Frozen Feathers-What Do I Do? It's -4° Here

[Amira]

My smallest chicken, our buff orpington has a patch of frozen feathers on her back. It was -10° here last night. Our chickens are about 10 months old and all their combs and feet look good. I am just wondering about those few frozen feathers. Do I need to do anything for that? I have kept them inside the coop yesterday and today so they wouldn't get wet from the blowing snow and since the wind chills were 30° below zero.

 

[Pork Pie]

I'm far from an expert on cold weather and keeping chickens, but if your little one has frozen feathers and she was in the coop yesterday, it may suggest that ventilation in your coop may not be ideal. Ice on her feathers suggests a build up of moisture in the coop. I would suggest you remove the ice with and make sure that she is dry as her feathers are her only way of keeping herself warm. Frozen or wet feathers will prevent her from doing this.

I'm sure others will chime in soon and help you out in more detail.

All the best
CT

 

[Amira]

Thanks. I will try to hold her and thraw out her feathers. From doing a search on here I was thinking that had something to do with ventilation. I have been going out every hour to give them fresh water and scooping out any wet shavings from spilled water or fresh bathroom droppings to not add to the moisture in the coop. Apart from that not sure what else I can do at the moment. I will make modifications to the coop soon. Thanks again for taking the time to reply.

 

[Pork Pie]

You are most welcome!

Good luck
CT

 

[centrarchid]

Lets be silly. Whip out a hair drier to thaw and evaporate ice as same time. Do this outside to reduce stress from temperature changes.


My birds get freezing rain on them almost every year (this year is one of the exceptions). It is not an issue unless feathers disrupted so they do not provide air tight seal over skin. Rarely on males sicle feathers are lost. We a experiencing freezing mist now so birds are building up a little ice although most sublimates off by the time the event passes.

 

[led2teach]

It's -38C /-36F here and we just had a power failure 2 hours ago. All my girls now have ice on their backs and one on her face. Water is freezing over too. Any tips?

 

[centrarchid]

Ventilate. Post picture showing where water on backs is coming from.

 

[alyssaallycat]

If you are using a hair dryer to warm the ice off of your chicken, make sure the setting is the lowest it can go. Too hot of a setting can burn feathers and hurt your chicken. Also, frozen feathers are pretty brittle, be careful. Watch the skin on feet and combs to be sure that frostbite doesn't occur. If that happens, warm the chicken in a warmed towel. This will also help the chickens that have ice on them.