Frostbite: Causes and Treatment

When the temperature drops to single digits its time to worry about your chickens. Even though chickens have proven to be exceptionally cold hardy their combs and wattles are so exposed that they sometimes get frostbite. Signs of frostbite include black tips on  your chicken's comb or wattle.


Cause


So what is frostbite any way? Frostbite occurs when the cells in the skin start dying from extreme cold. The dead tissue turns black and eventually either heals, in mild cases, or falls off.

Prevention

I would recommend nights when it gets down in the teens or singles rub some bag balm or coconut oil on your rooster's or hen's comb  or wattle. This helps protected the comb and wattles from being exposed to the freezing air.


Treatment

If you have found yourself with a frostbite case, bring the chickens into your house or a warm area. If the comb is mostly all black and is very severe, get a vet to look at it. In most cases though, the comb has only black on the tips.


After you get the chicken in the house take a washcloth and run lukewarm water over it. Then put the cloth on the comb or wattle. DO NOT RUB OR PUT HARD PRESSURE ON IT., which will only hurt the chicken even more. After warming up the comb, I would keep the chicken in a big dog crate in a warm room or heated basement until the comb has fully healed. Put the chicken back in the flock on a warmer day, so he can adjust without being thrown from warm to freezing.


If the comb doesn't heal up within 2-3 weeks or doesn't look like its getting any better within a week I would take the chicken to the vet.