Hi all. So, this is our first winter with chickens and we are so lost as to what to do. ALL of our hens (all 7 of them) have frostbite on their combs. Some are worse than others and some are even losing the tips of their combs now. They look awful and we feel terrible! The upper portion of our coop has the roosts and nesting boxes. The girls have access to the bottom of the coop as well where their water and food is located and, until just a day ago, was completely open to the outside (besides the wiring that keeps them in, of course). I say this because we wrapped it with plastic trying to help fix the frostbite problem...? We have two heat lamps in the top providing them with what we think is plenty if heat for the length of their roost. There is a vent on both the front and rear of the coop where the roosts are that are both open always.
What are we doing wrong?! Temperatures haven't gotten above 10* F over the last few weeks and have been dipping below 0* every night with no end soon in sight. Its also been quite windy too which doesnt help! I realize this is quite cold but in reading the other forums about frostbite it doesn't sound terribly uncommon elsewhere for chickens to withstand these temps. Is this totally a ventilation problem? Were we wrong to enclose the bottom portion? I feel like they're suffering and we're doing nothing to help them. Today when we filled their water up there was blood all over the water jug, which I assume is from one of their combs because their not hurt elsewhere that I can see. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance!
What are we doing wrong?! Temperatures haven't gotten above 10* F over the last few weeks and have been dipping below 0* every night with no end soon in sight. Its also been quite windy too which doesnt help! I realize this is quite cold but in reading the other forums about frostbite it doesn't sound terribly uncommon elsewhere for chickens to withstand these temps. Is this totally a ventilation problem? Were we wrong to enclose the bottom portion? I feel like they're suffering and we're doing nothing to help them. Today when we filled their water up there was blood all over the water jug, which I assume is from one of their combs because their not hurt elsewhere that I can see. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance!
