Topic of the Week - Frostbite, prevention and treatment - Graphic images in thread

[Bleumoon]

I hear you there. I sometimes bring one of my bantams in when it's not even -10°F out there just because she acts so cold. Manipulating little brat. The other bantams don't care.

She sits there puffed up and shaking, barely moving, until I pick her up. Then she snuggles into my coat.

Boy she sure has you trained well!

 

[Pepperthechicken]

One time in the winter our chickens had snow fall and the snow hardened so our chickens had cuts on the bottom part of the front of their leg. So we brought our a warm paper towel and wiped the blood away and put on band-aids and she is all better

 

[Sammster]

Yeah it can be expensive... i have a coop that's 200 ft from my house... to get power that far you need 6 gauge wire at 220 volts which means a breaker box at coop end... so that's $400 USD in materials... not nearly as cold in MI but for me the piece of mind and convenience of not dealing with freezing water every day made it worth it in my situation. I wonder... just a thought... has anyone tried a root cellar approach.. so basically digging a 3 ft deep hole in the coops with a ramp.. the temp starts to warm up even a few inches underground... so a 4 ft tall coop burried 3 ft might work for cold climates...

Interesting idea!

 

[Show Sebright]

I live in Florida. Sooooooo if my animals get frostbite there is something going on.

 

[Potatofluffycheeksforever]

I had a rooster and his whole comb got frost bitten but in the spring it grew back?!

 

[Ponypoor]

Cold weather and livestock

One of the best pieces of advice I can give is to keep your chickies in a draft free and moisture free area in freezing weather.

All livestock should have an area they can get out of the miserable weather, in the wild animals will seek heavy bushes, trees and small valleys to break the wind and provide relief from weather.

When animals are domesticated they lose the opportunity to find these natural areas for respite. Chickens being a ‘tropical’ species - while they can do well in extreme cold - appreciate having warm up areas where there is natural sun or even a simple Cozy Coop radiant heat panel to cozy up to and get warm, before resuming their busy lives of digging up whatever goodies they can find. At night having a draft free area is paramount, wind is the enemy and will strip the heat away faster than you think, add in any dampness and that is a recipe for absolute misery and disaster for the poor wee critters.

Too many times I see people lock their poor livestock (horses, cattle, sheep, goats, chickens, ducks, etc) away for many many months. They think they are protecting them, in reality they are subjecting them to misery. Some simple steps to ensure a draft free, wet/snow free area are all that is needed to enrich the lives of the animals.

I always said, if you can’t afford to offer the appropriate measures for your animals then you should not have them.

Tips:
Throw straw, hay or wood shavings on top of snow for the chickens (ducks geese…) to walk on. I use old horse bedding, they dig through the poops and have a blast, throw some scratch grain in there and it’s a hoot watching them.

I also throw this old bedding in a path to areas under the spruce and pines which can be free of snow and dry. Also makes for good hawk predator protection.

If you have a manure pile let your chooks spend time rooting around on it, it will be warm footing, and interesting things to dig up.

Provide chill free water (an electric waterer is a must in cold frigid climates).

Deep clean soft bedding for those that wish to sleep in a nest box, my silkies prefer this in the winter esp. I use shavings topped with clean soft straw (wheat or oat). Daily cleaning please….

Have a sand pit with clean soft sand (you can get kids play sand at any hardware store), for them the fluff around in, my niece has her sand in a child’s wading pool, I just keep my sand piled against a stall wall. Please clean it daily for feathers and poop.

Have south facing windows to let in sunshine, it will warm up the chickies and brighten things up, don’t let it get too warm though, you don’t want condensation to build up.

Ventilation - too many havent a clue about this, you don’t want drafts, you want a circulation of air to remove any moisture and stale air. Use a downy feather and see if there is a draft. You do not want drafts!

Ok well here is hoping your up coming winter is a good one. Everyone stay dry and draft free!

 

[Summer_]

I had a rooster and his whole comb got frost bitten but in the spring it grew back?!

Wat?!

 

[NorthwoodsChick]

Very timely article. It is great to see articles prioritized for prevention. Best to be proactive rather than reactive, IMHO.
Thx BYC!!

 

[My Very First 6 Chickens]

First week of November here in Connecticut and the temps this week remain mild which is wonderful. I have put off wrapping the run until the very last minute. A couple of mornings have been very chilly before the sun comes up (i live in a valley) and the 5 gals have been hanging out in the coop until it warms up a bit. This will be their 2nd winter. Last year they never visited the henhouse until roost. Now they do something funny.....if a hen has to lay, they ALL go in the henhouse together. I have always encouraged them to 'stick together, get with the girls' but this is silly! Lol.

 

[Meg22]

We had a really cold snap last winter and 2 of my girls got very mild frostbite. Purple/black comb tips for best part of a week, then they recovered. It was 0c and 98% humidity outside the coop. Is there anything will help when the atmospheric humidity is so high?