I put Bag balm on the large combs to prevent frost bite. Maybe move this to Emergencies ... you might get a better reply and
if there's risk of frost bite, i would dub all roosters and hens... it's painful for them, and can kill a healthy chicken... read this... pretty graffic pics too...
A mild case of frostbite looks yellow, swollen and weepy. The worse the frostbite the more swollen and nasty the appearance. A severe case of frostbite will turn black almost immediately. Petroleum products (vaseline, Bag Balm, Aquaphor) will help prevent frostbite if applied regularly, but you need to look at the ventilation in your coop. Frostbite is typically brought on by too much moisture in the air, so if you can alleviate this then you can usually stop your birds from getting it at all. As far as treating frostbite, I have seen 2 schools of thought on the matter. One is that the blackened areas need to be trimmed off and then treated with a topical antibiotic ointment to prevent infection. This is called dubbing. The other advises that the areas are encouraged to dry out by applying a straight betadine solution twice a day to the damaged areas. This will keep the comb from getting infected and will also encourage the dead areas to just wither up and fall off on their own without the need for at home surgery. Both have their merits as long as the ventilation issue is addressed first. Too much moisture and the combs will just keep getting frostbite, so the drying method won't work. Good luck.
Quote:WTFail...??? didn't i put a link...? was it edited out...? if it was, that's dumb... i have the same link in my "dubbing henry" thread... but if i didn't put the link up, my bad... LOL... read this... http://thefallcreekranch.com/gamefowl/dubbing.html
