Still cold. Do you see Daisy’s breath?
First something pretty: The Old Codger has given me his snow shoes .. aren’t they wonderful. When I walk the dogs across the snow in the morning I shall be wearing these . 
I look forward to our morning walk.
And now for something not so pretty. The arctic storm has left its mark on some of the chickens. The poor old barn chooks especially the white Leghorns have frostbite on their combs. It is cold now, but it has been evil cold these last few days.
Their combs and wattles have gone creamy and puffy, and then darker by the day. The areas will blacken and then fall off.(One of the roosters has a completely black comb already) These girls will always bear the scars of the Storm of 2014.
They have heat lamps but as you know in the night time they roosted above the lights, keeping their feet warm, but their heads were exposed. I have very tingly stingy toes myself from the cold, my feet got the worst of it, and a thumping headache which should get better today as the air warms up, so I think they will all have the same feeling in their heads and will hopefully improve as we drift back up to freezing point. They will need some extra TLC though.
We also need to watch for infection so I will try and catch all the afflicted girls over the next few nights and pop them into the warmer chook house, then I can keep a better eye on them.
It seems to me that geese don’t just fly South For the winter they fly South ALL winter.
It was a little warmer again yesterday so the tractor started on the first try and John was able to merrily scoop snow and dump it in untidy piles in out of the way places. Happiness filled.
Have a lovely day.
Your friend on the farmy.
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
74 responses to “Frostbite on Barn Chickens”
Oh no! Don’t tell me I need to start knitting hats for hens as well as farmers. Or should I make slippers for them?
Vx
There are patterns online for chicken sweaters and matching hats if you feel like trying one out. Although I can imagine them trying to rip them off after about 2 seconds 🙂
Not to mention the trauma of catching 40 chickens,and putting stuff on their heads.. they would be terrified.. I will catch them and put them in the warm chook house, that will be better! c
Now that I would pay hard cash to see! I have visions of all your girls in splendid jester-style red hats, and the rooster an especially large crown-type confection. Perhaps matching legwarmers? Of course, this would lead to jealousy among the other ladies. I can only imagine what Miss Sheila would say if the chooks got ahead in the fashion stakes!
Hee hee!!! What a sight that would be!!!! 😀
I love the new snow shoes!
Poor chicken – I think Viv does need to make them hats, though they might not wear them 😦
i have same style of snowshoes, they can support 250# me, so you will float across snow.just remember to walk bowlegged like john wayne.
snert, a former dog used to get tired of breaking her own trails in snow, and jump on back of my snowshoe,,faceplants in snow are not as much fun to do as they are to watch
in my younger days it was one of the things that we put on someone that had a bit much to drink, and watch him attempt to walk across yard.
I learned, attach them to boots, and then put boots/snoshoes on after you go down porch steps.
steps are impossible, and trying to jump off porch, landing upright will not always go as planned
You sooo funny Ron!!!! Love your sense of humor!!! Great advice too! I’ll keep that in mind! 😀
thanks Ron, I was looking at the snow shoes and wondering just how they work? Are they just short wide ski’s or do you lift foot and place down again? Just curious , have no clue!
Viv how about matching socks and comb hats, maybe a little chin strap too 🙂 Poor Chick-a-dees.
Hope you keep getting warmer everyday now C. Laura
If you can walk you can snowshoe. Cross-country skiing is completely different. Skis glide, but snowshoes do not. Poles are used for both, but in differentl ways. Cross-country skiers use their poles for propulsion, for snowshoeing they are used for balance and checking in front of you! I cross-country ski and would really like to start snowshoeing!!! Been looking at them for a few years now. I can use them more often that the skiis too!
Okaaay – think I’ll stick to my thong sandals, cause I can see where I’ll be spending my time 🙂 Laura
😉
snowhoes distribute your weight over wider area, so you do not sink in deep snow,
usually i fell forward or sideways when feets get tangeled up,, have been worrying about tailbones all morning
Is it not possible to make hoods for the chooks….it sounds funny, but it would kee the frost off.probably too late now..poor chooks
I think the knitted hen and rooster hats sounds like a wonderful idea Vx. They will need to be ski mask style to cover the wattles as well.
The snow shoes are a great!
It would be a pleasure to try out the old style snow shoes Celi, much nicer I’m sure than the plastic ones. The thing is if you wear the old style ones I think it’s compulsory to wear tweed skirts too 🙂
Sorry to hear about the chooks, I guess its a case of care and wait and see
Wishing you all the luck in the world, Ceci. Seems so weird that you are suffering such cold when we are entering yet another heatwave.
Are you in Australia? I heard that temps have been as high as 170 degrees!!! Yikes!
Sorry to hear about your chickens. I like your description of the scars of the winter of 2014. Our chickens also carry these scars. I hurt right a long with them. Last year our favorite rooster, George, froze his waddle. It ballooned up so he couldn’t hold his head up, let alone eat or drink. We were considering putting him down, poor thing, but then one of my daughters read on line how you can try lancing to relieve the built up fluid. Now George is an amazing Rhode Island Red rooster. The first year I ordered hens, he came by mistake. I never realized all the jobs a rooster does until we had George. George has one bad habit, he attacks my husband. Well when it came time to do the lancing, it was my husband who did it. Love that man. Dan lanced George’s waddles before we went to bed, we said good bye to George(we didn’t think he would make the night). The next morning we woke to the most glorious sound. George crowing in our kitchen. It’s nice to have happy endings. By the way check out the Chantecler breed of chicken, only Canadian breed. They have small combs and are very cold hardy, lovely breed. Stay warm. Linda from up in ND.
Good to know Linda! Thanks for the info! I had a rooster that cut up my cheek! He was a nasty thing! Watch your eyes!!! RI Reds are lovely birds, not fun to clean though.
You can “dub” a chicken’s comb and wattles by simply cutting them off, or trimming the affected areas. Just use a pair of sharp scissors. It heals very quickly. Another good chicken choice is the Dominique. It has a rosecomb, which makes it more hardy in severe cold, but is also hard-feathered enough not to suffer in the summer heat. Several people have them in the Midwest and they’ve done fine in this cold The furthest north is South Dakota.
Thank you jan, every year I buy a different breed so i know that age of the chickens at a glance. The poor old Leghorns have huge floppy combs, this was their downfall..the reds and gold are all fine.. c
I like the Buff Orpingtons. Good meat birds! Eggs are small but I don’t mind that. 🙂 They are very easy to clean and when you are cleaning a lot of them….that is a very nice feature! I get mine from McMurray Hatcheries.
McMurray’s Dominiques are a nice strain, great for dual purpose birds. And they are gentle souls.
Thank you Jan, I have lots of choices now.. c
Poor animals, they suffer so much in this bitter cold weather.
Poor chicks. I can’t imagine how to walk in those snow shoes, but they are quite beautiful.
Animals suffer so much in extreme weather conditions, I feel so sorry for them. Viv’s knitted hats sound a good idea for the chooks! Love the snow shoes, just don’t fall over in them!
Oh, those poor chooks! I’m happy to hear that they won’t have any health problems from the shortened comb, just a little loss of pride.
And the things you have to think about up in these northern climes. For example, I’d never heard of permafrost until I went to plant my tomatoes this year and the soil said “No way!” to me.
I don’t envy you trying out those snowshoes. I believe there is an art to walking in them, so I’d tie a cushion to my backside during the testing of them if I were you. I’m always amazed over here to watch people walk on snow and ice with ease. They’ve lived with it all their lives. Me? I slip over just looking at the ice. And negotiating deep snow is like trying to walk up a sand dune!