Causes and Prevention

Chickens are mostly prone to getting frostbite on their combs, wattles, and feet. When weather gets below freezing, exposed tissue is in danger. In below freezing conditions, a chicken’s vasodilation stops working in their extremities and causes parts of their body to freeze. Not only is frostbite painful, but chickens can get secondary infections or need amputations. Chickens can withstand cold temperatures and keep themselves from getting frost bite if they are kept dry, able to tuck their combs and wattles under their wing, and lay down on their feet. Let’s explore these a little more…

Winter can really be beautiful but harsh season. Doing some prep work before it hits is your best best in keeping your chickens dry and out of the wind. Wrap your chicken run in plastic to keep the wind, snow, and rain out. Cover and fill all drafts in the coop. Use old feed bags stapled onto the coop gaps. Close windows and cover with plastic if needed. Insulate the coop (we used 1 inch foam insulation board and plywood on top of that and our coop stays 10 degrees warmer than the outside air). Make sure you have good ventilation at the top of your coop to let warm moist air escape. Moist air will cling to extremities and cause freezing. If you notice frost on the inside of your windows, add more ventilation (this might also mean you have too many chickens for your coop size because their breathing can cause moisture to accumulate). Give your chickens clean dry bedding (We use hemp bedding from Eaton Pet and Pasture…use my code PURELYCHICKENS if you give them a try). Keep the run as dry as possible. Wet feet are more likely to get frostbite.

Combs and wattles are the most common place to find frostbite. Most of the time, chickens can tuck their combs and wattles under their wings to keep them warm. Chickens who have large single combs or very large wattles have a hard time tucking them under their wings. This is why roosters are more likely to get frostbite. If you live in a climate with very cold temperatures where you aren’t able to keep your coop above freezing, you might consider getting chickens who have flatter combs. If you already have chickens with big combs, getting them an INFRARED HEATER will be helpful in preventing frost bite. Please don’t use a heat lamp or other heater that will make the coop toasty warm. The heater I linked raised the coop temperature about 2-3 degrees. To get benefit from it they need to be sitting under it. This is what you want because if you heat the coop they will not be ok if the power goes out or if they have to go outside of the coop. If you use an open waterer, chickens will dip their wattles in when drinking. This will then freeze and cause frostbite (please see the image to the right!) I like to train my chickens to use THIS TYPE of waterer to prevent this. You can also keep it heated with ONE OF THESE so it doesn’t freeze. THIS WATERER is smaller but plugs in and doesn’t require a separate heater. You can also apply my frostbite cream (recipe in my ESSENTIAL OIL ARTICLE and at the bottom of this one) to the combs and wattles to help prevent it from happening, but in extreme cold, nothing will help so use a safe heater to take the chill off a little.