Frost bite? What in the world??

[okiemommy]

Okay so I went out today to feed my chickens and noticed that one of the little roo's (Porcelain D'uccle) had a huge purple spot on his comb. Last night's temps were around 9-10 degrees, with the temps the day before being much warmer. (Last night before we went to bed the temp inside the coop was 24 with the heat lamp that they have over their waterer to keep it from freezing, but it wasn't as cold as 9 until much later in the morning) He's a loner and doesn't really like to roost with the rest of the flock, so I thought oh great he has frost bite.

I went out there to check on him and his comb is red again!! I thought frostbite was a once you have it, it's there kind of thing. Was I able to prevent it before it turned into frostbite? Or was it something completely different?

 

[keeperofthehearth]

I've noticed some of that blue/purpling on some of my chickens also during cold weather. I think their combs are cold and possibly on the verge of frostbite without actually getting to that point. Glad his comb is O.K.

 

[okiemommy]

Thanks. I was worried about it, and thought for sure I had a frostbite case on my hands, but went back in the coop a couple of hours later, and it was back to normal. It was really weird, because I mean his comb was purple, dark purple, and swollen in that one spot. I have seen the light purple in the other chickens when their combs get really cold, but this one was different. Much Darker.

 

[Riparian]

My some of my roosters comb has turned purple a couple times this year. When that happens, i smear vaseline all over it. After a few hours it returns to normal color, until the vaseline wears off (from body heat) and it gets cold and turns purple again. I find that the vaseline wears off within a day.

But it really helps.

 

[vermontgal]

Mine eat the vaseline off each other's combs. So it might not just be "wearing off".

 

[LilRalphieRoosmama]

We just went out and vaseline'd ours. Supposed to be 20 below tonight. I have noticed the rooster's comb turns purple when he's cold and red when he's fine. Spots of black/white are probably the frostbite and not good.

 

[Riparian]

Quote:
I dont lay it on that thick. You can see it heat up a few minutes after applying. The comb goes shiny, from the body temperature heating it up.

 

[okiemommy]

We will have to buy Vaseline. We didn't have it b/c we don't use it for ourselves, and I was told that I shouldn't need it living here, b/c it shouldn't get cold enough to need it. But 9 degrees isn't the norm for us here either

 

[Riparian]

I put it on my fishing rod guides to prevent them from freezing up when im ice fishing. Thats the only reason I have it

 

[silkiechicken]

If it has color, it's just cold, now if it goes white, hard, and looks like frozen meat... that's frost bite.