Chantecler with frozen feet

[Alntess04]

When I came home from work today I noticed my 2 year old chantecler hen sitting outside by the chicken door. She is usually one of the first to come inspect the treats. I checked on her and when I picked her up, her feet were nearly frozen solid! I immediatley put her in the coop and closed the chicken door to keep all of them in. There is some movement in one of her feet. She seems to be getting around on her own and is eating and drinking. I put her under the heat lamp. my questions are 1) can her feet be saved? If so what do I do? 2) Why wouldn't she come in the coop? Why would she stay outside to the point her feet froze?! All the other chickens are fine, none of them seem to have any frost bite on combs or waddles and are doing just fine.

 

[CMV]

You won't know for a couple days what the true extent of the damage is. I cannot tell you why she stayed outside so long, but I suspect that she must have some other issues going on to cause such behavior.

If the feet have frostbite then they will first start to swell and get weepy. The skin will then start to look scabby after a few days and the swelling will start to go down. You will need to keep them as clean as possible, dress them in some kind of oinment (Bag Balm, Vaseline, Neosporin, and some folks use Blukote [although I don't recommend that]) and prevent other birds from picking at her feet. From that point they will either blacken from the tips upward, or start to heal. Don't panic if you see her toes turning black. That means she will lose them, but this is not a huge issue to most birds. She probably won't even limp on them. From there you just need to watch and wait and see to find out how much damage has been done.

I hope she makes it. You need to address the issue of why she felt she couldn't enter the coop until she froze. Could she be ill with something unrelated?

 

[akpeeps]

Same thing happened to one of my 7 wk old Orp chicks. Her toes were frozen solid but not white. After bringing her in and letting them thaw yesterday, she has blisters and both feet are very swollen. I soaked them in warm water with epsom salts, applied neosporin, then loosely wrapped with gauze and vet wrap. I think I caught it in time but won't know for several days yet. If she develops blisters, DON'T pop them, just keep everything as clean as you can.
Good luck with your girl.