Frostbit rooster anything else I should do ?

[crazychicken]

We got stuck with over a foot of snow, and my poor silver phoenix rooster with his large single comb got some frostbite despite our efforts to keep them warm. I brought him in and I
1.)gave him a warm bath to wash the blood out of his feathers.
2.) cleaned his comb and surrounding area with a mild saline solution.
3.) dried him off and stopped the bleeding.
4.) put Vaseline on it.
5.) Quarantined him in a nice warm place.

Anything else I should do ?

 

[Miss Lydia]

you have to be extremely careful when you put him back outside now that hes been warmed up. Sounds like you've done extremely well in treating him, you just don't want to put him straight back out in the frigid weather when he's been in for a while in the warmth, also if he has an open wound you'll have to watch the others that they don't start to peck it.

 

[janinepeters]

Agree with Miss Lydia. Many chicken breeds can adapt to extreme cold, but only if exposed gradually, as normally happens with the change of seasons. If he has been in for more than a few days, he may not be able to adapt if brought straight from the warm house to an unheated coop. Either keep him in all winter, or find a way to gradually expose him to cooler and cooler temps, until you reach the outdoor temp. This is the problem with bringing them in. Also, other chx might go for his comb if they can see a wound.

If you are in a climate where winters are cold and do not heat your coop, your best bet for the future is to avoid birds with large single combs, and go with pea or rose comb birds that are known to be cold hardy. Frost bite is extremely painful for people, appears to be painful for other mammals, and, while it's harder for us to understand avian language, we can only gather that it is painful for birds, too.

 

[crazychicken]

Winters here are usually very mild.... today temps were up in the 50's. We just had a bad cold front come through, we got 15 inches of snow and both the house and coop lost power. It wasn't until after the fact that I was able to bring him in and fix him up. The rest of the week is supposed to be in the high 40's lower 50's so I will probably move him back out tomorrow or Wednesday, and I will watch and make sure the other chickens don't go after his comb.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Sounds like a plan keep us posted!

 

[True Grit]

You could get some Blu-Kote or Rooster Booster Pick No More to put on his comb if the others start to peck it.

 

[aveca]

It sounds like you are doing everything you can..sorry this happened to you..We have same problem, best advise is befor winter prepare everything .Maybe BYC could post a yearly winterizing guide , everything from choosing breeds for an area or coping with breeds with larger combs in frost regions.. .a building that isnt drafty , button up drafty areas of the coops and insulate ,I even took old socks and stuffed any openings in roof. we winterise the windows in the coop just like we do the house. We have some very harsh winters here and keep australorps. the hens never seem to have a problem, and beleive me it gets BAD here. this group of hens are three years old and to date no problems with cold weather.they have a lower comb and are always out running around and not bothered by it much. but we had a rooster last year that got severe frostbite, His comb and part of wattles became very swollen , that is tissue that is dying and eventually will fall off, a racoon or other animal pulled the cover off the back of his heated pen and bitter wind chills as well as snow dift blew in the back of that pen befor I found it. ..I check that pen every day when shutting them in now...you really have to watch for frostbitten feet - toes, ect.. we bed the roosters down with deep hay now and use heat lamp in his hut , it is very comfortable for him now and the water never freezes in that coop.. his coop has a rather long run off the back that we keep covered in winter..on nicer days we let him out .. temps above 30 he can go out..he is out right now..bitter wind chill days much to his chegrin he has to stay in..
Sounds like your rooster will be OK he might loose parts of comb ect. It takes a long time for it to heal from experience, they find VET RX or a bit of bag balm soothing the VET RX worked best for me. it just soothed him somehow... but really keep an eye on swollen toes and feet. he can do fine without part of comb but he needs the feet. I would do everything possible to protect him from any more bitter winds for this year.