Help! Rooster with frostbite??

[allison_waring]

Hi Everyone,

I'm looking for some advice for our 8-month old buff orpington rooster. A few weeks ago we noticed that the tips of his comb were turning black. There was no bleeding involved which made us rule out other forms of injury. It seemed to be getting better and returning to a more red color but over the last couple of days white patches have shown up and there are a few fluid filled blisters towards the back of his comb. We live in central Vermont and have experienced a few cold nights (in the single digits) but nothing that I would consider extremely cold. Despite not being overly cold our best guess is still frostbite. This is our first winter with keeping chickens so we're new to the game. Other than his comb the rooster seems to be doing fine and eating normally. Our hen's combs seem to be doing fine as well (we have 5 total- a mix of buff orpinton, barred rock, and golden comets).

Looking for any suggestions on how to help him heal and prevent further damage. I've attached pictures of his comb and our coop. We thought about ventilation when building it and have the whole back side of the coop ventilated under the eves. We did close off the other vents on the front and sides with plexiglass and plywood in order to keep out direct drafts. We even bought a infrared sweeter heater for colder nights and have been turning that on when it gets into the teens. Although to be fair we didn't have it installed on the first cold night when it got down into the single digits and we first started noticing the black spots. Perhaps he's still recoving from that first exposure?

Any advice you can give to a newby winter chicken keeper would be appreciated.

 

[azygous]

It's frostbite all right. He will lose the tips where it's turning black. Yes, it likely occurred that first night before installing the heater. You may give him a baby aspiring twice a day for the pain, but do not rub anything on the comb as that can do more damage.

Ventilation also requires an opening down at floor level to bring in cooler air to push the warmer air up and out of the coop through those vents. The vents should not be so large or numerous to bring in a large amount of cold air which, being heavier than the warmer coop air, could act in reverse and fall down over the combs of the chickens causing frostbite and also pushing warm air out of any vent down low.

Keeping vents open on the leeward side and opening a small vent down low is all it takes to trigger thermodynamic air flow that exhausts the warmer moist air up and out before it can settle on vulnerable tissue and freeze.

 

[Razzlefrazzle]

It's not uncommon for frostbitten areas to blister... It will take a while to heal and you should keep an eye out for infection (oozing, bad smell, etc) but it should heal on its own.

As for perfecting your coop setup, I recommend getting a hygrometer. You can get a cheap one for about $10, put it in the coop (safe from inquisitive chickens, of course) and it will keep track of temp and humidity highs and lows. Quite useful for taking some of the guesswork out of whether you have too much or too little ventilation. Best of luck.

 

[allison_waring]

It's frostbite all right. He will lose the tips where it's turning black. Yes, it likely occurred that first night before installing the heater. You may give him a baby aspiring twice a day for the pain, but do not rub anything on the comb as that can do more damage.

Ventilation also requires an opening down at floor level to bring in cooler air to push the warmer air up and out of the coop through those vents. The vents should not be so large or numerous to bring in a large amount of cold air which, being heavier than the warmer coop air, could act in reverse and fall down over the combs of the chickens causing frostbite and also pushing warm air out of any vent down low.

Keeping vents open on the leeward side and opening a small vent down low is all it takes to trigger thermodynamic air flow that exhausts the warmer moist air up and out before it can settle on vulnerable tissue and freeze.

Thanks for the suggestions azygous. We'll have to look at our coop and figure out if there is a place where we can put in some ventilation down low.

 

[allison_waring]

It's not uncommon for frostbitten areas to blister... It will take a while to heal and you should keep an eye out for infection (oozing, bad smell, etc) but it should heal on its own.

As for perfecting your coop setup, I recommend getting a hygrometer. You can get a cheap one for about $10, put it in the coop (safe from inquisitive chickens, of course) and it will keep track of temp and humidity highs and lows. Quite useful for taking some of the guesswork out of whether you have too much or too little ventilation. Best of luck.

Thanks Razzlefrazzle. Hoping he heals sooner rather than later and we can prevent any further damage. One aspect of humidity that I've never understood is what you are aiming for especially when humidity is already high outside. Vermont is a humid place and we often have high humidities just naturally in the air. Are you just aiming to make sure the humidity in the coop isn't any higher than the outside air? Is there an ideal humidity that you are hoping to maintain?

 

[The Chick Addict]

It's frostbite all right. He will lose the tips where it's turning black. Yes, it likely occurred that first night before installing the heater. You may give him a baby aspiring twice a day for the pain, but do not rub anything on the comb as that can do more damage.

Ventilation also requires an opening down at floor level to bring in cooler air to push the warmer air up and out of the coop through those vents. The vents should not be so large or numerous to bring in a large amount of cold air which, being heavier than the warmer coop air, could act in reverse and fall down over the combs of the chickens causing frostbite and also pushing warm air out of any vent down low.

Keeping vents open on the leeward side and opening a small vent down low is all it takes to trigger thermodynamic air flow that exhausts the warmer moist air up and out before it can settle on vulnerable tissue and freeze.

@azygous, this happened to my rooster during the summer... the tips of his comb turned black, but it was in the summer in the searing hot, it couldn't have been frostbite... was it sunburn? He's unfortunately already lost the larger tips of his comb. I want to prevent it next year, do you know how?

 

[azygous]

@azygous, this happened to my rooster during the summer... the tips of his comb turned black, but it was in the summer in the searing hot, it couldn't have been frostbite... was it sunburn? He's unfortunately already lost the larger tips of his comb. I want to prevent it next year, do you know how?

That's highly unusual. Of course, it can't be frozen tissue in the heat of summer, and while sunburn is possible, it probably wouldn't cause the death of the comb tips.

A chicken's comb relies on a very concentrated blood supply, and if the chicken has very poor blood circulation, possibly from a cardio/pulmonary issue, then the tips could atrophy from lack of blood to the tips. But there would be other symptoms. The chicken would behave unwell.

The most common symptom of heart/lung issues is a comb that is dusky purple. While all rooster combs can occasionally turn dark on the tips due to mood changes and stress, it quickly returns to normal color. If the comb remains dark and purple, it usually means a heart issue or organ shutdown due to tumors from an avian virus. Such a chicken isn't acting normally

 

[The Chick Addict]

That's highly unusual. Of course, it can't be frozen tissue in the heat of summer, and while sunburn is possible, it probably wouldn't cause the death of the comb tips.

A chicken's comb relies on a very concentrated blood supply, and if the chicken has very poor blood circulation, possibly from a cardio/pulmonary issue, then the tips could atrophy from lack of blood to the tips. But there would be other symptoms. The chicken would behave unwell.

The most common symptom of heart/lung issues is a comb that is dusky purple. While all rooster combs can occasionally turn dark on the tips due to mood changes and stress, it quickly returns to normal color. If the comb remains dark and purple, it usually means a heart issue or organ shutdown due to tumors from an avian virus. Such a chicken isn't acting normally

He had been fine and acting normal and he still is... I know they had fowl pox during the fall. Do you think they were developing it during the summer? They are healed from Fowl Pox already.

 

[aart]

Hoping he heals sooner rather than later and we can prevent any further damage.

It may take months for it to fully heal.
Here's some pictorials of the progress:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/frostbite-in-sw-michigan.74597/

Are you just aiming to make sure the humidity in the coop isn't any higher than the outside air?

That's about all you can do....
..... unless you install a full HVAC system.

 

[Razzlefrazzle]

Thanks Razzlefrazzle. Hoping he heals sooner rather than later and we can prevent any further damage. One aspect of humidity that I've never understood is what you are aiming for especially when humidity is already high outside. Vermont is a humid place and we often have high humidities just naturally in the air. Are you just aiming to make sure the humidity in the coop isn't any higher than the outside air? Is there an ideal humidity that you are hoping to maintain?

You're just trying to make sure the coop doesn't hold in humidity.... Chickens release a lot of moisture in their breath and while a tight coop will help retain their body heat and keep it warmer, it also traps the moisture making it damp. Chicken poop also releases ammonia when drying out and you need to ensure there is enough airflow to remove it. A sure sign you don't have enough ventilation is condensation on windows and walls in the morning and/or a strong smell of ammonia.