Frostbite Rooster Wattles - Swollen But Still Warm

[kellypepperk]

This is our Rose Comb Brown Leghorn rooster B@st@ard. Even with diligent comb and wattle Vasaline-ing his wattles (waddles?) seem to have gotten burned. The other evening as we were tucking them all in we noticed his wattles were cold and "clinking" together. At that point they were not discolored and only slightly swollen. We thawed them out by holding them in our hands and we did bring him in the house. This is what he looks like now on day 3. They're still swollen and starting to discolor, but are still nice and warm. We put him back in with his girls so he would eat and drink and we saw his wattles go right in the water bowl - they got very cold and hard quickly, so we brought him back in.





So, what is our next step? Keep him warm and comfy or are we going to need to drain them? We will not be doing any dubbing.

 

[FenikT]

I hear the Vasoline theory a lot on here but don't believe it "prevents" frostbite. It does prevent windburn, however Vasoline does nothing to keep tissue from freezing, especially when wattles are subjected to getting wet, cold air, and freezing temps.

Given the size of the poor guy's wattles, its going to be tough keeping them out of the water bowl.

Speaking of which, what type of water bowl are you using - simply an open bowl or a traditional ringed chicken waterer? You may want to raise the level of your watering device to a point where he simply has to tilt his beak slightly over the bowl edge (and not dip his entire neck down) to drink. Gravity will keep his wattles perpendicular to the ground, rather than rolling forward into the water. So in short, raise the bowl a good 12" off the ground, in line w/ the height of your boy's head. If you are using just a plain round bowl, you may want to consider a ringed chicken waterer (where the water lays in a 1" ring around the supply container).

If the tissue is in fact frostbit, swelling (e.g., edema), redness, and possibly overly hot adjoining tissue (junction where good tissue meets frostbit tissue) will occur.

IMO, draining won't necessarily hasten the healing process. I would be careful creating more "injury" to the area in the name of healing. Perhaps a topical antibiotic (Neosporin w/ no pain killer) or Bag Balm salve.