Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

Glad to see she is getting well.

 

[Plinky]

@CayugaJana, Love the "cone of shame". Yum! Cat head on a plate!
Seriously...
Happy New Year folks! Hope your chickens are keeping warm enough. I've just got three and one was separated after being pecked by the others. The single is in the garage with a heat lamp at night (water still frozen in the morning, but perhaps taking the edge off). The other two are in the coop. I put a double tarp over the coop to help with keeping out draughts (still plenty of ventilation) and reduced the height over the roost. I also got a pad heater that uses only 25 watts. I'm just switching out their water when it freezes. So far so good. Only thing is, I saw that the tip end of the Leghorn's longest comb point looks greyish. Frostbite? If so do I do anything about it?
Thanks for advice and keep warm everyone!

 

[CayugaJana]

I feel bad for my animals outside too. I’ve read some BYCrs will put Vaseline on the comb. But since I only have ducks, I don’t have firsthand experience with it.

 

[chicken danz]

I've got frostbite on several birds around here. There is really nothing you can do about when it's this cold. I've read that vaseline helps but I'm a skeptic. Treat frostbite the same as a bad burn. So whatever you use for burns on yourself use on your chickens frostbite. One word of warning though. If you add any cream or something to them be sure it's not something that will easily freeze and worsen the condition. I would recommend trying some colloidal silver. It will help it heal and won't leave a wet residue that will freeze if you don't get too carried away. Not cheap but it has a million uses for humans as well.

 

[Plinky]

Yes, I put vaseline on a couple of days ago. Need to do it again! Trouble is catching the Leghorn! I also put it on their feet and VetRx under their wings so they get a vaporizer-like treatment when they put their heads under their wings.

 

[Plinky]

Thanks, Danz. I will try the silver, wanted to get some anyway to have on hand.

 

[Trish44]

This weather is horrid! Yesterday I had a lamb born on the worst day of the year of course. Why do they do that?!

 

[CayugaJana]

This weather is horrid! Yesterday I had a lamb born on the worst day of the year of course. Why do they do that?!

Oh no! They want to make you stress more, that’s why!!

 

[chicken danz]

Have I mentioned I hate cold weather?

I am so over battling frozen water hoses and dragging hundreds of feet of cold twisting, catching, and stiff hoses all over for them to freeze while I move them. We typically blow out the water line with an air compressor after each use in winter but the compressor quit so I am using a different one. It managed to freeze up too. I've got heated bowls and buckets every where but this extreme cold is too much for them so they freeze anyway. I did get two buckets rewired yesterday and both of those are working. The wires used for those things are like three tiny wires that are thinner than a hair. I had to use the magnifying glass to see them well enough to wire them back together. The mice crawl up under the buckets and chew them apart.
Plus my auto waters in the building are freezing and this is the first year I have had that trouble. So they are either iced over or thawing and overflowing. The ice messes up the little valve in them and since it is metal it tends to freeze first. I'm not sure there is even a way to prevent it. I've had the pop doors shut for three days in hopes of keeping out the excess cold but it doesn't seem to help much.
I did lose on bird and expect to lose one more. They were both not doing well anyway and the cold just over took them. I also have an old jubilee hen I had removed because being bred by the roosters too often had broken down her legs. She was getting around and doing really well but now she can barely walk. She is on her feet but can't stand up. I'm afraid she won't live simply because she doesn't want to move. I put her in front of a heater yesterday and she seemed to enjoy it but she wasn't at all tempted by the bowl of water I had for her.
So much for eggs. They freeze before I can gather them. 'nuff complaining. It is supposed to get above freezing finally this weekend.

 

[Dani4Hedgies]

BRRR am SO READY for Spring to get here. Despite all my effects this year we are having water frozen non stop so I broke down and ordered two heated 3 gallon chicken waters and I am going to pick up a aqua heater for the ducks pond and see if that works. Hopefully this will make this year a lot less buggy.