The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Kassaundra]

Guess I better be prepared just in case.....yuck. I've been told blistering is pretty normal, and one person said he just pops the blister to speed things up.

It seems there is as wide a range on handling/responding to blackened combs and wattles as can be - from do abolutely nothing to daily nursing care. I want to do the least in hopes of causing the least harm and letting the body do its thing. But, I don't want to cross that line into neglect either!

Let me qualify my comment it is coming purely from a human treatment response, I have never treated rooster combs for frostbite.

 

[CoopChick719]

teachick, I just went through something really similiar. poor Mrs Murphy. you can read the long story here:https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...stions-update-20-week-old-banty-wormy-as-heck
long and short of it, I kept her going 3 weeks, feeding, worming, antibiotic, treated her for cocci, and ended up culling her as she continued to get worse. She had short intermittent periods of improvement, but in the end was so weak, and I worried about the pian thing. I didn't know about the holding by the wings and watching the feet indicator of pain then.

I think I will be ( I hope I will be) much quicker to cull next time. At the time, I just couldn't do it without trying everything even though I knew it was a huge long shot. So hard to balance what you know and what you hope.

In years of chicken keeping, I've only once successfully brought a hen back to health, and attempted to do so with maybe 5-8 others.

It is a hard decision to make.

TeaChick, I went through a similar situation like Lala's. After much supportive care, meds, you name it I tried it, we had to cull my sweet Maran. The act itself was difficult but I knew in my heart it was the best thing for her. I sent her & 2 others to our State Univ. Animal Health Lab for necropsy. She had worms & cocci even though I had treated for both.

Guess I better be prepared just in case.....yuck. I've been told blistering is pretty normal, and one person said he just pops the blister to speed things up.

It seems there is as wide a range on handling/responding to blackened combs and wattles as can be - from do abolutely nothing to daily nursing care. I want to do the least in hopes of causing the least harm and letting the body do its thing. But, I don't want to cross that line into neglect either!

Lala, I was thinking NuStock might help. And I see that Delisha has weighed in on the NuStock too! Best wishes on the doctoring!

 

[lalaland]

Lala I would think it would blacken and fall off on its own. Maybe the other person had something else wrong with the comb or an underlying problem?

I thought of up you while on the cruise.......lots of MN people on the cruise. Seems they didn't want to be cold any longer either.

Tomorrow we head home to almost 4 ft of snow.

As for the hay I found last year it seemed to hold moisture more so than the shavings did. But my girls do like the hay. I may get a small bale to stuff their nesting boxes with when I get home. I am sure I have Poopsicles as well. Our temps didn't get below zero but were barely out of the single digits. To bad I couldn't bring the Florida temps home

welcome home! the snow must be a bit of a shock after the cruise. Bet you are happy to see your flock.

 

[Sally8]

Let me qualify my comment it is coming purely from a human treatment response, I have never treated rooster combs for frostbite.

Is this because you haven't had a roo with frostbite or that you just leave them alone? My BCM gets a little every year but I've never done anything about it. Seems to workout. BUT, it's never been extreme either. Just as with any other animal, I won't let my chickens suffer.

 

[lazy gardener]

It's supposed to get down to - 18F tonight. I have put a 100W flower pot heater in the 4 x 8 x 3.5 ft. loft coop for my 5 girls, one of which is going into heavy molt, an other one finally feathering out. I'm tempted to remove the heater, and replace it with a cardboard box upside down stuffed with hay for the girls to snuggle in, in a couple of days when the temps moderate just a bit. The only reason I haven't done so before is that one of the girls is at the VERY bottom of the pecking order, to the point that I'm worried that the dominant B**** RIR won't let her into the box and she'll be left alone out in the cold. Any thoughts about the use of hay in this type of set up? Will I end up with a completely frozen block of poo laden hay? How much will hay increase the moisture in their loft? They've been sleeping in the shaving lined nest boxes some and only occasionally leave a poo in there!

 

[Leahs Mom]

LG - I'm watching to see what others think on this too. I have one that is always on the outside too.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Quote:
Just sent you a pm but wondering how you define "extreme". Do you have any photos of what yours has looked like? Right now I'm leaning toward just leaving it alone but don't want to neglect it if I should do something.

 

[ki4got]

Quote:
Just sent you a pm but wondering how you define "extreme". Do you have any photos of what yours has looked like? Right now I'm leaning toward just leaving it alone but don't want to neglect it if I should do something.
well, I've never had bad frostbite (on any roosters, not me. LOL), just the tips turn dark, but big guy's comb has such fat tips (not good for show but oh well) that I think it helps him some... they get a bit whitish at the base and darker red bordering to black at the edges, but we don't stay cold enough long enough, and it's usually back to normal by noontime. I have 1 boy I just got that had it pretty bad on his comb when I got him, a few days inside (quarantine) and he did lose the outer skin off one point but the others looked to be healing. but I don't do anything for the frostbite, the comb is vascular enough that it seems to heal itself very quickly.

 

[lalaland]

It's supposed to get down to - 18F tonight. I have put a 100W flower pot heater in the 4 x 8 x 3.5 ft. loft coop for my 5 girls, one of which is going into heavy molt, an other one finally feathering out. I'm tempted to remove the heater, and replace it with a cardboard box upside down stuffed with hay for the girls to snuggle in, in a couple of days when the temps moderate just a bit. The only reason I haven't done so before is that one of the girls is at the VERY bottom of the pecking order, to the point that I'm worried that the dominant B**** RIR won't let her into the box and she'll be left alone out in the cold. Any thoughts about the use of hay in this type of set up? Will I end up with a completely frozen block of poo laden hay? How much will hay increase the moisture in their loft? They've been sleeping in the shaving lined nest boxes some and only occasionally leave a poo in there!

Hay won't add moisture unless it was damp when you put it in the coop - I think it just doesn't absorb as much moisture as shavings.
Why not have two boxes, or just one big pile of hay for everyone to snuggle in? That way the lowest hen will still be able to nestle in the hay. I don't think you will have a completely frozen block of poo, but if you did, it is really easy to pick it up and toss to the compost. Frozen that is...

 

[Leahs Mom]

lala- sounds like a good theory but in my situation, the mean ones would occupy both boxes and still keep the lowers out. Very frustrating.

While it's been cold I finally caught the 16 wk olds and locked them in the brooding area of the shed so they stay inside. I do have a separated place outside with a dog house that they can go in but the cold and wind chill was too low for me to be happy with that scenario. Temps are supposed to rise later this week and I'll let them out again. But they'll likely stay outside in their "safe" place the whole day which is frustrating to me.