injury to the skin, please help!

[ZetaPet]

I have a year old ss that was half way though her molt and we have had a huge dip in the temp (-9) I caught her today and her skin is discolored. I brought her inside, I'm not sure what to do next....any advice?

 

[Eggcessive]

Where is her skin discolored? If you are concerned about frostbite, it tends to affect the comb, wattles, and feet. You can try making her a hen apron or jacket out of polar fleece to cover her back. I hope she is alright.

 

[ZetaPet]

It on her back! ;(

 

[Eggcessive]

In the past I have had hens where they have had feather loss on the backs from a rooster, and they were a little sunburned or wind burned there. Let's hope it is just that. Keep her warm in the house. It's hard having chickens in winter in cold climates. Usually they do well with a larger coop that has no drafts, and some over head ventilation to let out excess humidity which usually causes frostbite. Is she eating and drinking okay? Plesae give us an update on her later.

 

[ZetaPet]

She was eating this morning, I had the vet chew me out because there was no heat lamp in the coop

But I have brought her in the house and I'm starting her on Aspirin. I will have to keep her in until her skin heals. I just hope she can pull through, this chicken has had problems one right after another. (Lots of feather loss, Other chicken picking on her etc..) She thinks she lives in the house anyways with all the Isolation she has had to go through.

She gets along with the dog better than the other chickens. so we will see, Ill post pictures of the injury's last on today, so everybody can see whats going on. Thank you for the support!!!

 

[Eggcessive]

Most of our friends on BYC who live in Alaska and Canada don't heat their coops, but there are always those who do when the temps dip way down. It may be that due to her feather loss, she was just too exposed. Sometimes too, if they get wet on a part of the body (such as walking through a water bowl,) the feet or wattles can freeze quickly with those subzero temperatures. Many feel that if they heat a coop, then if the power goes off suddenly during a power outage, that they would not be used to low temperatures, and would suffer. there were a few cases of third degree burns where chickens got too close to the heat lamps. Also there are usually a couple of cases a year on here about coops burning down due to heat lamps. If you use them, secure them well! I hope your hen recovers well.

 

[ZetaPet]

 

[ZetaPet]

I know, I don't like the thoughts of using heating lamps either. But it went from 60 degrees to -9 degrees in about a day. I figure when the cold snap is over I'll turn them off. Here's the pictures of her back it looks like beef jerky.