I know someone posted here a while back the name of something they used to protect their roosters' combs from cold. Can someone tell me what that was? It wasn't petroleum jelly but something just for that purpose.
Could someone tell me the name of the stuff to protect combs
I think people use vaseline to protect them. Does that sound familiar?
Ahem, like I said above, I'm not talking about petroleum jelly. I think it was called blue something.
LMAO........I guess i stopped reading as soon as i knew the answer. I thought...wow, this is an easy one. sorry....:)
could it be Bluekote? I've not used it for combs but have used it to discourage pecking. Bought it at Farm&Fleet.
Catherine
Nothing will totally prevent frost bite, having a draft-free heated house is the best defense against it. Ointments help soothe the ache.
If you were thinking of bluekote I wouldn't use to prevent or treat frostbite, its 32% alcohol and would dry out the comb.
LOL Lurky. I do the same thing. I first read Catherine's post to say she got hers at Farm and Feet, which must be an interesting store. LOL
I think Bluekote must be it. I thought it was to protect. Thanks for the info, Catherine and Lora. The hen house is draft free but there's no way to heat it up there. Luckily we don't get nearly as cold as where you all live. I just thought I should have it on hand.
Yes, Farm & Feet is a specialty store here in NW Illinois....it combines your regular farm supply store with a pedicure salon for man or beast.....best of both worlds, LOL.
(hey maybe I'm on to something.....? *grin*)
what about bag balm?
Lurky, Bag balm might work. It is medicated but I don't know if it would prevent it from freezing. Have you thought about calling a Vet?
Hart, I live in Alaska and when I started ordering chicks 30 some years ago, I wanted to try all of the breeds. I soon found that the single comb birds (like Leghorns) which are so long they bend over just weren't suited for freezing weather. After doing many things like extra insulation of their coop, (and I always had to have an electrical cord to the coop for the heated base under the water fount) and in bad cold weather completely closing the little chicken door and putting bags of dried leaves to distract them in such close quarters 'til the weather warmed back up to let them out. I finally came to realize that rose-combed birds were better suited for our cold climate.
Since heat rises I also kept the roosts high and ceiling low. Also kept the coop small enough so 15 to 20 birds body heat was a great help. I know this doesn't help your problem but just for future breed choices..... Other than that, I finally went to a used toyo and don't worry about them getting cold anymore. Except some of my dummy birds will stay in the outside pen and roost and if it gets too cold I have to physically put them inside. Once inside at night they won't go to the dark outside.
Carol
Hart, My 8 roos ran around out in -20 f degree weather for a few days and got a small bit frostbit. It was not a big deal. They get over it naturally in a few weeks. I'd be tempted to tie a tiny sock on the roos head with velcro straps if I felt it the cold was dangerous. Worst case is the frost bit portions fall off.
It doesn't begin to get that cold here, ever! My hens have rose and other smaller combs but the rooster (came free with the order) is a white leghorn and has the grandest comb. It's pretty cosy in their house with all of them snuggled up on the roost. I don't know what a toyo is.
To give you an idea of our climate, we had a cold snap where it went down to 5 and 10 (that's plus not minus) last year and everyone's well pipes were freezing because they weren't buried deep enough for temperatures that cold. If it gets that cold again, I can always run a very long extension cord up to the hen house for a few days.
Catherine, love your store. LOL And Photographer's velcro caps. LOL
Toyo stove, only needs 3 inch vent hole, no stove pipe
just bumping up this thread for the DGer with the roo with frostbite...
me? lol
it was just like...minus 30 here the other day. even wen my roo is inside his comb gets real bad. They're sheltered from the wind in the coop, but not the freezing air. Heatlamps barely do anything. any suggestions? especially for wen i need to take them outside for excercize
Fireshy, at minus 30, you keep them inside and give them some straw or pumpkin rinds or heads of letttuce to occupy them. Even if that's Celsius, that means somewhere around zero Farenheit. Too, cold, especially with wind. I would only let them out supervised, no wind, with sunshine. He could lose his comb. And plead with Photo to send you a cap for him. And no more single combs, you hear me! I jokes! Still serious about only having rose comb birds, though. A rooster will try to roost the highest so, if he doesn't have a ceiling to catch the heat which rises from the heatlamp, you need to make a bubble of warmer air around his head which means his roost must be up high enough to be in that "hot attic" effect. A source of heat below him would do the same thing and he would collect the heat that way, but then you have to consider protecting the heatlamp itself from dropping or wingflaps.
Carol