A little break from the bitter cold

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Have you marked it to dub or is that frostbite or normal? And is that black thing a wattle? I know, lots of questions. I imagine they gave you advice. You know I looked it up, though. Lol.
https://the-chicken-chick.com/frostbit-in-backyard-chickens-causes/

Check his feet, too.
I hadn't thought about it but now concerned abt this for goons since snow was managing to blow in. I didn't see any damage to their wattles...once they got in coop they were quick to huddle and tuck, where as in run, they were each on their own perch. I swear if I didn't live with another human, I'd bring them inside. I remember someone having pigs in a playpen once..can't be any worse than that. Except, their poo wldnt be frozen in here. Lol. (That part is a plus!)

We just saw Fabio’s comb damage tonight. That black line drew itself, and it sounds like it’s likely the comb will fall off there. That’s a lot of tissue to become necrotic before falling off... We’ve brought Fabio in the garage for now and are hoping that he doesn’t lose his comb!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/circular-rooster-comb-frostbite.1445282/#post-24012027

As far as I can tell, his feet are okay, and I haven’t noticed comb damage on the other roosters... The ducks are probably the next group of birds I’m worried about. We are supposed to get another 6” of snow tomorrow and the wind is supposed to shift and come from the South! Not good when the South end of the coops is open. Maybe I’ll tape some cardboard up on the south end? I am so ready for this weather pattern to end!

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Yes, we always get straw bales in the fall. Mainly to spread on ground in back d/t winter foot traffic,but have found a multitued of uses for it.
You don't have power running to your coop, do you? If you do or are willing to run an extension cord, you could do this: View attachment 2531862
Here's the link for other ideas -
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/show-me-your-winter-duck-waterers.1050274/

Or do @R2elk 's method, modified as you suggested earlier, with same cover.
Instead of dog bowl you cld get heater separate that drops inside and use a bigger container for more water. I haven't seen any solar water heaters-if I had, I'd have it. But so far I love ours. But I don't get the impression drip dispensers are good enough for ducks?
I did see one cool thing-insulated water hose bags. The guy I saw bought his for 1=2 price on ebay.

That’s pretty cool! I wonder if the bucket would fit over the black rubber tub that I’m using right now... No electricity and it’s far enough that I am cautious with the extension cord. $1000 estimate to run a single outlet out there! The ducks will use nipple waterers but they need to be able to dip their whole bill in water or they can choke; I usually have one nipple waterer and one duck waterer out there in the day, but neither are workable at these temperatures. I think I’ll see if the five gal bucket fits over their current water tub though tomorrow.

 

[Sydney65]

We just saw Fabio’s comb damage tonight. That black line drew itself, and it sounds like it’s likely the comb will fall off there. That’s a lot of tissue to become necrotic before falling off... We’ve brought Fabio in the garage for now and are hoping that he doesn’t lose his comb!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/circular-rooster-comb-frostbite.1445282/#post-24012027

As far as I can tell, his feet are okay, and I haven’t noticed comb damage on the other roosters... The ducks are probably the next group of birds I’m worried about. We are supposed to get another 6” of snow tomorrow and the wind is supposed to shift and come from the South! Not good when the South end of the coops is open. Maybe I’ll tape some cardboard up on the south end? I am so ready for this weather pattern to end!

If you have some, start applying neosporin to his comb. Re cardboard, if you just tape it, it's going to rip off. Better to prep it before you head out by putting duct tape on edges on both sides, then poke hole in center of tape, thread in zip ties and use that to attach. - assuming you have those things.
I was still looking for a duck waterer. This isn't heated, but -be sure to see second image - that "bowl" is the lid.

https://www.google.com/shopping/pro...=eto:12068708626860861820_0,cdl:1,prmr:1,cs:1

 

[Sydney65]

That’s pretty cool! I wonder if the bucket would fit over the black rubber tub that I’m using right now... No electricity and it’s far enough that I am cautious with the extension cord. $1000 estimate to run a single outlet out there! The ducks will use nipple waterers but they need to be able to dip their whole bill in water or they can choke; I usually have one nipple waterer and one duck waterer out there in the day, but neither are workable at these temperatures. I think I’ll see if the five gal bucket fits over their current water tub though tomorrow.

So how is Fabio and did the bucket work? Been thinking about you but didn't want to be pushy. Himself was worried that they were too cold so we got one of these- https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B08CH13XH4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It didn't take long for them to figure out it would be good to stand by. You have something similar for your brooder, right? Depending on the wattage, you could use something like this
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product...e&pd_rd_w=lyJ9d&pd_rd_wg=O96Ww&ref_=pd_gw_unk

I have the 15w on my fountain pump. You can charge batteries with it too for night use.

 

[Sydney65]

It was -17°F this morning and is currently up to -14°F. It is sunny and calm. Once the wind starts blowing from the west it should start warming up fast. They are calling for a high of 25°F today. Yesterday's high was -1°F.

It was 10° when I went out this a.m., but there was no breeze and sunny. You must acclimate to it, bc it wasn't bad.

 

[R2elk]

It was 10° when I went out this a.m., but there was no breeze and sunny. You must acclimate to it, bc it wasn't bad.

Indeed. Our weather the other day said it was -10°F with a real feel of -2°F.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

So how is Fabio and did the bucket work? Been thinking about you but didn't want to be pushy. Himself was worried that they were too cold so we got one of these- https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B08CH13XH4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It didn't take long for them to figure out it would be good to stand by. You have something similar for your brooder, right? Depending on the wattage, you could use something like this
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product...e&pd_rd_w=lyJ9d&pd_rd_wg=O96Ww&ref_=pd_gw_unk

I have the 15w on my fountain pump. You can charge batteries with it too for night use.

Thanks for thinking about Fabio! I think his comb is getting worse, the dead tissue starting to show itself. He’s still in the garage until Saturday, then I’ll try to get him back in on freezing nights. I’m thinking about starting a thread in the diseases forum showing the progression as I wondered about the timeline and what that dark line means for tissue loss. Here’s a pic of another roo, black copper marans SOB, who also has frostbite on his comb and wattle. No comfy garage for him, he will have to tough it out. Looking at my chickens, all of the boys and some of the hens have some frostbite on their combs. I haven’t seen frostbite on feet yet, knock on wood! Looking back, I think it was probably inevitable when we had multiple nights of freezing fog that basically coated everything in ice, followed by record low temps. A heater like you have would have helped, but we have 55 birds spread over three coops with no electricity, so it would have to be a pretty hefty operation for solar cells and panels. There are a lot of smaller things I could do for next time - I need to write it down before I forget. We haven’t had a weather event like this in about 10 yr.

As far as the water goes, I ended up putting the black rubber tub into a bigger tub, and that limited the water slinging by the ducks, though one duck was still small enough to jump into the waterer. The ducks have just been so hard in all this; they wanted out so bad but they kept plopping onto their freezing feet and the ponds were frozen anyway. So instead they guarded the waterer and pulled feathers from the chickens who got close to “their” water. Our temps return to normal or warmer this weekend though! I will be so relieved to give them their regular waterer back on Saturday. We’ve been taking water and scratch out three times a day, then one more visit to make sure all chickens are in the coop!! Good thing I’ve been snowed in.

 

[Sydney65]

Thanks for thinking about Fabio! I think his comb is getting worse, the dead tissue starting to show itself. He’s still in the garage until Saturday, then I’ll try to get him back in on freezing nights. I’m thinking about starting a thread in the diseases forum showing the progression as I wondered about the timeline and what that dark line means for tissue loss. Here’s a pic of another roo, black copper marans SOB, who also has frostbite on his comb and wattle. No comfy garage for him, he will have to tough it out. Looking at my chickens, all of the boys and some of the hens have some frostbite on their combs. I haven’t seen frostbite on feet yet, knock on wood! Looking back, I think it was probably inevitable when we had multiple nights of freezing fog that basically coated everything in ice, followed by record low temps. A heater like you have would have helped, but we have 55 birds spread over three coops with no electricity, so it would have to be a pretty hefty operation for solar cells and panels. There are a lot of smaller things I could do for next time - I need to write it down before I forget. We haven’t had a weather event like this in about 10 yr.

As far as the water goes, I ended up putting the black rubber tub into a bigger tub, and that limited the water slinging by the ducks, though one duck was still small enough to jump into the waterer. The ducks have just been so hard in all this; they wanted out so bad but they kept plopping onto their freezing feet and the ponds were frozen anyway. So instead they guarded the waterer and pulled feathers from the chickens who got close to “their” water. Our temps return to normal or warmer this weekend though! I will be so relieved to give them their regular waterer back on Saturday. We’ve been taking water and scratch out three times a day, then one more visit to make sure all chickens are in the coop!! Good thing I’ve been snowed in.

The goons are definitely happier. It doesn't heat the coop up, but enough radiant heat to keep them from shivering.
I tried offering them a bit of suet bc that's also good for energy but they tossed it aside so I put it out for the birds. The birds were enjoying it until a big black bird moved in and wouldn't share. Then a blue jay came up behind it and grabbed it by the tail. Lol.

 

[Sydney65]

Thanks for thinking about Fabio! I think his comb is getting worse, the dead tissue starting to show itself. He’s still in the garage until Saturday, then I’ll try to get him back in on freezing nights. I’m thinking about starting a thread in the diseases forum showing the progression as I wondered about the timeline and what that dark line means for tissue loss. Here’s a pic of another roo, black copper marans SOB, who also has frostbite on his comb and wattle. No comfy garage for him, he will have to tough it out. Looking at my chickens, all of the boys and some of the hens have some frostbite on their combs. I haven’t seen frostbite on feet yet, knock on wood! Looking back, I think it was probably inevitable when we had multiple nights of freezing fog that basically coated everything in ice, followed by record low temps. A heater like you have would have helped, but we have 55 birds spread over three coops with no electricity, so it would have to be a pretty hefty operation for solar cells and panels. There are a lot of smaller things I could do for next time - I need to write it down before I forget. We haven’t had a weather event like this in about 10 yr.

As far as the water goes, I ended up putting the black rubber tub into a bigger tub, and that limited the water slinging by the ducks, though one duck was still small enough to jump into the waterer. The ducks have just been so hard in all this; they wanted out so bad but they kept plopping onto their freezing feet and the ponds were frozen anyway. So instead they guarded the waterer and pulled feathers from the chickens who got close to “their” water. Our temps return to normal or warmer this weekend though! I will be so relieved to give them their regular waterer back on Saturday. We’ve been taking water and scratch out three times a day, then one more visit to make sure all chickens are in the coop!! Good thing I’ve been snowed in.

Saw this one - https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/please-help-swollen-wattle.1445734/

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Saw this one - https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/please-help-swollen-wattle.1445734/

Yes, lots of chat about frostbite right now, which is not surprising! I’m just leaving their frostbite alone for now. The other roosters amd a few hens have more typical frostbite, with blackened tips of combs and sections of wattle. Fabios’ damage is weirder with that dark line. I’m worried that means the major vessel was damaged and he’s in danger of losing most of his comb.