Boppo
Crossing the Road
Love the chicks pix btw
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Welcome to BYC.Hi everyone!
Long time lurker (5+ years), first time poster.
I've had chickens since I was in 4H as a middle schooler, and now live on a homestead with my husband in rural Minnesota. We've got a whole menagerie, which includes 29 chickens and 7 ducks at the moment. Breeds are all egg layers but some of my favorites are our speckled sussex, and hatched mixes from broody hens (most wind up a mix of copper maran and ameracauna from our rooster and whatever mama has to offer).
Chickens and ducks have their own personalities that I really love- we have one who lives with our pig in the summer, for example- but my favorite aspect of having them is seeing what they get up to in a day and how far they'll roam the farm in the summer.
I've finally joined because we've had our first big battle with frostbite this winter. Temperatures have been very cold and one of our roosters has been nursing a frostbitten foot and leg for over a month now. He's been in the laundry room/bath tub that whole time and I've been watching the healing process closely. With such a serious issue it's been fantastic to read others' experiences with it, and now I feel like I've got some things to contribute too!
Glad to be joining the mix with you all!
Rachel
Thank you for recommending the MN thread!Welcome to BYC.
We have had a rather nasty winter up here.
Stop by. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/surviving-minnesota.1052702/post-16115539
Maybe someone there can help you, you might even find a neighbor posting there.
You might want to open your coop up with more vents. Chickens handle the cold the moisture is what normally causes frostbite.
However, it is nearly impossible for a rooster to not end up with some frost bite.
I have 7 roosters, they all have some damage from frost bite. The youngest who was hatched last fall even has a bit on his juvenile comb.
Dux???
We will work on that later…
Glad you’re here.
Good luck. Here is some light reading for you.Thank you for recommending the MN thread!
Our coop is well ventilated- no frostbite on the ladies, just the dumb roosters , so I have to believe it's working well! His foot is still sorting itself out but I think it will end well.
The ducks were all gifts and have been easy to care for, so they stay. Plus they lay more consistently than the chickens sometimes!
Thanks for the warm welcome