Frostbitten Feet?

I have a young white chantecler hen who was stumbling around, so we brought her in to warm up and see what was wrong.  She has fluid filled bumps between her toes and on one foot it goes around under her foot.  She is doing better now, but I don't want to send her back outside until this heals.  Would it be frostbite and is there anything I can do besides wait for it to heal?
 Also, in this cold is it common for chickens to fall and break their necks?  It has happened to three of our chickens, the most recent being our favourite white chantecler rooster.  Are they just too cold to react quickly, or their feet too stiff to grab the branch fast enough?  It has been frustrating.  So has been the lack of eggs this year.  Last year this time we were getting a dozen eggs many days, this year I am lucky to see one.  Also, the 7-8 month old hens haven't started up at all.  I love my chickens, but the point wasn't to spend lots of money feeding them and then go out and buy eggs elsewhere! 

This does sound unusual, Chickenteam. Do you think your coop is adequate to keep them comfortable? I have my Chanteclers in an unheated coop, and even during this long cold winter they continue to lay without fail. But its very well insulated, walls, floor and ceiling. I don't allow them out when the temperature is very cold, as I don't want to have the door open and lose the heat they generate. I know others who let them out everyday regardless, but this has worked for me and I've never seen a frostbitten toe and never heard of a chicken falling and breaking their neck.
Watch that foot and make sure it's healed completely before letting her out in below zero temps. You could use some polysporin and wrap it with gauze and vet wrap for protection. I hope things get better for you.

the lumps sound like bumblefoot. You can pierce them with a boxcutter, squeeze them out, clean them and fill them with an antibiotic ointment. sometimes they come back, sometimes they don't.

I am also curious about your coop, and your roosts.

Also dry bedding is important. If its getting damp that can lead to bumblefoot or frozen feet. Damp bedding is usually a result of high humidity/lack of ventilation. I've had some trouble regulating that in my newest coop - the balance of keeping the temperature comfortable for the birds, but not sealed up too tight to get a bit of air flow. Once you get it figured out it means happy, healthy birds and good egg production.

I never have freezing troubles with our Chanteclers and have long since given up on heating our coop so all the birds have 24 hour access to he outdoors. I find the challenge of maintaining good air quality too difficult when I close up the coop, especially since this year the snow forced me to put the ducks and chickens under one roof! As Kathy said, dry bedding is key.

The foot sounds like bumblefoot, frostbite usually shows as a blackening of an entire section of toe or foot with reddened swelling above it.

The broken necks might not be a roost issue, sometimes that's just how it looks when you find a dead bird, I'd be checking the rest of your flock for signs of respiratory distress.

As for not laying eggs, you probably just need to give them some light I you're not doing that: add 30 minutes a week til you reach 14 hours. Otherwise, sometimes the timing can get screwed up on young birds coming into lay age when winter sets and it can delay maturity until spring.

p.s. post some pictures of the feet, we can diagnose a picture far faster than words...

I may not be grammatically challenged, but I am definitely technology challenged - by choice.  When my son gets home, I will see if he can help me figure out picture posting - no promises.  This has just been a different winter - my third one with chickens.  It has been the coldest, with the most problems.  My rooster most certainly had a broken neck.  He was perfectly fine when I fed them in the morning.  The coops have no problem with airflow, and in the bitter cold I will go out and shut the doors to help them stay warm.  As far as I can tell, I have healthy chickens.  The rare times I saw the beginnings of some health issue I dealt with it right away, and successfully.  I continue to feed them the same as I did from the start.  Last winter, the only break from laying was during molt and in December - the rest of the winter they did pretty good, naturally slowing after the cold snaps.  Would too many cockerels in the pens be a problem?  None have challenged the head rooster, and generally stay out of his way, and I have not seen them hassle the hens - that is the head rooster's job.  Of course, in the chantecler's pen one of the two cockerels had to take over, and that seems to have gone smoothly so far.  Funny thing is, it is Plucky, the chick whose mother pecked and booted out the door, as he was the first hatchling, if anyone remembers me mentioning that last June.  My problem is not punctuation - but wordiness!  I will try to be back with pictures tonight or tomorrow.  Thanks.

Do you use photobucket?



if you do...just click on the pic you want to post from your photobucket library and it will display full size and on the right side of the page will be the share codes...click on the img code and it should flash copied...then come back here and right click and paste.  Then click send message.

What do your roosts look like? You mentioned branches, so I am wondering.

Click Here To Learn How To Post Pictures.

I wondered about roosts too, as "branches" were mentioned. Chickens roost best when their feet can be flat, like how they stand. That way their entire foot is covered by nice warm feathers. Have a wonderful day, CynthiaM.

I'd say bumblefoot and look at roosts too.

As to the lack of eggs... if they are young they won't start laying until they get enough light, even if they are more than 20 weeks. Older hens slow down laying (or stop all together) in winter dark too. You can add light or... hens only lay so many eggs a year. I prefer having most in the spring/summer and letting them rest over the winter. So I don't think you are "losing eggs" so much as rescheduling them to the longer days.

Good luck!

For Authentic, as per your request, and with the help of my son, here is my first ever successful post of a picture!  It is of the coop setup.  As you can see, most of the roosts are flat boards, as they are also in the coop.  Only a couple of the roost in each pen are thick branches.  The chantecler pen in in the back, behind this main one.  This is all the space allowed me by the landlord, so I had to be creative in getting a coop to fit without taking up valuable run space.  Enjoy the view of my motley crew!



This is the hen in question.  The bumps between the toes have blackened, and under the foot looks almost normal.



She still has a little stumble on the affected foot, but only if moving quickly.  Walking is normal, and she landed OK when jumping from the box she is being cared for in onto the floor.

Chickenteam, I don't see an actual coop? Where are your chickens sleeping at night, on a roost in the outdoor pen? Or are the nest boxes meant to be their area to escape the cold? I don't mean to be critical but I think if you are planning to keep chickens over another winter in central Alberta an insulated coop is absolutely the minimal requirement for housing chickens.

The bottom is the nest boxes, and the top is the roosting area, and there is another roosting/hiding-from-the-cold area under the far end. It is not perfect, but the chickens are healthy and cared for. Life has not gone the way I would have imagined when I was young, and having a set-up like yours is a dream that will be forever out of reach for me. The chanteclers do have a coop, which was already here when we rented, but they choose to be outside in all but the windiest cold weather.

I do feel really lucky to have a great set-up now. For most of my life I've had to make do with an ancient coop that came with the farm. We patched it together as best as we could, added a layer of pink insulation and recycled panelling to make it winter-worthy. With my nice buildings now the farm work is so much easier, but I know about trying to make do with what you have. The main thing is to find a way to keep your chickens safe and comfortable, so maybe some changes are needed to avoid more deaths.
When the weather is cold, you should lock them inside - for the night, at least. We can't always rely on our animals and birds to make good decisions, so we have to make choices for them. If they don't go inside on their own, put them in and close the door. Again it means more work for a while, but once they are trained to go inside at night they will do this on their own. You have nice runs there, I think you just need to make some adjustments with their sleeping arrangements. If you have only 1 coop, they probably all need to share it, which might mean only keeping one breed or 1 rooster.

I would definitely try to add insulation if at all possible. You may be able to find partial bats of it on a local classifieds site or freecycle site for cheap/free.

I know people who have built their coops very inexpensively (even free!) with some savvy shopping and deal finding. If you have a Habitat for Humanity Restore, they can be great sources for cheap building supplies.

If you know any contractors, or if there is construction nearby, see if you can work out a deal with them for leftover scrap lumber, insulation etc. in exchange for your site clean-up services.

Your coop is pretty small. Insulation, even if purchased new, wouldn't be more than a couple hundred bucks. Cheaper than replacing birds every year!

And ditto what Kathy said about locking them in.