. Treat by applying a thin coat of antibiotic ointment. The swollen, discolored areas will dry up and fall off.

Usually frostbite is the result of a combination of cold temps and high humidity. Sometimes coops are sealed up too tightly in cold weather, leading to frost forming inside the coop, including on large combs and wattles. You may need more ventilation.
 
I probably do need more ventilation, as the coop is just an existing building, and the chickens are on the top floor of a 2 story garage type building...anyway the roof is metal and I notice that the roof will start to get condensation on it...I am not sure how to add ventilation to the coop though. How does one go about venting an already built building...?
 
I know that under the eaves is opened on both sides. I was assuming that would be enough ventilation, Should I open the doors to allow more air through, although that will make it much much colder for the time that the doors are opened...
 
Ideally your ventilation should be high up. If the eave vents are not enough, you could add vents high on the ends, or even just make some holes up there (covering them with hardware cloth) as a temporary measure until you can add vents. Condensation insides the building means you need more ventilation, but at the same time you want to avoid drafts.
 
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Another issue that I will resolve tomorrow is that the chickens sleep in the rafters, right up next to and in the roos case almost touching the same metal roof that will be covered in condensation when the snow starts to melt...I bet he would have less issues if he wasn't right up against the roof...The roof really should have some kind of insulation, but it doesn't, and probably won't for awhile. I am looking on craigslist for carpet scraps, which I will then tack to all the walls and floor...It will quieten the coop and also insulate. Probably keep it a good bit warmer in there too.
 

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