Maine

[quailtrail]

I'm going to get a warmer too for their water. Anyone have good luck with a certain brand?

 

[MKandtheforce]

Well, so my chickens are NOT happy with this weather! My silkie looks like a little snowman whenever I open the door to the coop-- does anyone know why her head feathers get all frosty? All of the chickens I have with big combs are starting to get frostbite, so I've been slathering Bag Balm on them. Will that do any good, or are there any other solutions?

I've also decided to do two projects this spring/summer for the coop: get taller fencing (so I can shovel paths in their run more easily) and insulate (which I hope will help them in temperatures like this!). I don't have electricity out in the coop, unfortunately, but I hope that when I have my own place someday, I can hook them up so I won't have to change their water every few hours. Is there anything else I can do right now to keep everyone comfortable out there?

 

[anyasmifya]

Well, so my chickens are NOT happy with this weather! My silkie looks like a little snowman whenever I open the door to the coop-- does anyone know why her head feathers get all frosty? All of the chickens I have with big combs are starting to get frostbite, so I've been slathering Bag Balm on them. Will that do any good, or are there any other solutions?

I've also decided to do two projects this spring/summer for the coop: get taller fencing (so I can shovel paths in their run more easily) and insulate (which I hope will help them in temperatures like this!). I don't have electricity out in the coop, unfortunately, but I hope that when I have my own place someday, I can hook them up so I won't have to change their water every few hours. Is there anything else I can do right now to keep everyone comfortable out there?

Her feathers are frosty because she breathes on them. And maybe from when she drinks water. Vaseline I heard is good for preventing frostbite. My roosters all have frostbite of varying severity. Best thing is ventilation so that the moisture from their breath doesn't cause the frostbite in the first place. My coop is pretty ventilated but they still get frostbite anyway. Luckily the weather is supposed to warm up! I saw 42 degrees on Monday with rain! Oooh, exciting!

 

[buckabucka]

Let's see if I can succeed in posting these rooster comb photos, Windy Bay. He has some on his wattles as well as his comb:


This second one is blurry, but I don't know what the big brown glob is right on the edge of his beak. mud? poo? disease?


I love the way his comb looked under normal circumstances, but those tips will be falling off soon:


I spent some time looking at the Minnesota thread last night, and I feel better about this guy's comb after seeing another nasty rooster frostbite photo there. I thought I might find tips on coping with the cold, but was a little disappointed that many of them are heating. I think it might be colder there, though. One person had a panel heater, some had heat lamps. One guy had a hoop coop that was totally open on one end except for a blanket, and he was really worried about his birds, since there was no way to provide any heat (that sounded somewhat familiar to me) and then someone else was complaining about a weather app. It had predicted 2 degrees below for the overnight, and they had -27. What a piece of junk that app was... This all sounded rather familiar too! Same cold weather stories, different people.

 

[Windy Bay Farm]

Let's see if I can succeed in posting these rooster comb photos, Windy Bay. He has some on his wattles as well as his comb: This second one is blurry, but I don't know what the big brown glob is right on the edge of his beak. mud? poo? disease? I love the way his comb looked under normal circumstances, but those tips will be falling off soon: I spent some time looking at the Minnesota thread last night, and I feel better about this guy's comb after seeing another nasty rooster frostbite photo there. I thought I might find tips on coping with the cold, but was a little disappointed that many of them are heating. I think it might be colder there, though. One person had a panel heater, some had heat lamps. One guy had a hoop coop that was totally open on one end except for a blanket, and he was really worried about his birds, since there was no way to provide any heat (that sounded somewhat familiar to me) and then someone else was complaining about a weather app. It had predicted 2 degrees below for the overnight, and they had -27. What a piece of junk that app was... This all sounded rather familiar too! Same cold weather stories, different people.

Thanks for posting, Bucka ! Your Roos comb doesn't look nearly as bad as my poor boys or that one on the Minnesota thread (I saw it too). Yours should pull through it just fine I would say, likely lose some of his comb but it shouldn't be too bad. Here are a couple photos I took today of my poor Roos comb. I feel terrible about it. He is such a handsome guy and I hate the thought of how it must feel for him in addition to the fact that he will likely lose most of it.

I slathered a big glob of castor oil on his comb today in hopes that it may help. Castor oil can do wonders for the skin... I just hope it mitigates some of the frostbite damage.

 

[mlowen]

I didn't get my run built either. I have paths for them. They pretty much hang on the porch. I think they are hoping I will let them in lol!!!

I mixed the munga bean sprouts into their cooked oatmeal this am. They ate around them. I'm going to give up on these. I ran out and grabbed a bag of BOSS. Can they eat these as is, or only after sprouted??

They can eat BOSS in the shell, but sprouted or fermented (a little in their fermented feed ) makes the nutrients more available. Lots of good fat and they love them any way you want to "serve" them.

 

[buckabucka]

Poor guy. What breed is he?

 

[mlowen]

Let's see if I can succeed in posting these rooster comb photos, Windy Bay.
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I spent some time looking at the Minnesota thread last night, and I feel better about this guy's comb after seeing another nasty rooster frostbite photo there.  I thought I might find tips on coping with the cold, but was a little disappointed that many of them are heating. It all sounded rather familiar too!  Same cold weather stories, different people. 

My leghorns have a touch of frostbite on their combs. Even with the -14 last night, they seem to be pretty spry and healthy. I put some coconut oil on them, a couple of weeks ago and I think that helped. I waited until it was as warm in the coop/run as it could get, though. I didn't want the oil to freeze on them, too. That would just make it worse, I was thinking.

 

[MKandtheforce]

Her feathers are frosty because she breathes on them. And maybe from when she drinks water. Vaseline I heard is good for preventing frostbite. My roosters all have frostbite of varying severity. Best thing is ventilation so that the moisture from their breath doesn't cause the frostbite in the first place. My coop is pretty ventilated but they still get frostbite anyway. Luckily the weather is supposed to warm up! I saw 42 degrees on Monday with rain! Oooh, exciting!

I didn't even think of them breathing on their feathers. Poor thing. I guess I'll do another glop of Bag Balm for them tonight when I get home from work-- I'll have to borrow my stepdad's headlamp at this point, though, heh. It's practically the same as Vaseline. I think my coop is pretty well ventilated, but maybe it isn't enough... Hm.

I'm SO excited for the heat spike. I'll be able to scrape out all their frozen poop!! Lol.

I'm glad I'm not the only one with comb frostbite problems. I haven't seen the Minnesota picture, but I feel bad for all those roos. It's the cost of living up north, I suppose.

 

[mlowen]

Check out the "Hey, Northerners...what's the coldest air temperature...?" thread. Chickens are doing well in very low temps, no frostbite--some frostbite. It's an interesting thread