Hi! So with the crazy weather we've had here in Ontario (Canada) this winter, my Orpington chickens suffered a bit of frostbite. Nothing crazy, a bit if gray and white on the tips, that sort of thing. Ventilation in the coop has been amended, there is no water in the coop, and we were ok. But today I decided to put bag balm on their combs since they were looking a little dry and to help heal the frostbite a bit. To our dismay, when my husband went to close up the coop tonight after dark and check for eggs, he found a hen sitting in the nesting box instead of on the roosts, with her comb covered in black!!
A bit of context: this hen has been hanging out in the same nesting box a lot lately, enough to make me wonder whether she's sick or going broody. We've been getting a single egg every-other day (our chickens are from last year's spring hatch and Orpingtons apparently take a long time to start laying), and it was often found on the same spot where this hen is laying. So, I'm assuming she's the one who's been laying them, and it is a possibility that even though she is young and only just started laying, she might be going broody! (Crazy chicken in the dead of the worst Canadian winter we've had in decades! If that is the case, I'll have to break her broodiness, but that's a separate issue).
Nevertheless, I took her inside to have a better look in the light and took the photo below. Hey comb looks black, tarry and sort of like a blood scar. At first we thought she was sick, or that the black was dried blood from an injury, and that she was in the nesting box feeling sorry for herself as a result (or just being broody). However, when I put her back and checked on the others, they ALL had black on their combs, similar to her, including my rooster in his wattle (where I also applied the balm), and my blue Ameraucana, who doesn't even really have a comb, and on whom I just put a little bag balm on the top of her head where the flat "comb" is. On her, the feathers near her head were also black. I didn't put any balm on the wattles of the hens, only the roo, and their wattles were all red. The flash on my phone camera wasn't working so I couldn't take a picture of them inside the coop, but I will in the morning.
My question is, is this frostbite?? It doesn't quite look like frostbite, and frostbite usually happens more gradually, not that crazy fast and furousf, especially since today the weather was significantly better and less windy that it has been. The change was too dramatic and fast. The second photo is oh how the same hen looked BEFORE the bag balm, for comparison. Her comb was hardly affected before, and all of the sudden, boom! Could the balm have CAUSED frostbite?
Or is this just dirt from their dust bath, which has peat moss in it? (Everything else I've tried has frozen) Could the peat moss have had a chemical reaction with the bag balm? Are my chicken suddenly and accutelly ill?
The hen eventually hoped on the roost and was acting normal. So not sure what to think. Any ideas?
Thank you so much!!
Before this happened:
A bit of context: this hen has been hanging out in the same nesting box a lot lately, enough to make me wonder whether she's sick or going broody. We've been getting a single egg every-other day (our chickens are from last year's spring hatch and Orpingtons apparently take a long time to start laying), and it was often found on the same spot where this hen is laying. So, I'm assuming she's the one who's been laying them, and it is a possibility that even though she is young and only just started laying, she might be going broody! (Crazy chicken in the dead of the worst Canadian winter we've had in decades! If that is the case, I'll have to break her broodiness, but that's a separate issue).
Nevertheless, I took her inside to have a better look in the light and took the photo below. Hey comb looks black, tarry and sort of like a blood scar. At first we thought she was sick, or that the black was dried blood from an injury, and that she was in the nesting box feeling sorry for herself as a result (or just being broody). However, when I put her back and checked on the others, they ALL had black on their combs, similar to her, including my rooster in his wattle (where I also applied the balm), and my blue Ameraucana, who doesn't even really have a comb, and on whom I just put a little bag balm on the top of her head where the flat "comb" is. On her, the feathers near her head were also black. I didn't put any balm on the wattles of the hens, only the roo, and their wattles were all red. The flash on my phone camera wasn't working so I couldn't take a picture of them inside the coop, but I will in the morning.
My question is, is this frostbite?? It doesn't quite look like frostbite, and frostbite usually happens more gradually, not that crazy fast and furousf, especially since today the weather was significantly better and less windy that it has been. The change was too dramatic and fast. The second photo is oh how the same hen looked BEFORE the bag balm, for comparison. Her comb was hardly affected before, and all of the sudden, boom! Could the balm have CAUSED frostbite?
Or is this just dirt from their dust bath, which has peat moss in it? (Everything else I've tried has frozen) Could the peat moss have had a chemical reaction with the bag balm? Are my chicken suddenly and accutelly ill?
The hen eventually hoped on the roost and was acting normal. So not sure what to think. Any ideas?
Thank you so much!!
Before this happened:
