Any suggestions on how to solve our frostbite problem?

[Granny Hatchet]

yes and yes. bout all you can do. make sure you dont use antibiotic /with pain reliever in it. it is toxic to chickens. the regular kind is good

 

[Granny Hatchet]

yes and yes. bout all you can do. make sure you dont use antibiotic /with pain reliever in it. it is toxic to chickens. the regular kind is good

some trim the dead tissue off but i have no experience with that

 

[Bogtown Chick]

Clean with antibacterial soap and water twice a day (watch the eyes). Veterycin spray, Neosporin without the "caines" or Bacitracin topically. If the bird starts to smell of strong infection systemic antibiotics should be considered from your vet: Baytril or cephalexin.

If your doing chickens to avoid antibiotics in your food and are strict about it, then consider honey as a natural alternative for topical treatments....I haven't tried it...but its well touted on other threads and on web searches. although I don't know what the moisture of the honey will do in freezing temps to the comb...make it worse...IJDK...

 

[lorim]

I use a infared heat lamp even at night...just for a couple of the worst nights and it always helps! We've just had -17 degrees, windchill of 50 below and they're still ok. One hen looks like the tips of her comb might have some frostbite. She has the biggest comb. Everyone else is A ok.

 

[pipe]

You know,I would hardly qualify as an expert,having been in the chicken hobby for about 8 months.However,I was brought up on a farm and have lived on a farm most of my 71 years.
Our coop is 12'x18',is insulated and contains 50 birds.43 are 4 months old and 7 are 8 months old.The coop is insulated and I use a bathroom fan for ventilation.Two 250 watt heat lamps are used for heat.The other night(I live near Ottawa Ontario so check it out)The temperature dropped to minus 35 Fahrenheit.Temperature inside the coop was between26 and 28 degrees for those two days.Aside from that it never went below freezing.I just went out to check at 10:20 Eastern time and it is 5 degrees with a 20mph wind from the west.Temperature inside the coop is 43 degrees.No frozen combs,no frozen water just happy chickens.Why make them suffer?

 

[Davidally122]

Check out the chicken chick online. Her website has some excellent info in the resources directory on frostbite prevention and winter with chickens. I've followed the advice and so far so good.

 

[happyfrenchman]

I would add...Make sure all lamps and heat devices are well secured because hot lamp plus straw equals fire. Especially when it is cold, I think it is tempting to put in extra clamp type lamps but these can be knocked loose and that would be very bad.

 

[autumn123]

This is my first year with my 3 hens. This super cold weather in the teens and 20's is unusual here in Texas. We have had no problems, hens are doing just fine, acting normal, and laying 1 or 2 eggs most days. Their little coop, downstairs run with hardware cloth and upstairs roost box (wood) where they sleep are just the right size for 3, so they keep warm at night closed up in there. The larger door on the side would be drafty but I added some thin weatherstripping and is draft free. The roof opens up (split all the way across on the top) so I have it propped open a couple of inches, and there is a window up high on the SE side I have yet to close.

I am using pine shavings for litter, and I don't remove 100% of the poop so I might have benefit of deep litter up there eventually. To help with any humidity issues (especially difficult when it is rainy) I keep the box liberally dusted with DE. The downstairs run (which sits on a few bricks a couple of inches off ground and has a hardware wire bottom) is deep with shavings, paper from the shredder, pine needles. I have enclosed the north and west sides which are usually open hardware cloth to block the wind. Their feeder hangs in there so when I close the lower door at night rodents cant get to it and the coop and run are predator proof.

The whole thing sits in a 6x8 (4 ft tall - would do that differently!) chain link dog kennel where the ground is sandy loam with ribbons of clay. A lightweight roof made of aluminum poles and hardware cloth lifts from one end has been added to keep out predators, as well as the whole chain link has been wrapped in hardware cloth. I have tarps and bungee cords to cover roof and sides when it's very cold and windy or rainy. The ground inside the kennel is covered with the pine shaving/shredded paper mixture, and I keep their water out there. The coop and roost box doors are open during the day so they can roam around the kennel. There's a small dust bath area too. For winter, I am definitely using the deep litter method out there, because the bare ground can get icky and soggy from rain or their waterer, and the necessary microbes to make the composting happen are right there in the soil. I add a bit more shavings, toss in a little DE, stir it up. I have had zero problems with odor, frostbite, and the hens seem to be normal and free of health or pest issues. They like scratching around out there. I have a smaller set of chain link panels I set up several times per week in the nearby field (weather permitting) where they can get out and scratch around in the grass while I clean in their coop and yard.

I think this combination of yard, run, roost box that can be protected from wind yet has decent ventilation and air flow around the coop works well. It's flexible, doesn't require any construction skills, and everything I have used except the coop I either already had or could readily buy at the hardware or feed store. I did plenty of reading last year leading up to keeping chickens, but there was no set "plan" as to how everything worked out, just a general idea. I just had to figure out some things as I went along, and this is what I ended up with. Some advice: if you are poking your head in the yard or coop with that roof propped up on a stick - STOP THAT! I knocked it out of the way one time while working and it came down and scraped and bruised the front of my nose, broke my glasses too. NOW I lift it with the stick, and I attach it to a line tied to a tree branch overhead.

I hope you and all your chickens make it through the winter ok. Curl up nest to the fire, get out those seed and livestock supply catalogs, and start dreaming about Spring!

 

[Dwkuska]

Well living in WA I havent seen any temps going into the negatives yet, nor do I have any issues with frostbite. However, I do have a question about water heaters. We bought a chicken water heater(looks like an aluminum oil change pan with a coil and thermometer inside it) to put the waterer on so it doesnt/didnt freeze when it gets into the 20's. My issue/question is if there is a way to keep the chickens off of it? When I remove the waterer to wash and refil it almost every time I find the rooster and 1-2 hens plopped firmly on it. If the waterer is on it I noticed the girls will press their chest against it. Also the rooster(his name is poof) sits on top of the waterer I assume because the metal waterer is warmer then the ground.

 

[cosmic chicken]

We have 10 chickens in a 10x14 coop, uninsulated, and after reading this thread: improperly ventilated... this will be addressed tomorrow... our area is always humid (central Virginia) so no condensation/frost has been noted inside the coop. We had the people door in one corner and one 8" strip 4' long near the ground on the same wall open for venting since it has gotten cold, but sealed the door as well last night due to the 10F temps forcasted.

I noticed small frostbite spots on 3 combs this morning when I went to let them out of the coop. Being still in the low teens at that time, i chased and caught 4 chickens and broughht them into the house. Unfortunately, these were not the ones with spots... Being crafty chickens, the others eluded capture and hung out at the edge of the woods in one of their favorite areas. Given the two groups were crowing back and forth, I let the inside ones back out figuring more feathered bodies might be better together in the cold. I brought food and kept the water fresh right next to them.

Now, here is my delimma... getting the coop issue rectified is a given, but what to do during the day with a flock who free ranges? By nightfall today all of the chickens has black spots! This means they stubbornly hung out in the cold outside and got more frostbite!

Right now I have a huge box filled with 10 chickens that is covered with a blanket in the house with us at the foot of our bed (I don't trust the 2 indoor cats to not be idiots and try to jump on the blanket top and fall in, so this is the best supervision idea while getting a decent sleep). I have the heat turned off in the room so they won't get too hot. The flock has fresh A&D ointment on their combs and wattles and seem peacefully asleep.

So... After all of this rambling, ny questions are: Do I keep the poor guys and gals in the coop when the temps drop below freezing during the day? Do I keep them in warmer conditions while their frostbite heals and if so, what temps in a humid climate should I use as a guide? Zgiven that it is a humid climate, should I just suck it up and put supplimental heating in the coop to bring the temps up a wee bit? Any guidance or thoughts will be very appreciated!