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Anyone else having problems with frostbitten combs? Now that it was down to 2 degrees this week my roos are looking a little 'bitten'. So far everyone has made it. I have not put out heat lamps, I figure I need to let mother nature select my flock for me if I'm going to persist with living in Missouri!
Sounds brutally cold to me. Hope they make it through. Glad it doesn't get quite that cold here!
I say this "knocking on wood." So far I've never lost one to the cold. I've come close, but to date everybody is holding their own. I do everything I can to make sure that they stay warm, or rather they can keep themselves warm. The d'Uccle are the ones that are a little bit touchy. I did almost loose my porcelain cockerel, but since his brush with death, I set up a small coop inside the bigger coops. That way they can get in to a small space and their body heat and each other works well to keep them warm. They'd never make it if I just left them on their own. I don't use heat lamps or heaters, they just use their own little bodies to stay warm and chickens are VERY warm. Plus, since I'm retired and have nothing to do but obsess over my birds, I check on them constantly. I do know that I'll be glad when spring gets here, winter makes everything harder.
I use plastic over the runs and some of the coops, it cuts the wind which is the worst culprit for frostbite and just generally getting to cold. As long as they are able to get in out of the wind, I don't have comb problems.
