Comb and wattle inventory after the Big freeze...

Post by **Killerbunny** » Mon Feb 15, 2016 6:49 pm

Will do. He also shakes his wattles at the ladies almost as a display while he's dancing.

Post by **WLLady** » Mon Feb 15, 2016 7:02 pm

so far so good here....at least i haven't noticed anyone any darker than they were....had a couple that had problems last winter, but they don't seem to have grown back or gotten worse, and the one boy i thought for sure i would lose is still puttering around. i think this year the barn is well ventilated, while the roo coop last year had humidity issues, so being drier definitely made a difference.

Chick-a-roo · Post by **Chick-a-roo** » Mon Feb 15, 2016 10:33 pm

I can't even... both my rooster's combs are now completely shot. I can't think that it's not painful for them. Only thing to do is wait it out. Hate to do it, but may have to either dub them or just cull them and start over with new chantecler roosters, since that's the breed direction I need to go in anyways. Tough decision ahead of me

kenya · Post by **kenya** » Tue Feb 16, 2016 1:55 am

I haven't had any issues I just Vaseline the comb and wattles, mine are not allowed outside .
Chickaroo why not just dub them, seems to be a fairly painless procedure and problem solved.

Doug The Chickenman · Post by **Doug The Chickenman** » Tue Feb 16, 2016 8:22 am

Chick-a-roo wrote:QR_BBPOST I can't even... both my rooster's combs are now completely shot. I can't think that it's not painful for them. Only thing to do is wait it out. Hate to do it, but may have to either dub them or just cull them and start over with new chantecler roosters, since that's the breed direction I need to go in anyways. Tough decision ahead of me

If they are going black you can just wait it out and the black dead stuff will fall off natureally and nature will have done the dubbing for you.
I have had a couple D'Uccles like that through the years and the only impact later is possibly a drop in fertility.

baronrenfrew · Post by **baronrenfrew** » Tue Feb 16, 2016 8:39 am

Doug is right, what freezes gets blood supply cut off, then falls off. I was a teen with my first chickens and this happened all the time with roosters we kept. I understand that fertility is affected temporarily as well. I think that this must cause discomfort and I haven't kept single comb birds in 20 years.

Ontario Chick · Post by **Ontario Chick** » Tue Feb 16, 2016 11:25 am

Chick-a-roo wrote:QR_BBPOST I can't even... both my rooster's combs are now completely shot. I can't think that it's not painful for them. Only thing to do is wait it out. Hate to do it, but may have to either dub them or just cull them and start over with new chantecler roosters, since that's the breed direction I need to go in anyways. Tough decision ahead of me

Like Doug and Bert said, nature dubbed them for you.
Now there will be time when the damaged area will scab over and fall off, sometime the scab takes a bit of healthy tissue with it so watch for that and treat with Polysporin or similar antibiotic cream.
Contrary to popular belief damage to comb doesn't affect fertility, beside the fact that Rooster with a headache may not feel very amorous.

Post by **Killerbunny** » Tue Feb 16, 2016 12:25 pm

Use the cream -it's easier to put on than the ointment, less rubbing on the bird.

windwalkingwolf · Post by **windwalkingwolf** » Tue Feb 16, 2016 10:20 pm

As the tissue under the dead stuff heals, and the dead starts to fall off, it can get dry and itchy. But so can a healing dub job. Out of necessity, I kept my freezercamp roosters with the waterfowl this winter, and almost all now have frostbitten combs in varying degrees. It's SO humid in there, and the layout means there's not much I can do about it until thaw. I keep breeds with huge combs and wattles, so almost every year at least one gets 'bit', but it's never caused an issue for them. I don't do anything to intervene unless I see toes start to get affected, and so far that hasn't been a problem the past few years except in one elderly bantam guy. Frostbite on combs and wattles often looks worse than it is, they rarely even seem to notice. Mild cases will heal up without disfigurement, and severe cases, while resulting in shortened, "ugly" comb and or wattles, will preclude future frostbite on those areas.

Robbie · Post by **Robbie** » Wed Feb 17, 2016 8:41 am

I'm seeing the value of pea/walnut combed breeds more and more. I'm surprised there are so few of them. the pea comb gene reduces the size of the wattles too, rose combed breeds seem to still have giant wattles.
I did vaseline the combs of my single combed hens, I think it helped, even though they look kind of funny after their dust bath - the dirt sticks to their heads........... I had way more damage in -6 degrees C without vaseline, than -12oC with vaseline but I'm not sure if it was the vaseline or because of the lower humidity.