What is this? End of Comb pale or white and black

[RenataPorter]

Hello,

I've just come home from a long trip and my leghorns have discoloring on their combs. It's either pale or it's pale going into black. In looking at the diseases, mine don't look like what I've seen...so don't really know what I'm looking at. I also thought maybe frostbite. We did have cold weather here in TX, but they spent a lot of time in their coop when we got to single digits. That was also a few weeks back, I guess it could happen slowly...

They are all behaving normally, no issues on that front. I did put some vetrx in water just in case, but I'm worried it might be more serious and I might lose my other girls. It's only 4 chickens right now.

Thank you so much!!

 

[Certified Chicken Lover]

Looks like frost bite to me

 

[The Chickens' Maid]

That's definitely frost bite. A coop-safe heating lamp might help. You can also massage their combs with Vaseline a couple of times per day to get blood circulating.

 

[nuthatched]

Do not add heating to your coop and do not touch the frostbite, both will make it worse.
How much ventilation does your coop have?
Give them fresh, plain water. Vetrx won't do anything.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hello,

I've just come home from a long trip and my leghorns have discoloring on their combs. It's either pale or it's pale going into black. In looking at the diseases, mine don't look like what I've seen...so don't really know what I'm looking at. I also thought maybe frostbite. We did have cold weather here in TX, but they spent a lot of time in their coop when we got to single digits. That was also a few weeks back, I guess it could happen slowly...

They are all behaving normally, no issues on that front. I did put some vetrx in water just in case, but I'm worried it might be more serious and I might lose my other girls. It's only 4 chickens right now.

Thank you so much!!

As others have mentioned, they have Frostbite.

Leave the comb tips alone, don't massage them, don't apply ointments/lotions/vaselines/balms, etc.
Don't supply heat.

Leave the combs alone, they are in the process of healing, the tips will dry up and round off. Self Dub.

Your birds are behaving normally, so you're good to go.

 

[The Chickens' Maid]

That's definitely frost bite. A coop-safe heating lamp might help. You can also massage their combs with Vaseline a couple of times per day to get blood circulating.

To clarify, this is not to cure the black parts of the comb. Those are gone and will fall off as previously stated. This also depends on your coop setup and how much you want your chickens to be acclimated to the cold. There is a sliding scale of frostbite management. On one side is the management that people use to keep fingers and toes warm and blood circulating in cold climates - mostly warm indoor temps with some cold exposure (that's more what I was referring to). This advice is typically used for show chickens or house chickens in varying ways since they are more likely to be in a warm environment during the winter.

If your chickens do not have exposure to any warm temps during the winter, then frostbite management will be significantly more focused on moisture control in their environment. Also, introducing a little bit of heat will not help in this case since they will need to be acclimated to the cold the majority of the time and extra heat will disrupt that. Massaging the comb with Vaseline is also less recommended in this case except for the possibility of saving the parts of the comb that have not yet turned black (do not massage a comb that is partially black, that can be potentially painful. Disclaimer: if you massage their combs, then you are moving more toward the other side of the scale and will make them less cold acclimated, so it is not recommended in all cases. This all depends on how much future frostbite you are comfortable with and how cold acclimated you want your birds to be.

 

[RenataPorter]

Looks like frost bite to me

Ok. Will it right itself or is there something I should do?

 

[RenataPorter]

Do not add heating to your coop and do not touch the frostbite, both will make it worse.
How much ventilation does your coop have?
Give them fresh, plain water. Vetrx won't do anything.

No, I wouldn't put a heater in. The house has good ventilation. Remember it's super hot here. Thank you for helping.

 

[RenataPorter]

Thank you all for the comments. I was afraid it might be frost bite, but it's weird they showed signs almost two weeks after the super cold weather. I don't think the coop is damp at all, but I will go in and take notice just for that. You are the best!!

 

[nuthatched]

No, I wouldn't put a heater in. The house has good ventilation. Remember it's super hot here. Thank you for helping.

It takes a while for it to show up, as the tissues heal. She should heal up fine.