Any suggestions on how to solve our frostbite problem?

[Muddy Holler]

Dubbing the chickens helps. Its the same as people do to Old English Game Fowl

 

[pheasant1]

I noticed frost on the inside of my small coops.
They are not insulated or air tight, they say lots of moisture in the air this
year and we had way more cold days than normal.
I have more birds in the houses this year also for body heat, maybe that's why I had a problem. I have four bantams (one rooster) that insist on roosting in an open fly pen,
no frost bite yet!?!?! Some of the others roosting inside have a little, they sort of dub themselves. Can't say I have had any trouble with the large breed roosters.
I was wonder what breed you have that have the problem?

 

[SIMZ]

Last year was a Black Copper Marans and this year is my Buff Orpington (both roosters). This is the Orpington's 2nd winter and he's never had frostbite this badly.

 

[Rebekers]

Lots of good info!

Wanted to share a little from my recent experience that hasn't been mentioned here yet.

The first night of the single-digit cold, we used an infrared light with a heat lamp near the center of our smallish coop (holds about 8-12 chickens), pointing toward the chickens. They seemed to get a little frostbite but we weren't sure, and their water had frozen so I moved the lamp to just above their (metal) water dish and it thawed half of it. (Don't worry, I also provided a bowl of water besides that for while the other thawed).

I should mention I'm in South TN and we get lots of cold weather but are lucky to see an inch of snow, so feeding snow to the birds just isn't an option here.

That night I didn't think it would matter if I left the lamp heating the water, and the next day almost every one of our (at the time) 6 chickens had frost burn or frostbite to some degree or another. I think maybe the lamp heating the water caused a higher level of humidity that rose and then cooled as it rose, eventually settling on the chickens' combs (does that make sense?) The next night I moved the lamp as close as I safely could to the roof (which is about 7 ft high, and the roosts are around 4, 5, and 6 feet high), so the lamp was level with the top bar. I also added a couple boards under the roosts to block any moisture from their droppings (didn't know about the sand at the time, I'll be adding that asap). No more frostbite! Only what they had before. Now it has to heal...which is slow going when the temps just won't stay up!

Also, they seem perfectly happy scratching around in their yard in spite of their frosting, laying eggs and crowing and everything. So, I think if a heat lamp is used at the top of a small coop, it can warm things up enough at the top of the coop to keep humidity in the air instead of condensing and falling....??
PS: my roosters are buff (soon to be moving to a new home and a new 'harem'), maran, and silkie, and my hens are welsummer, buttercup, maran, and a buff mix. The maran hen has fared best, and the buttercup second best, with both bigger roo's combs looking terrible but the silkie is fine. On the vaseline...I did not like what it did to their feathers at all, and I had my doubts about it's effectiveness.

 

[Beekissed]

Yep...makes sense.

 

[Bogtown Chick]

Most folks including myself have been keeping water out of the coop and in the run or altogether removing it at night when they are roosting anyways in this cold. On the really cold nights despite a cookie tin heater...my fount freezes up. Nothing I dislike more with my winter chores then deicing that on a frigid morning so I just bring it in at night when I tuck them in and close the pop door. Then I just bring it back down when they are hopping off the roost in the morning. I generally fill it with luke warm water too to help em warm up a bit.

If you add too much heat where it's keeping the poop from freezing and not vented out enough. That moisture will nip 'em. I'm glad you are figuring it out. Vaseline was not effective for me at all last winter. Bag Balm is better. It gets waxy in the cold and stays on the combs better therefore not rubbing off on the feathers. Mine looked like they had tar on them last winter after dusting and mixing with the vaseline. Looked horrible-yes...protecting the comb-not really... and I started to have concerns about the integrity of their feathers and keeping their head and necks warm after I used it. LOL. Anyways...sometimes this chickening in weather extremes is trial and error. Sounds like you are figuring out how to get the moisture out of the coop.

I find my birds will come out and chicken around at the 0 mark. Anything less than that they are roosting in the coop by their own choice and I may as well close the pop door and help them conserve what warmth they are making in the coop.

 

[Beekissed]

I use a heated dog bowl and it sits right next to an open area in my coop. I have an open air hoop coop, so there are many places at different levels in the coop that are left open to air, despite the 20 below temps. You can keep water in the coop and even heated water in the coop with the proper ventilation without causing frost bite issues. I err on the side of caution with my ventilation and allow gaps of 10 in. at the roof line, whole windows at the floor level, and smaller gaps at mid level.

No frost bite, laying increased in the coldest temps, and the birds are all hale and hardy.

 

[Bogtown Chick]

Coops are different.
Weather conditions for different regions, coldmidity ratios differ.
Breeds and numbers in the coops.
Persistance of the cold. Long time under zero or just one night....?

There are too many variables to give one end-all, beat-all answer to protecting against frost bite.

Tactics for fighting moisture in the coop run on similar lines of action. True. But there are too many coops with great ventilation--I've seen their pictures, still getting frostbite in those coops to not understand that there must be varying factors causing problems for them. And it comes down to just admitting that Cold is Cold and even with great ventilation, for some, frost bite will happen.

 

[Beekissed]

Yep! It's all in how the coop and flock holds the humidity and how high the ambient humidity is as well.

 

[what did I do]

We got to -38 and wind this year. I just accept a little frostbite as part of where we live. As long as the chickens feet are not frostbitten I consider it good. If feet or even a toenail get damaged there is a problem.

We have a number of older barn cats with nipped ears as well. I wish there was a way to stop it without micromanaging everything or major changes to the coop... Oh well. My hens are good as are some of the roosters but some roosters now look smooth combed.