whitish spots=frostbite?

[frankenchick]

My girls have whitish/pale pink spots on their combs. It is in the low ‘teens here with wind chill, so I warmed some balm and rubbed it onto their combs.

The balm has olive oil, beeswax, castor oil, vitamin E oil, and rosemary oil.

 

[Matt A NC]

If the spots increase in size or scab over and fall off then you have Fowl Pox.

 

[frankenchick]

Fowl Pox?! Where on earth would they get it?

 

[panner123]

I have had chickens that refuse to go in the coop, no matter what the weather is. Rain, snow, COLD or sunny and have never had one with frost bite. I am not saying they won't get it, just I have never seen it.
Fowl pox is more likely what they have.

 

[speckledhen]

If the spots are scaly/flaky, it could be favus, a fungal infection of the comb and face. I bought a rooster and had to treat him for that. Dont jump to any conclusions just yet; it would help if we could see pics of the combs.

 

[AK-Bird-brain]

When our rescue hen Penelope had frostbiten toes they didnt show any color change untill she had been warmed back up for several days they they turned black.

 

[dlhunicorn]

Favus is indeed a possibility ... however a pic would most certainly be helpful...
If it is frostbite , the source is often the drinking bowls... when water gets on their combs it will quickly freeze... perhaps try to figure something out to ensure the birds cannot get their entire head in...
...also when using heating elements to prevent the water from freezing can cause problems when it warms the water up too much as this will create condensation which will cleave to the comb and wattles which, again, will freeze and cause frostbite.

 

[TerrasCritters]

I believe frost bite would make the comb have black spots on it

 

[dlhunicorn]

the "black" can happen quite quickly and you may miss the blisters that can form ... one of our members in Alaska posted some really horrific photos of frostbite damage and black was the end result of the damage after the flesh had blistered and died off... not the beginning. Pics are really necessary as often the description can be deceptively different to the image formed from the text.

 

[chicknmania]

Frostbite on the combs is black. We had a rooster with bad frostbite on his comb last year, and another one who got mild frostbite on his every year. They got it from roosting too high up (near the barn ceiling) when it was cold. It doesn't necessarily have to be extremely cold, either. The ones with big single combs (not the peacombs) seem to be the ones that get it. Our chickens with smaller combs don't seem to have that problem.