Injured Comb, what do I do?

[Pumpkin Feet]

My white leghorn mix is bleeding from the tip of her comb.
I discovered blood speckles on nearly all my chickens and inspected every one until I found her.
I have no idea what happened. She does have the biggest comb, so maybe it was frostbite?
What can I do to help her?
What can I do to prevent this from happening in the future?

 

[ranchhand]

The blood speckles are most likely from her shaking her head.
I can't speak as to frostbite or not- where are you, what are the temps, is she protected from the cold weather, etc? Leghorns have big combs and are susceptible to frostbite. Some folks coat the combs with Vaseline to prevent it.
Is there any pecking going on? If they are staying in the coop, they might start pecking at each other. More space, and something to keep them busy- maybe hang a head of cabbage?

As far as helping her, I would dab on some Neosporin without Lidocaine and then spray or dab on some Blu-Kote. That way the other hens won't be able to see it as blood and won't peck at her. If it gets worse, separate her until it heals.

Good luck,

 

[Pumpkin Feet]

Thank you, Ranch.

I live in Utah. The temps can get from 20F during the day and below freezing at night. I put a tarp over their coop to protect them from the wind. I do let them out when the weather is nice, but they don't go far because they don't dare touch the snow.
I'll definitely hang food in their coop today.

Should I be concerned about the blood speckles on the other chickens? They won't start pecking at eachother because of it, will they?

 

[ranchhand]

Utah is cold, my DH lived many of his teenage years there! Brrrr....

Do you have a light in the coop? A white light seems to encourage pecking and red seems to discourage it. It you do have a light for warmth, try to switch to a red bulb. If not, don't worry about it- they might peck once or twice, but it probably won't escalate. Watch them carefully, just to be on the safe side.

The main thing is to heal the comb, so the others won't got for it. They are nasty little cannibals at times!

 

[M To The Maxx]

Put some neosporin on her comb just in case to keep any infections out.