Frostbite - not sure when it occurred

[aart]

Unfortunately I've confirmed that my chickens are indeed dunking their combs in the water bowl.

Get rid of the open water.

 

[avjudge]

Unfortunately I've confirmed that my chickens are indeed dunking their combs in the water bowl. . . I use an open top black rubber tub for water when it's below freezing so I can be rough with it in the morning to get the ice out. That leaves little sticky-out bits of ice around the sides usually, and what they are doing is bending their necks around to try to eat those pieces. . .

If you don't have electricity there (so no heated bucket or waterer), you could get a second tubs/bucket, and alternate them - bring the icy one in the house to thaw as you put the other one out.

We have a heated nipple waterer in the coop for our 6 (so no open water) but during the day in the winter "run" (actually a stall - coop is in the barn, so I open its people door and they run across the aisle in the morning, back at night - covered run is on next summer's projects list) I just hang a small bucket (a .85 gallon plastic one that horse supplement came in). I'm amazed how long it keeps an open hole in the center where they drink, even as it freezes around the sides, but at the end of the day I bring it in the house and leave it upside-down in the sink for the ice to drop out. On particularly cold days (like single digits) I will swap it out at lunch, for an identical one.

 

[Eggcessive]

I use the 1.5 gallon electric dog bowl waterers inside my coop. Outside I use the black rubber gallon size waterers that I fill in the morning with fresh water, and dump them each afternoon at roost time.

 

[DonyaQuick]

Get rid of the open water.

Replace it with what though? I haven't found another option that stays thawed for more than a couple minutes in the current weather with no outdoor outlets. The small rubber bowl stays thawed for several hours at a time even when it's near 0F because I can get the very base of it into the substrate while leaving enough wall sticking up that it won't wet the whole area if they kick it. My similarly sized other waterers either freeze within minutes and/or will almost certainly make soggy substrate if I situate them like the tub to keep them warmer.

If you don't have electricity there (so no heated bucket or waterer), you could get a second tubs/bucket, and alternate them - bring the icy one in the house to thaw as you put the other one out.

I actually had to do just that this morning; I already had a spare fortunately that I use sometimes for other things. The ice cracked out of the first bowl in a really annoying way and wouldn't get off the sides, so I had to just leave it in the sun for a while - still outside since the bottom was covered in frozen turds, but it got just warm enough that the ice chunks dropped away so I can probably use it tomorrow.

They will be alright. It's best to just leave it alone. Here is a picture of one of mine, who got this her first Minnesota winter, in January (2019). It was pretty bad, but the second picture is how she looked a few months later. The points just round off, and the next two winters she had no issues with frostbite anymore. Those larger combs almost always get frostbite when the temperatures get down in the single digits for days, and even well below zero.

Looks like you were a little warmer when this happened, but any moisture can play a part in it.

I think there may be cases too when they tuck their heads in at night under their feathers. I think they can create a condition where their exhalation can also create moisture on their combs. I see many of mine with their large combs still sticking out from under their feathers.

So far this year, I have 5 hens where this is their second winter, and so far only one has mild frostbite. But, she is a RIR with a very large comb and wattles, and tends to dunk her wattles in the waterer when drinking. So this isn't very surprising. The rest of them are doing great so far. But we are currently sitting at 2F, and tonights low is supposed to be -15F, and it's going to be like this for the next week or so, so now is usually when this happens, if it happens.


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Thanks for sharing those pictures - that's reassuring to me!

 

[aart]

Replace it with what though?

Heated with horizontal nipples......for next year.

 

[esme13]

You would benefit from having an extension wire and getting a heated water bowl. This weather in the north eastern is very cold.