Winter is Coming! Checklists, tips, advice for a newbie

[Alaskan]

I was able to grab my two leghorns today, and bring them in the house to treat the combs. I have photographed what it looks like so far to compare if it gets better/ worse in the next few weeks.

The cat food was of interest to Lady, who appears to have some frostbite on one of her wattles. I put neosporin on the combs of both her and Spike, the other leghorn.

Does anyone know if her tail feathers looking ragged are a bad sign?

The tail feathers have no correlation to the frost bite.

Also, I think her points look pretty good, I wouldn't worry about them.

 

[LadyCluck77]

Thanks Alaskan, you definitely put my mind at ease!

What I was worried about with her feathers was since the extreme cold kicked in she hasn't seemed to be grooming herself very well lately, she's a little dirty looking and ragged. I was wondering if that's a sign of stress, or if it's maybe just harder for her to do that in these conditions.

I'm going to relax and just keep an eye on her

 

[Bogtown Chick]

LadyCluck...her comb doesn't look too bad. Pretty superficial on the frost bite. You were doing good there with her for the temps you had. Sure there's a little bit but she's still got a whole lotta comb there.

Do you think that while they were confined a bit in the cold there's been some boredom and you've got a feather picker? If you can maybe just bundle up at roost time and watch a little bit to see if you have a bored bully.

 

[Alaskan]

Thanks Alaskan, you definitely put my mind at ease!

What I was worried about with her feathers was since the extreme cold kicked in she hasn't seemed to be grooming herself very well lately, she's a little dirty looking and ragged. I was wondering if that's a sign of stress, or if it's maybe just harder for her to do that in these conditions.

I'm going to relax and just keep an eye on her

There are lots of reasons for slightly tattered feathers.

There is the question of how long it has been since she molted.

Also, if the ground is frozen solid/covered with snow then there is no place for her to take a dust bath, and they definitely look rattier without a dust bath spot. I usually give mine a pile of wood ash in a sheltered spot in the winter...but we have been using all of the ash on the ice, so all of my chickens are looking a bit worse for wear right now too....just because they have no good dusting spot.

Picking at each other can result in over-preened ratty looking feathers, but usually the feathers are actually bitten off part way down the shaft, or actually completely pulled out.

 

[CGinJCMO]

Quote: I've been reading daily for almost two years, almost nothing but chickens. I have read a bunch of Kindle books on raising backyard chickens. Once I get caught up on a thread, I usually start reading a new thread (like when I get, or am thinking about getting, a new breed, or if something happens that I need to research). And I can't forget the local chicken facebook group either. If you don't read that one night, you get way behind. And I've been able to immediately answer questions from co-workers that I never would have been able to without having read it here first. Husband did buy me the Raising Chickens for Dummies and Chicken Health for Dummies books for Christmas (and I didn't even ask for them - usually I have to buy my own Birthday/Christmas gifts).

I was able to grab my two leghorns today, and bring them in the house to treat the combs. I have photographed what it looks like so far to compare if it gets better/ worse in the next few weeks.

The cat food was of interest to Lady, who appears to have some frostbite on one of her wattles. I put neosporin on the combs of both her and Spike, the other leghorn.

Does anyone know if her tail feathers looking ragged are a bad sign?

I have a cat waterer just like that one for my indoor kitties.
I think you got good answers on your feather questions so I won't put my two cents too.

CG

 

[wantedman66]

We have had 2 huge rain storms here in the last 4 days with 45* temps,what a muddy mess.The chickens can't even come out without sinking in it,way too early for this!!!!

 

[Alaskan]

Mud is better than ice

 

[minmin1258]

D

Thanks Alaskan, you definitely put my mind at ease!

What I was worried about with her feathers was since the extreme cold kicked in she hasn't seemed to be grooming herself very well lately, she's a little dirty looking and ragged. I was wondering if that's a sign of stress, or if it's maybe just harder for her to do that in these conditions.

I'm going to relax and just keep an eye on her

o you have a dusting box for your birds? Somewhere they can climb in and roll around to help groom themselves. If not you may want t consider providing one for them this time of year most of the places (even free rangers) go for their dust baths is more mud and gunk than dust. It can make a difference in their grooming habits.

 

[LadyCluck77]

No I kind of didn't have the foresight about giving them a dust bathing box. Wish I had- many things I wish I had done differently. I went and took a good look at their run area today and it's pretty bad- with January thaw we actually got above freezing temps, so they have about two inches deep of cold water/mud-snow/poo runoff they are trudging through out there. And it smells bad!

I've got some chopped hay I can spread out under there, hopefully that will help dry it a bit. After Saturday we're due back at freezing, so the mud should harden again into ice.

 

[wantedman66]

Mud is better than ice

No it's not especially when you just cleaned the coop and it's dry in there at least with the cold the ground is frozen.