Badly frozen comb is blistering Help! Graphic pictures

[The egg and I]

This was not what I had in mind as an introduction but I sure could use your help. I
live in South Wester Ontario and it's been a really mild winter for the most part.

We had a sudden huge cold snap on Sat night and some of my roosters got frost bitten. Unfortunately one of my favorite guys was actually frozen.

It didnt look too bad the next day just a bit discolored. We moved him and the other single comb roos into a different and warmer area and this morning I noticed his comb is a lot worse. It's blistered and turning ugly colors, I really am worried and don't know what to do.

I have an antibiotic ointment that I have for the dogs which I used on a hen that escaped a hawk with great success, I slathered it on his comb. I also put superbooser in his water and seperated him from the others.
This is what I used.
Fuciderm gel
active ingredients Fusidis Acid 0.5%
Betamenthasone 0.1%
It's listed as a topical antiviotic/Corticosteroid

Now I'm worried that I did the wrong thing. I dug around in the dogs med kit and found some polysporin but I don't know if I should wash his comb and then put it on or leave it alone.

 

[Chick named Lola]

Oh my poor bird! I don't know what to tell you to do as I'm a newbie to this myself. I just want to send a

and tell I hope he gets better real soon!

 

[top of the hill]

For frostbite I have read that you should just leave it as is and let it dry out / fall off. Not sure I have read anything about it blistering though, perhaps at the very least I can give you a bump.

good luck!

 

[EweSheep]

Keep it dry even it is oozing. Not much you can do at this point besides cutting the comb off. A pair of dubbing shears will cut off the dying tissues. Beware it BLEEDS! Have NO idea how it works.

Aspirin would help to relieve some pain, not sure of the dosage. Might need to do a search for it.

Once the points fall off, you can make him a hat! Don't know if anyone actually made some for roosters. The large combed roos seems to be the worse when it comes to temperatures like that.

Poor guy! I've had a number of Welsummer roos with frostbitten combs.

 

[CMV]

It's ugly, but not a big deal. I hate lopping off frostbitten combs, so I go for a less invasive fix. Clean the comb with straight betadine/iodine for several days twice a day. This will dry up those weepy blisters in no time. Any areas too badly damaged will turn black and start to slough off. That is perfectly normal. He will get a slow dub job with only the badly damaged areas falling off. He should not get any infections with the betadine washings going on. Do not put any ointments on the comb until it is dry because that will prolong the healing time.

It's hard to tell initially how much of the comb will be lost, but I think you will find that his comb looks worse now than it truly is. I am not even certain he is going to lose that much of it. Now, that could change in the next couple days, but don't panic should the comb look far worse tomorrow and start looking all blackened. That is to be expected. Frostbite always looks much worse after a few days.

He shouldn't need any pain relief. Frostbite doesn't actually hurt that much. I can say that as a human having gotten frostbitten, and chickens are much tougher than us paltry humans.

Good luck with him. Keep us posted on his progress.

 

[featherz]

I had some frostbite last year. Some of it did blister, but eventually it just dried up and fell off. My roo lost some points on his comb but was otherwise OK.

 

[The egg and I]

Thank you so much for the replys, I spent the afternoon building him a new 3 x 3 pen where he can recouperate all by himself.
CMV, Thanks for the advice with the bentadine. I just so happen to have a container of it in the dogs med kit and I will bring him in and get started.
I'd have to look up how much asprin to give him as I have never given that to a chicken before. It doesn't seem to bother him as much as it does me.
Thanks, I'm off to clean up his comb..

 

[MamaMarcy]

Just beware that ASPIRIN is a blood thinner, so if you're cutting on a bird do not use aspirin...or they might bleed out...same in people

 

[The egg and I]

Oh you are so right MamaMarcy I guess that's why they give it you heart attacks victums.
I went out and sponged it down with bentadine. I noticed that some of the blisters had already burst. They were quite large. Even the bottom half of his wattles are very swollen. so they got bathed also.

As bad as all this looks, I can't help but notice that the top points still haven't discolored yet. So I'm hopeing he won't loose too much.

I've go about 4 other single comb roos with frost bite on the tips but they aren't nearly as bad as this poor fellow.
I will keep batheing him with the bentadine and keep you posted.

Thanks so much for the quick response. What a great bunch you are. I"m so glad I came here for help.

 

[The egg and I]

I just thought I'd add in case anyone is wondering why his comb is so funky looking. I know the picture is a bit blurry. Hard to hold a roo and camera at the same time.

He's a black penedensca and has the kings crown or carnation at the back. I had to use a q-tip to get in there to bathe it. Poor guy is such a good patient.