hi everyone! I have a chicken who decided for some reason or another she would rather sleep under the stars last night than in her cozy coop...and it was near -20 f last night. She is currently inside hanging out with us, but I wonder if its necessary? The coop is insulated and has a heat lamp for those really cold nights (-20 is an average temp lately) and during the day its roughly -10. Does she nèed to be inside to recover? This isnt all that severe of a case, is it?
Did anyone ever answer this? How did your girl do? did she lose that bit of her comb? I have now 2 cockerels with frostbite... i've gotten them in the new house with more space & ventilation so hopefully it's not going to get worse, but it was -10 or so for a couple days there and I obviously wasn't properly prepared. poor boys!! I'm waiting to see how much comb will die off and how much will come back. I think the part that blistered might stay, and some of the tips still appear pink, though the flesh inbetween is white/dark...
The parts of the tips that turn black will fall off. It does not regrow. With severe weather the cockerels will lose the very tips of comb. It's a problem if it gets to the base of comb and obvious sign of overdo ventilation of coop redo. Being such large combs on the cockerel/cock birds it's expected to loose 1/3 to half of the tips of comb. Pullets combs are so small there is no sign of frost unless you've a Mediterranean birds with large combs. Then again it's the very tips.
Wash it with Epsom salts and put Vaseline on it to keep in her natural moisture.....What is dead will fall off.... Cheers!