Is this frostbite or dirty waddles from the Vaseline???

[Kids and Chicks]

We've been having a very cold spell (-9 lows, 12 highs). I started putting Vaseline on the combs and waddles yesterday morning and an hour before they went in the coop. This morning I noticed some black areas on their combs and waddles. The black areas are just here and there, not on the edges. I found some bag balm and applied that after lunch today thinking it would help a bit more then Vaseline. While applying it, I noticed a little black on my fingers. I think it rubbed off their waddles. So I'm trying to figure out if this is the beginning of frostbite or dirt that is sticking to their waddles due to all the Vaseline and Bag Balm I'm applying. Their waddles are not stiff. I think we have a bit of a ventilation issue in the coop, so I'm trying to fix that and keep the girls healthy.


This is the one girl after having Bag Balm applied.


This is the other after having Bag Balm applied.


And this is how silly they look once they start scratching again.

 

[Eggcessive]

It's possible that you have some frostbite, but hard to tell for sure from pictures. I would definitely try to get more over head ventilation. A simple way is to make some portholes or squares in the top part of the coop on two opposite sides, then cover them with hardware cloth. You can save the cutouts and put them on hinges if you want to put them back in.

 

[Kids and Chicks]

Just wanted to update on this. My chickens luckily did not get any frostbite. Their combs and waddles did get very red with the extreme cold (below zero), but I applied bag balm or Vaseline every afternoon. They got very dirty, but no frostbite.

 

[BantamLover21]

Just wanted to update on this. My chickens luckily did not get any frostbite. Their combs and waffles did get very red with the extreme cold (below zero), but I applied bag balm or Vaseline every afternoon. They got very dirty, but no frostbite.

I'm glad they're fine. Vaseline does tend to attract dirt, and make the areas it is applied rather ugly.