rooster with frostbite on his wattles

[LorenMcHugh]

My 2 year old RIR boy Murphy has obvious frostbite on his giant wattles. It seems to have happened overnight. They are darkened and swollen and he keeps shaking his heaf, I feel awful. I put antibiotics ointment on them and tried to get some extra protein in him but think he needs more. I have tylan 50 I was thinking about giving him but not sure how many dose to give him. If anyone has any suggestions I'd love to hear them. I don't won't him to be in pain or lose his beautiful wattles

 

[21hens-incharge]

Can you post a pic so the level of frostbite can be assessed?
I do not recommend rubbing the affected areas as it can cause bleeding. Any ointment needs to be WITHOUT pain relievers as well since chickens react badly to them.
Really the best thing to do with minor frostbite is to leave it alone.

Not knowing how bad it is without a pic it is hard to give recommendations on treatment.

What are your temps going to be like tonight? How is the humidity level in the coop?

 

[JanetMarie]

21 hens is right about leaving the wattles alone. All I've done for frostbit wattles is to put the rooster in a warmer area, above freezing. Not warm enough as to de-acclimated him from the cold, such as your house. Antibiotic is not necessary.

 

[LorenMcHugh]

It is still above freezing in PA and will be in high 50's over the weekend. .I can post a pic of him tomorrow. There really is no humidity in our coop. We had a really cold winter last year and only the tips of his comb were frostbitten and fell off. This year has been alot milder and now it's more his wattles than the comb. It was plain antibiotic ointment I put on him. They just seem swollen and fluid filled. It's most likely from him drinking and them dipping in the water. We had the same winter waterer as last year though. His comb has some frostbite too but the wattles are far worse

 

[enola]

What part of PA are you in? We had -5* the other morning in Irwin PA.

 

[LorenMcHugh]

Eastern..about an hour from philly

 

[21hens-incharge]

That is one drawback for the handsome roosters. Those wattles get a soaking when they drink.
I hope it heals well for him. Do you have a humidity gauge in the coop? I was surprised when I put one in mine as it was a full 15% higher inside the coop then outside.

Pics will help to assess him tomorrow.

 

[JanetMarie]

I had one rooster who had frozen wattles from dipping them in water 2 years ago, when it was zero degrees in the barn. I brought him in the house immediately and he stayed in the house the rest of the winter since he became un-acclimated to any amount of cold.

The swollen wattles will heal without any intervention. The swelling will go down, and then the frozen parts form a scab.

It's best to have winter drinkers that roosters cannot dip their wattles into, and when it's severely cold have a heated place just above freezing, where they can at least stay at nighttime.