How to prevent frostbite?

[Mogli]

when its in the Teens or single digits at Nite i run Vasaline on My Hens & Rooster Combs it works good its a protective coating on there Combs to prevent them from geting Frostbite

 

[Rani]

This may be a stupid question. Is there an actual way to gauge the humidity in the coop or do you just stick your head in? Like, "No. That's definitely 70%."

We have a wireless unit in our hen house, too. It reads the hen house temp and humidity and I can read it from my nightstand. If I want to compare it to actual outside temps, I just use my weather apps on my phone or computer.

Here is what I bought:
AcuRite 00611A3 Wireless Indoor/Outdoor Thermometer and Humidity Sensor



Works well. We hung it at the height of the roost they sleep on. So far, no frost bite and the coop has been as low as 6 degrees F. We have an open roof (it has hard cloth wire over the top) and we put a piece of insulating foam on top, but we prop it open to make sure the moisture can get out. So far so good. No frost bite yet.

 

[RezChamp]

Yes I am curious also! What does a frostbite look like? I imagine a white comb..

Also, I've seen many thread about frostbites, but how to you treat them? Anything special we need to do if it ever happens? I guess not, it is not like an exposed wound.


My last dumb question... you all have nice rooster that let you pick them up and put vaseline on their combs?!?! Not sure mine would appreciate. I think I would probably chase him around everytime I need to put vaseline on. At the end of winter he'd probably hate me from chasing him all the time!

I personally feel there is no such thing as a dumb question. Dumb answers maybe... Hopefully my answer ain't one of the dumb ones.

You can try going into the coop after dark when they are all roosting. Use a small and/or dim flashlight so you don't have to fumble around in the dark. I use an LED headlamp I bought from the Dollar Store for $2.25. I just use some electrical tape across the lens to decrease the lumens(brightness of the light).
Use the voice you always talk to your chickens in(unless you're always yelling and cussing at them[I've known people that do]). Use your "talking kindly voice" but lower the volume. Move slowly,gently. Fast movements startle birds. Slowly get ahold of him. If he starts to squawk put you hand over his head and rock gently. He should settle down. If not, just take him outside and still keep talking to him gently and start applying the "frostbite minimizing gel". He will eventually calm down. When you're finished take him back to his place on the roost and gently put him back there. Make sure his feet are on the perch properly.
Remember.... slow movements, unless of course you fumble and he starts to run/flap himself to freedom away from you, in knee deep snow, in subzero weather, causing him to get lost overnight, freezing to death, or getting caught by a fox, or if he's unlucky enough to survive till morning that finds him not only with a frostbitten comb and wattles but also with frozen feet and/or legs only to finished off by ravens.

That may sound like a horrible joke and/or an awful "hypothetical" scenario but in reality this can happen when we choose to raise barnyard fowl in weather that they were definitely not evolved for. I'm merely speaking from experience.

I, also personally, think that the only way we are going to alleviate the problem of freezing combs and wattles and feet is to create some kind of "truly North American" cold hardy dual purpose barnyard fowl is by using Ptarmigan/Leghorns crossed to Ruffed Grouse/BuffBrahma or something along those lines.
Just watch, someone will try now. You'll hear about it in some years to come. "Amazing breakthrough......"
Another hypothetical scenario....albeit not as likely to happen as Frank Sinatra(my rooster who had a beautiful soft crooning crow)flapping away

to "the ultimate" freedom.

A frost bitten comb is white"ISH" while still frozen. It turns to a pink water blister looking thing

then black as it dies. Same thing with wattles and toes.

If it wasn't too bad I would bring my birds in the house and put them in cold water.

If you "thaw them out" with warmth(hair dryer or warm water) it seems to intensify any damage.

But we've found that if they get frostbite once, it comes easier next time. Now, instead of having a bunch of " house chickens" we just dispatch them for soup or roast as opposed to letting them live a long life of being crippled and/or horrid pain and being persecuted by the rest of the flock...... .....Again, from experience.

Please be cognizant, even though my grandparents tried telling me all this, when I got birds I did my darnedest to prove them wrong. Life taught me them old people of course were telling me the truth.

I know.....long story. I hope it helps though

 

[RezChamp]

On the subject of freezing exposed skin.
In one of my earlier posts I had stated I use lard or bacon grease.
I harvest a lot of wild game. I use dogteam and sled to help me do that as well as haul wood for my own use and for sale. So I spend a lot of time outside.
Since it aint a good idea to bundle up real warm while running behind a sled full of wood or moose meat(because I would get all sweaty and it freezes into my clothes rendering them "ice clothes"), I have tried petroleum jelly to keep my face from freezing in -40*C with 30km/hr wind. Didn't work as good as I had hoped for. I've tried linseed oil, safflower oil, canola oil, corn oil, so many things. Lard worked real good.
The best happened by accident. I was gutting deer and elk one evening for my 4 cousins and a cpl friends. Th wind and temp was about normal for that time of the day of that time of the year -20, snowing and blowing about 30km/hr., so it was chilly enough. My arms were bare up to just below the elbows but I wasn't cold at all. Later on I figured it out when I went to wash-up. Deer fat. Raw deer fat. It was thick where I first cut into the deer and hence was what first got onto my skin.
In the cold it had frozen into a wind breaking film of fat over a thin film of oily fluid next to my skin. Like a micro thin set of layered snowmobiler's gloves.
Sold me on lard. But that raw deer still works better.

That being said, I would not use it on my birds. They have an excellent sense of smell and they would smell Food and would want to eat what that smell is permeating from, so in retrospect to my earlier post regarding using bacon grease, maybe not then. Your chickens would smell that intoxicating smell of fried bacon and.......
So maybe NO to bacon grease...

 

[suebgbr]

I did think that when you posted it earlier. My chickens can smell something tasty from 3 miles away so a nice bacon greased comb a pecks width away must be far too tempting!
Unless it comes with an elastic band over the beak?!

 

[alscatS]

i used old windows in my coop b/c we had them and at the top where the T-11 meets the roof there is small amount of space - we will see - exactly how do you know if your chickens get frostbite? does the comb fall off?

 

[MeepBeep]

how do you know if your chickens get frostbite? does the comb fall off?

Any exposed skin like the comb, wattles, feet, toes, legs will initially turn extremely red (not so obvious on already red skin) and then white in color then that frozen tissue will turn black/gray/green, at this point the tissue is dead and will eventually dry up and fall off, or WORSE an infection will set it like Gangrene and require amputation or risk death...

Use a Google Images search for 'chicken frostbite' to see exactly what it looks like in chickens...

 

[suebgbr]

I just googled images and some show little chicken beanies to cover their combs. Cute!

 

[roseyred]

I just wanna share my method for applying Vaseline,bag balm, or coconut oil alone to your flock. First make them some oatmeal because that love that ****. Choose a chicken. Place it between your thoughts and squeeze a little. One hand on its Breast bone the other reaching to the very bottom of a coconut oil container because I forgot the spoon in the kitchen..apply to combs between thumb and fingers and squish on there. Pay attention to the tips. Note: they will be trying to dodge your hand so try to get as much gunk on your fingers as possible. Let chicken down and wipe gunk on your pants then on to the next one.....my rooster is like 20 pounds and I can't hold him in my thighs so I kind of had to squat and sit on him without crushing him....lol the whole time thinking "how do you like it" poor hens......

 

[roseyred]

*THIGHS