Is our coop causing frostbite?

[Fetz]

Our Barred Rock rooster has developed frostbite on his comb and wattles. Some of our hens are starting to as well. What can we adjust in our coop to prevent this?

Their coop is a stall in a 100yr old barn. It is not insulated and we have not used supplemental heat so far. There is no water in the coop and we are trying to use deep litter method, though I'd guess we only have 8in of bedding on the floor. We've left about 3sqft of a south facing window uncovered for ventilation and light.

We have been cleaning the poop tarp weekly but I think that will become a daily chore do remove that moisture source.

It seems it may be a moot point as they spend almost all day outside anyway. Right now the rooster and everyone else is behaving totally normal.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

What type of temperatures? Most of my flock is kept in a pole building. No insulation, nor heat. When it gets below -10 Fahrenheit I sometimes will see frostbite. Gets much colder and it is inevitable in my experiences. It can help to choose smaller combed breeds to avoid it somewhat.

If you are seeing frostbite at warmer temperatures it's probably a moisture issue.

How much air movement is there? Prevailing winds should be blocked as much as possible while still allowing good air exchange. Here poop freezes and there is no moisture as long as everything stays frozen.

 

[Fetz]

It's been around 15°F. Down to -5°F at night the last couple nights. The run is on the south side of the barn so it's protected from North and northwesterly winds which is supposed to be the prevailing wind in the winter, but anything from the west or south will hit them.

I shut the west facing window (pictured) at the top of their roost. There is another window facing south which I've currently reduced to about a 2x2 square. That is the only opening to outside air. There is quite a bit of ventilation between the coop and the rest of the barn though. I suppose I should put a proper moisture meter in there, but it usually feels about the same humidity and temperature in the barn as it does outside.

 

[Acre4Me]

I have found the low temps will cause frostbite. Moisture exacerbates it, but the extreme cold will do it even when well ventilated or dry.

Nothing you can do. Do not rub anything on the comb.

You can get chickens without the large single comb - like a pea comb or rose comb or cushion comb. Those resist frost bite better than single combs.

 

[Pumperkinz]

I was having a similar issue on one of my roosters cause of this extra cold weather. He was dipping his head in a water bucket/eating snow and it was getting on his comb and now his tips have fallen off.

My current coop I added three 4x4 shed vent holes in with passways and it's brought the occurrence of frost bite way down.

In general it is tough on longer combed breeds from my past experience. I just had that -15 degree weather in upstate NY and it's almost inevitable to not have them have issues imo. I've seen some people enclose runs fully and winter proof them but i'm not okay with doing that personally as my dogs would try and just tear it down lol.

 

[Ted Brown]

I have once experienced combs getting frost bitten in my Woods fresh air coop, reputed to never have this problem.

That same winter I noted frost on the walls which suggested too much humidity. I adjusted window openings to increase airflow, problem resolved in future years.

 

[MNckntender]

I have found the low temps will cause frostbite. Moisture exacerbates it, but the extreme cold will do it even when well ventilated or dry.

Nothing you can do. Do not rub anything on the comb.

You can get chickens without the large single comb - like a pea comb or rose comb or cushion comb. Those resist frost bite better than single combs.

Thank you for stating this succinctly. I know there are improvements I could make for better ventilation to the steel building (with whatever insulation in the walls the mice haven't eaten out yet) chicken coop we inherited after moving to a much colder and northern state. But I've been beating myself up for seeing frostbite progress on my lil roos comb and started searching for what I'm doing wrong. the previous owners would have 700+ broiler flocks, and I now only have 6 hens and 2 roos living in there so I'm sure the hooded vent fans are likely enough for now and it's just inevitable unfortunately because we've had some below zero days as well as consistent nights going well into the negatives :/ it's hard to accept that but there is only so much I can do...

 

[Acre4Me]

Thank you for stating this succinctly. I know there are improvements I could make for better ventilation to the steel building (with whatever insulation in the walls the mice haven't eaten out yet) chicken coop we inherited after moving to a much colder and northern state. But I've been beating myself up for seeing frostbite progress on my lil roos comb and started searching for what I'm doing wrong. the previous owners would have 700+ broiler flocks, and I now only have 6 hens and 2 roos living in there so I'm sure the hooded vent fans are likely enough for now and it's just inevitable unfortunately because we've had some below zero days as well as consistent nights going well into the negatives :/ it's hard to accept that but there is only so much I can do...

The Chantecler breed was developed in Canada for a winter hardy breed, and has a cushion comb (no points at all). The Buckeye was developed as a hardy all around chicken (the only APA breed created by a woman) for colder Midwest type weather. All pea comb chickens we’ve had have handled cold well. Rose combed males still get frostbite, in our experience. In MN stay away from Mediterranean breeds (like a leghorn) bc they tend to have a lighter feather load and are leaner with larger combs. The ones that look super fluffy (Cochin and Brahma) might also be good choices (can’t remember comb type of these though). No on the silkies -their feathers don’t do much against cold.

 

[Ted Brown]

I have Chanteclers, excellent cold weather breed. Heritage bird that, in my experience, give ~200 eggs per year.

 

[MNckntender]

The Chantecler breed was developed in Canada for a winter hardy breed, and has a cushion comb (no points at all). The Buckeye was developed as a hardy all around chicken (the only APA breed created by a woman) for colder Midwest type weather. All pea comb chickens we’ve had have handled cold well. Rose combed males still get frostbite, in our experience. In MN stay away from Mediterranean breeds (like a leghorn) bc they tend to have a lighter feather load and are leaner with larger combs. The ones that look super fluffy (Cochin and Brahma) might also be good choices (can’t remember comb type of these though). No on the silkies -their feathers don’t do much against cold.

Thanks for the breakdown for breeds to be on the look out for. Right now I'm only rescuing birds so i don't get much say (other than refusing to home them). I know how hardy they are as a species but that doesn't mean we have to leave them to it alone. After paying attention to how air was moving and adjusting windows, vents, and using the fan more it seems to have stopped progressing. Each bird and each season has so many new learnings!