# Frostbite



## kessy09 (Jun 16, 2013)

So all the single combed boys seem to have a bit of frostbite. My cream legbar was just sitting beside the water dish (which was tipped over) and when I went to inspect he had ice frozen around all his toes. He must have spilled the water on himself or the wind blew it over on to his feet. Anyway, I brought him in and slowly warmed them. He was totally lame that night, walking a smidge better the next day but still holding each foot up constantly. Today he's walking but seems a little stiff on his toes. You can tell on the bottom of his feet where the skin color has returned to normal but there are still the ends of all his toes that are grey. I'm hoping he doesn't lose any but I've never had frostbite on their feet so I don't know how severe this looks or chance of recovery. I've been changing the water dishes hourly so he was like this outside at most 50 minutes (if it happened as soon as I went in after the water change). It was -28c that day with the wind and -22 without. Pretty cold. I'm sad I'm dealing with frostbite already and it's only November. We have a long winter ahead and I was hoping to not have to confine them to the coop but that may be the case. It's just way too cold and windy out. Anyone deal with frostbite and also know any ways to make the coop more "fun" so as to distract them from the fact they can't go out?


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## kessy09 (Jun 16, 2013)

Here is a pic from this morning of his feet.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Hang a head of lettuce for them to peck at. Or some suggest cabbage.

Frostbite can be very painful for them. They can lose toes to it and its not pretty. Its probably a good idea to change what you're using for waterers so they can't be turned over. You can use the smaller pint or half gallon chick waterers. It makes it easier to switch them out and are less likely to turn over.


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## kessy09 (Jun 16, 2013)

Those are the kinds I use already  I might try putting some rocks in them so the water can still leak out but make it heavier. Two of his toenails fell out on one foot. The tissue underneath looks healthy and normal though. There is still blood flow to those areas so I'm thinking positive. He's walking and jumping up to perch on things now so I'm seeing improvement. I'm thinking it was the wind that knocked it over. This weekend I'll be doing some coop adjustments to make it a more friendly space should they have to be confined for long stretches.


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