It’s that time of year again, the days are getting shorter and the nights longer and colder, here’s some advice for the winter on how to detect and treat frostbite in your flock.
How to detect frostbite
Frostbite is damaged body tissue from extremely cold temperatures. Cells become frozen, which damages the tissue and prevents blood flow to the area. Chickens conserve their body heat by restricting blood flow to their feet, combs and wattles making these specific areas susceptible to frostbite. If your bird has frostbite, you’ll notice a change in these areas, they will become pale or grey. Depending on how bad the frostbite is, you may also notice changes in their appetite or lack of, swelling and blisters as well as the tissue feeling cold or hard to touch.
How to treat Frostbite
Once you’ve detected frostbite on your chickens, ensure you move the affected bird to a warmer, dry location. Don’t massage the area to warm it up as this could damage the surrounding tissue. You need to warm the area up slowly. For example, if your chicken is developing frostbite on their feet start by submerging their feet in lukewarm water instead of hot water.
Keep the area as clean as possible to prevent infection. Using a veterinarian antiseptic spray like the ‘Curaseb’ Antiseptic spray (available on Amazon) and use this to clean the area.
A full recovery from frostbite can take between 4–6 weeks. You just need to keep an eye on the affected area and check for infection. If the area develops blisters, do not touch them as they are part of the healing process.
Keep the affected chicken in a dry area by adding a heater to the coop or assigning a specific recovery area.
If the area is large, then don’t hesitate to get some advice from your local poultry vet and follow their instructions.
How to prevent Frostbite
The easiest way to prevent frostbite is to ensure your chicken coop has proper ventilation. Ensure that the bedding is dry by only allowing them access to water outside of the coop, but ensure that this is not frozen and monitor how much water they are drinking to ensure that they stay hydrated. Have a look at our blog post on ‘preparing your coop for winter’ for some more helpful tips.