Frostbitten Comb on Roo?

[wordgirl]

This morning I noticed that a point on Mr. Incredible's (our eight-month-old BO cockerel) comb was rather purplish. I had been watching him, with his comb so much taller than the hens and the fact that cocks don't sleep with their heads under their wing (at least, so I have heard – while hens are supposed to sleep with their heads under their wings, though I'm not sure ours always do). His comb had been slightly purple the night before, but I was thinking it was probably nothing, as I think he's had little bits of purple before.

But is it possibly frostbite? He's having to sleep by himself in a dog kennel in the well house (the coop is in there, too), as the hens were pecking on a cut he had on his comb, and the last couple of nights have had temperatures in the twenties below zero. (The well house stays about 20-40 degrees – above zero

I guess it might be a little lower during the night, when I'm not there to look at the thermometer)

Any thoughts?

 

[Orpstralope]

The tips on a roo's comb will occasionally get frostbite. Watch for darker coloration and if that occurs, (if you want to help) rub some vaseline or petroleum jelly on it. Also, if you use a pan for water and their wattles dip into the water, they WILL get frostbite in below freezing weather. After my 5 day vacation I came back to one bloooooody roo, all because he got frostbite on his waddles.

 

[chicknmania]

It might be frostbite, although the frostbite I've seen starts out whitish, then turns black and falls off. It hurts, of course. I guess I would try to put vaseline on it; that's about all you can do for frostbite, anyway. If you keep vaseline on it all the time, it's supposed to help prevent frostbite. Did the cut on his comb heal? If not, maybe it's starting an infection in there. You might want to touch it up with terramycin gel, or even get some powdered duramycin for his waterj, just in case you need it.