Frostbite: I thought I was going to be able to prevent this ...

[Cazook]

Ouch!! If I lived in a place with such severe winters I would consider only getting small-combed breeds thereafter... looks painful. I wonder if it's possible to crochet winter hats for chickens? Comb warmers?

 

[MissE]

Ouch!! If I lived in a place with such severe winters I would consider only getting small-combed breeds thereafter... looks painful. I wonder if it's possible to crochet winter hats for chickens? Comb warmers?

It's really funny how little it seems to bother them. Think it bothers us humans more to see it. Mine would be out in their run as soon as the sun was high enough for them to soak in the rays even if it was still -25. Sure, they complained when I would check on them, but I think I complained more having to check every hour for eggs in hopes of getting them before they froze. I could have added heat, but with the ventilation it wouldn't have helped much. I could have closed off the ventilation, but then the temps would have been around 0 with extra humidity, which would mean more frostbite. If I could find a high production egg layer with a small comb, I would consider changing.

 

[MissE]

@MissE - Thank you! I honestly tried so hard but being a first-year chicken owner, I still feel really bad especially since it happened to two of my favorite chickens, and one chicken that is already at a disadvantage because she can't see very well. Such is the life of a chicken living up here. Hoping for a nice, warm spring to melt away all of the poop.

These last few days have felt like spring, and poop melting has begun. I do deep litter in the coop since it freezes solid making cleaning nearly impossible to clean. Easier to just add more bedding. Today they rearranged everything in the coop since it thawed enough to scratch through. They thought they won the chicken lottery.

Somehow they manage to keep their dust bath in the run open even with over night temps of -40. Several will pile into the crater they dug, and once their body heat thaws the top 1/4 inch of dirt, the bathing begins. They are weird, but they seem happy.

 

[MissE]

@MissE - Thank you! I honestly tried so hard but being a first-year chicken owner, I still feel really bad especially since it happened to two of my favorite chickens, and one chicken that is already at a disadvantage because she can't see very well. Such is the life of a chicken living up here. Hoping for a nice, warm spring to melt away all of the poop.

These last few days have felt like spring, and poop melting has begun. I do deep litter in the coop since it freezes solid making cleaning nearly impossible to clean. Easier to just add more bedding. Today they rearranged everything in the coop since it thawed enough to scratch through. They thought they won the chicken lottery.

Somehow they manage to keep their dust bath in the run open even with over night temps of -40. Several will pile into the crater they dug, and once their body heat thaws the top 1/4 inch of dirt, the bathing begins. They are weird, but they seem happy.

 

[MissE]

@MissE - Thank you! I honestly tried so hard but being a first-year chicken owner, I still feel really bad especially since it happened to two of my favorite chickens, and one chicken that is already at a disadvantage because she can't see very well. Such is the life of a chicken living up here. Hoping for a nice, warm spring to melt away all of the poop.

These last few days have felt like spring, and poop melting has begun. I do deep litter in the coop since it freezes solid making cleaning nearly impossible to clean. Easier to just add more bedding. Today they rearranged everything in the coop since it thawed enough to scratch through. They thought they won the chicken lottery.

Somehow they manage to keep their dust bath in the run open even with over night temps of -40. Several will pile into the crater they dug, and once their body heat thaws the top 1/4 inch of dirt, the bathing begins. They are weird, but they seem happy.

 

[MissE]

I swear I only hit "post reply" once.