black frostbite on comb?

[chuckzoo]

Any form of plastic will allow a good deal of condensation and that is what you want to avoid. I have covered some of my vents with cotton canvas to help keep in the warmth and block wind. The cotton still "breathes" so you will not have condensation build up.

This has worked very well for me.

Jenny

 

[teach1rusl]

Can you post some pics of your set-up? That way we may be able to better advise how to best protect your girls from the elements without a heatlamp (not that I'm opposed to using one, but you seemed to want to avoid that)...

 

[saladin]

Quote:
Dubbing is an age old practise that helps a chicken avoid things like frostbite.

When done in the dark of the moon there is almost no blood whatsoever. Once begun, it is a fast operation and the chicken will not flinch.

 

[abhaya]

take the plastic off it is holding in the moisture that is what causes most frost bite!!! As long as they are not in wind that blows the heat awat from the body they can tolerate cold very well. I live in northern TN and we got cold too. They did just fine.

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

Make sure your humidity in the coop is low. The chickens' breath will cause it to rise along with any moisture in the air...keep all vents open and if there is a wind, just cover the vent that is facing the wind. Otherwise, leave the vents open.

Acid-free Vaseline helps if you can put some on their combs...

This rooster of mine got in a fight (through the chicken wire) with my Sumatra. By the time I found it, the blood had froze to his comb and now he's got a really funky comb.

Honestly, it probably won't kill them, it may affect fertility or egg-laying for a while but it's mostly cosmetic.

 

[erindubb]

Here is a pic of my coop this summer. So, I haven't taken one lately - but imagine exactly this with thick clear plastic stapled around the mesh. I left a vent at the top by the door. I didn't put plastic on the entire "run" part either...just three sides. (i ran out of plastic and figured it would be good to help vent it). The farmer who sold me the bantams and the original " hutch like coop" (i added on the run and next box and enclosed the bottom) uses the exact kind for all of her bantams and leaves it out all winter with feed bags stapled all around it. I figured the plastic would be better because it would let the light in. What should I do? I could staple feed bags around the rest of the run part?

 

[erindubb]

here is a better pic of the run part.

 

[ellieroo]

For consideration .. those of you who are in parts of the US being slammed into winter the birds have had No time to acclimate. Much harder on them than birds in Alaska or Northern states who have been getting ready since Sept.. To expose them to wind chill and sub normal temps they are not ready for is unfair IMO.Straw bales make very good insulation when placed around outside of coop that can be removed or left as needed. Also with any livestock water water water not frozen or part frozen is an absolute. Good luck with the coming storm ours finally melted after 3weeks!

 

[Judy]

For now, I'd say remove some of the upper part of the plastic, to let more moisture out, and keep the heat lamp you used last night. My reasoning is, there has to be too much plastic or they wouldn't have gotten frostbitten. Or, if you have that many cloth feed bags (do they still make cloth feed bags?) you could replace the plastic with cloth, at least for the coop itself. I wouldn't cover any more of the run than you already have.

Dubbing is pretty controversial on here. It must be done to show game birds, in case you had notions of wanting to show game birds one day. I wouldn't do it for appearance. But for a bird with a badly frostbitten comb, I suspect that sometimes it is the kind thing to do.

 

[ellieroo]

Have asked this before with no answer so if the humidity is 80% outside and your coop is well ventilated how is the humidity in the coop going to be any less than the outside air?? I know the answer is simple but escapes me!