Frozen Wattles

Yesterday I discovered both my BR cockerels had frozen their wattles solid after getting them wet while drinking from their heated deep dish waterer. They were immediately rushed into the house and slowly warmed up. I tried to be careful and not to rub the damaged tissue well unthawing, but it still bled a little and the bottom half of the wattle area has turned black, along with the tips of their combs.



I have them in our basement with a heat lamp and electrolytes in their water. They seem alert and have been eating and drinking as usual, but what worries me is the tissue looks really dark in places and the chance of infection. Is there anything else that can be done or that I should give them? I don’t want to lose my beautiful BR boys...

Flicker more than likely that tissue will die and slough off. I had this happen last year when I housed some roosters with my ducks, they drank from the water dish and froze them as well, by spring they just fell off and seemed to do fine.
I am sure it will be painful when they are dealing with this but not sure there is much you can do other than what you are already. I don't think you need to worry about infection at this point.

Oh no, I hope that this all works out, I am sorry to hear this. But now this has got me worried. I had to take the metal fonts out of the chicken houses (four of them). I had them sitting on heated dog water bowls with water in them, that kept the water not frozen at up to -11, but that wasn't enough to keep the metal water fonts from freezing at -19. I took the metal fonts out and left the heated bowls with water in them, that didn't freeze up, even at -19 yesterday morning. Blah. Now I need to go and have a look when I let the birds out to see if my roosters got their wattles in the water and frozen. Never even thought of this. Your sadness with your roosters may make some of us more aware about wattles in water, you have maybe given others an insight to something that we may have never thought of....we'll see. Got some pretty big wattles on some of my roosters...Says something again about roosters with small combs and wattles in really cold temperature areas, eeks, another can of worms!! Have a great day, hope all is well with the fellows, CynthiaM.

Whew, that’s a relief! Thanks Hidden. I have been giving them children's Advil for pain relief.

Yeah, looks like I found one of the major faults of the heated dog dish waterers. At least for single combed fowl. I hope this doesn't happen to anyone else's birds. Beware those deep dishes!

Sorry about your beautiful roosters.
It's so upsetting when you realize they have damaged their wattles or combs.
The same thing happened to my Buff Orp roo last year. I don't think it matters what kind of dish they are drinking from, if it is cold enough the water droplets will freeze on the wattles and cause frostbite.
The black line along the bottom of the wattles is likely where the tissue will eventually die and fall away.
One thing I have started doing is to put a good thick layer of barrier ointment on the wattles to keep the water from clinging. I'm also using it on their combs. The stuff I have is called Uni Salve protective Ointment. Much thicker consistency than vaseline - I can barely squeeze it out of the tube. But vaseline would work too if that is what you have on hand.
Well, nurse those boys along and I am sure they will be fine. By spring you will hardly notice their smaller wattles.

I also use open water dishes (just have a heat lamp suspended over them to keep them from freezing) in the houses and so far they are OK although I did have to give a little silkie hen a haircut as her pouf had frozen and she had an icicle hanging off each feather in her headdress!
The rooster's wattles seem ok so far although we do have mostly small wattled fellows, I remember a BR freezing his along with his comb one year and they got very big and swollen after freezing but then the lower part seemed to dry up and come off and then he had nice neat wattles....then he was fine for next year!
I do worry about it affecting fertility but not sure how much it really does...
Sounds like you are taking good care of them flicker, how do you get them to take Advil? I can't even get my kids dosed....

You could put polysporin on their wattles Flicker. It may help heal them more quickly and after that, protect them with a type of product like KathyS was saying but bare in mind, whatever is on them will dip into the water as well so it would need to be safe ingredient-wise and palatable.

Good luck.

I had a similar insident with my polish hen dipping her poof head in the open bowl. Came in to find her with half a frozen poof. That was not even when it was really cold. Shes turned out to be a bit of a fair weather gal and is living in the house with my dogs. They are not impressed by their new roommate.

This is why, over the years, I have decided I like tight combed and small wattled breeds. My fancy Australorp roos with their impressive hear gear freeze the tips off their combs every winter, no matter how cold the weather! And they live in a heated hen house! (but they have to go out to eat and drink) I think this is due to the metal feeders I use and their big combs coming in contact with the cold metal as they eat. My theory, no proof. But the hens eat from the same hanging feeders, their combs do NOT touch the metal and they do not freeze. Also the closer a comb is to the head, the less likely to freeze.

This tissues will likley turn black, get crispy and fall off, or be picked off by other chickens. If you see a lot of picking happening, you might have to separate the boys until they are healed. Chicken peck at anything that catches their eye and EVERYTHING catches their eye!

Cynthia, long ago I gave up the heated water battle and now once a day I carry out warm water. THey have all learned to drink while the water is still liquid. I tried keeping it inside the hen house but found the splashing and moisture inside made for a very humid and unpleasant interior and I had more respiratory troubles in a damp hen house.

SOrry about those pretty boys with frozen tops...in this weather it's almost impossible to avoid.

Thanks everyone. I really appreciate your concern and advise.


Kathy, you’re probably right that frostbite would have happened anyway. The BR boys can’t help but dunk their big dangly wattles in the water every time they take a drink. Sigh…and here I thought having good ventilation covered meant I was home free.

Well I seem to be all out of vaseline but I did discover an almost full tube of Lansinoh (main ingredient lanolin) in a drawer from ages ago when I was still nursing our youngest son. Its a few years past expiry, but I’m going to give it a try anyhow. If I can get the stuff to come out of the tube that is! It’s rock hard - may have to put the tube in front of a heating vent for awhile.

Yeah, fertility is on my mind as well miry. Hoping for the best is all I can do now … I actually find giving my bird’s meds a breeze compared to my children, haha. I sit with the victim, erm, I mean patient in my lap and carefully syringe the meds into the beak. Their natural sipping/swallowing reflex takes care of the rest as long as you go nice and slow. The ratio I use is one 80ml Advil tablet crushed and dissolved into 1 litre of water. I give the bird up to 5ml of the mixture every 6 hours and never longer than 48 hours. I feel the need to mention I have no real evidence that giving this relieves their pain, though it makes me feel a bit better. Probably more peace of mind than anything…chickens are alot tougher than I am.

Nothing that can’t be ingested on their wattles, thanks for the reminder. I do have polysporin, but think I’ll try honey first under the lanolin if it isn't too sticky.

I will keep a sharp eye out for wound picking. There’s just the two of them sharing space right now, and I don’t think I’ll bother putting the other Am roo back in with them once it warms up and they return to the coop. Hopefully the tissue will be fully healed (or near) by the time I need to move Caesar to the barn to meet the ladies.

And no, you can’t really beat tight combs and small/no wattles in our extreme climate. The Ameraucanas are good proof of that. They generally hold up very well. Turns out those beards are for more than looks after all.

Today I discovered that my Welsummer roo has frostbite on his wattle about half way up - they are really big wattles - It's warmed up to -10 and his coop is insulated. He's eating and drinking fine but I just checked on him and he's flipping his head
back and forth - should I take him inside?

Aww, that sucks Terre. I hope your Wellie boy isn’t too bad off. Unfortunately if his wattles are black, the tissue damage is already done. As long as the wattles aren’t frozen solid, he should be fine in his insulated coop. Maybe add a heat light over the roost area if at all possible? Of course if you want to bring him inside then by all means do so. I know it made me feel a bit better to bring my two BR’s inside our warm basement. (Though I’m not sure how much longer I can get away with it - thank goodness the temps are warming up again).

And my boys were shaking their heads a lot too; especially at first. No doubt their frost bitten parts were/are extremely tender and painful. The lanolin cream seems to be helping as it is made to soothe and protect dry, cracked skin. Will have to see how it goes day by day. Good luck, I hope others will post their suggestions for you too…

Thanks Flicker Chick - I checked him out earlier - they don't feel frozen just extremely chapped - the skin isn't black (at least not yet) sort of lavender. I did leave him in the coop as he had stopped shaking his head and seems to be eating, drinking fine. I'll pick up some antibiotic cream tomorrow just to be on the safe side. It's warmed up a lot and is supposed to stay that way until the end of the month. I was quite surprised at the frostbite because the temp seemed pretty good in his coop compared to the uninsulated ones. My Australorps roo also has some damage to his wattles as well (he's in the same coop but all the hens seem to be just fine. The ceiling is quite low in this coop - I could try to put a heat lamp in - just wonder if it would be too little to late. Sigh - learning curves.....

My one buff orpington rooster, which has bigger wattles than the other one, has them turning black on the bottom and about 1/4 way up the comb. I won't heat the coop, and I have no facility to bring him inside, he is just gonna have to tough it out and see what happens. Some on the tips of his comb, but otherwise OK, the other buff has been unaffected. Weird, hope you rooster is OK. Have a wonderful day, CynthiaM.

I hope that beautiful Buff Orpington in your avatar wasn't affected too much by the cold Cynthia. It is so sad when you realize their big, impressive crown is never going to be the same again.

I wonder why the frost bite affects some roosters but not others in the same environment? I had 2 Cochin roos in the insulated coop with the laying hens. My older guy, Bandit has been fine - no sign of frostbite on comb or wattles. Not so lucky with his son, a young cockerel coming up to one year old. One morning this week after a particularly cold night I saw that he had badly damaged the points on his comb. I immediately brought him into a heated area and treated the comb, but I'm pretty sure he will lose a good part of the points.

I did have a heat lamp in the coop, but maybe the old guy got the best spot, pushing out the younger ones. Guess I should have done things differently before the bitter cold snap, another heat lamp maybe, but I really thought they would all be ok. It seems I get caught with this frostbite issue in some way every year. *sigh*
I can sure understand why some people choose to raise only breeds with small combs and wattles. it does make life easier when the brutal cold hits.

When you know the weather is cold, put Vaseline on their combs and wattles

Yes, I've read that vaseline can help provide an extra layer of insulation for those tender parts. I applied a clear ointment - similar to vaseline - religiously to their combs and wattles each evening, but unfortunately it didn't prevent the frostbite this time. Just too dang cold!!