Vaseline on chickens?

Everything has a chance to cause cancer you can either live in fear of dieing or Trust what God has planned for you.
reminds me of the drowning man who prayed for a miracle and then a barrel floated by, he ignored it, trusting in god to save him and went on praying. A floating tree hit him in the back of the head and he didn't climb on, and a boat full of people tried to save him and he turned them away assuring them god would save him.

He drowned, then asked god why didn't god save him, god said he tried three times, but he was too stupid to accept god's help.
 
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Everything has a chance to cause cancer you can either live in fear of dieing or Trust what God has planned for you.
Living in fear will not save you, just as ignoring dangers around you will not save you either.

If a Lion's eating you, sure, you can refuse to accept that you're being eaten by a Lion, but that won't stop him finishing his meal.
 
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Coffee causes cancer, eggs can cause cancer.. seriously everything can. Moderation people.  ; )


Yep, if you look at a list of known and likely human carcinogens it's quite vast and many everyday items you can't avoid like the air itself contains carcinogens, and don't dare go outside during the day with that pesky cancer causing sun shining on your...

[sarcasm]And don't anyone here eat eggs or cooked chicken as there are studies showing they could contain carcinogens as well...[/sarcasm]

Sometimes you just have to enjoy life instead of worrying about dying...
 
Yep. All things die. It's only those afraid to die that worry about it so much that they ruin the joy of actually living. Vaseline has been smeared on the butts of millions of babies, millions of elderly, millions of rough elbows and knees for many, many years....I doubt putting it on a chicken's comb once a year is going to bring on cancer for the bird nor the human.

It's like gagging on a gnat and swallowing a mule to imagine that Vaseline on a chicken will be the likely cause of your death by cancer. Especially in the world in which we currently live.

But, for those who might think this is a fearful prospect, you can do without Vaseline or any other moisture barrier if you have better ventilation in your coop. If you simply must put a moisture barrier on a chicken's comb to feel like you are doing something for them, castor oil would be a better and more long lasting choice and also has a triple purpose action.

Easily done if you go out to your coop at night, cradle the chicken in one arm like a football, apply the ointment with the other hand. It's just a chicken, not a tiger. Most actually like the comb massage and will close their eyes and hold still for it.
 
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All of my chickens sit still when I hold them, day or night. Then again, I've raised every one of them from babies, and they are my pets, so they've been handled a whole lot.

I put Vaseline on combs and wattles when I see they look dry or have signs of frostbite. I generally only have to do it every few days or so for the ones that need it (which is generally only a few) and I only have to do it a few times. My chickens stand out in the rain and snow all day, so even with the coop being well ventilated, some still get the tips of their combs frostbitten. And as I said, I also do it when the comb looks dry (it is extremely dry out here, even with the little rain and snow we get; humidity is usually below 20% here).
 
reminds me of the drowning man who prayed for a miracle and then a barrel floated by, he ignored it, trusting in god to save him and went on praying. A floating tree hit him in the back of the head and he didn't climb on, and a boat full of people tried to save him and he turned them away assuring them god would save him.

He drowned, then asked god why didn't god save him, god said he tried three times, but he was too stupid to accept god's help.

If you are drowning and you turn away help you are a moron, if you worry everything you encounter in life is going to kill you you aren't much smarter. Unless you live in a bubble you are exposed to far more carcinogen on a daily basis than you will absorb through eating eggs from a chicken that has Vaseline smeared on its comb a couple times. Science has been known to change its mind from time to time on what's bad and what isn't, furthermore studies tend to agree with the point of view of whomever is funding them.
 
If you have birds in a housing situation where they're at risk for frost bite yes it certainly will help, does everyone who lives in subfreezing winter temperatures have to do it, no
 
The assumption that helping chickens must involve petrochemicals is incorrect. Natural organic ointments are going to do the job a whole lot better. There are countless ways to make your own lipbalm, I prefer those with beeswax myself. https://www.google.com.au/search?q=lipbalm+beeswax

Olive oil and beeswax are both things that can be eaten, I often eat a little wax when I eat honeycomb. I guess if I didn't want the organic sort of feel to it, I could gargle some gasoline as well, WAIT, be serious, no gasoline, just beeswax and olive oil. Plenty of other recipes out there from people who make lip balm at home and sell it at markets for good money.

Oh my, I'm having trouble trying not to ask the riddle, "How do you make chickens go WOOF WOOF ?" because we are after all on the topic of coating chickens with petroleum products, and that's half the punchline to that joke.

I can't see the point of keeping chickens for eggs in the first place if you're going to contaminate the eggs with poison chemicals, supermarket eggs are cheaper and laced with anything you like. Many people keep chickens just so that they can have fresh, clean food. Organic lip balm preserves that.
 
This thread certainly got off topic fast. Maybe we could get back on track. Knowing whether this is helpful or not in cold weather is useful information for many chicken owners.


At the very most it's a minimal bandaid fix to a bigger problem... It only has a marginal effect on human skin in the cold and the reason it has that effect is that we sweat and it helps prevent some evaporation, chickens don't sweat so that effect is nil... What it might help with is providing a very marginal barrier for water drops that might land on the exposed skin... But, if you have water drops forming you have bigger issues that need adressing... It also might provide some minute insulation value and possibly shed melted snow that lands on the skin... At the end of the day it likely won't hurt anything but I doubt it has much quantitative benefit at the end of the day...

Remember if you use it on the chickens and they don't get frostbite, correlation does not necessary equal causation...
 

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