Our contestant/injured chicken this month is Copernicus! Come on down!
Dah dah dah dah da da dah dah dah dah.....
I present Copernicus, aka Perni. Welsummer rooster, ruler of all the other roosters, keeper of the largest harem, eater of corn, gentle soul, and gigantic boy.
Perni presents us today with....... dum dah dah dum.....frostbite!
Woo hoo!
It's been a long time in coming, and we've fought it before. But this week's been cold, and yesterday was 19 degrees all day and 12 degrees at night, and Perni's got, well, really big wattles and a really big comb, so it's not really a surprise. He's got it pretty badly right now, though. The dark lines are the frost bite, and if you can tell (which I don't know if you can from the picture), his wattles are pretty swollen. His mouth is open because it hurts, don't ya know.
Poor boy. With a roo in a cold environment, this is a pretty common occurance. I saw his condition yesterday, and treated him, but this is the type of thing that you have to keep vigilant about and treat all the time. I treat it with Vaseline and a Neosporin-type medication. The Neosporin stuff goes on first, gently rubbed into the affected areas. Then I goop on the Vaseline.
Can you see the goop? I lay it on pretty thick.
That's really all I can do for the boy right now, save for keeping an eye on him and re-treating. I would love to make him a muffler/hat sort of thing, but he won't stand for it, so I won't try. I am lucky that he is a gentle giant. I don't know if you can tell how big he is here, but he's a giant boy. In fact,every time I bring him into the house, I am reminded of how big he really is. It's just not something I can tell when he's out in the yard. He takes the touching of his face pretty well and only wiggles a little bit. He'll be coming into the house probably every day for his treatment. He doesn't love it, but he doesn't hate it, either, because he gets treats.
Ritz crackers are the way to a roo's heart.
Now to keep an eye on Peter, just in case this happens to him as well. Luckily his comb and wattles are nowhere near as big, but it can happen to him just the same.
Chickens in the house. What fun!
Oh no, poor Perni. I have to say I've never seen wattles that big on a rooster; they're amazing. I hope the treatment helps.
ReplyDeleteHe is a big boy! Hope the big fellow heals soon...winter has just begun!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for sharing this!
ReplyDeleteI had heard of frostbite on combs but not seen it. It was only 6 degrees out this morning, and I was thinking, they're all fine- they have a foot of insulating straw and pine shavings over a layer of newspaper, but my chickens have a coop lit with a red heatlamp but it's not all that radiant - hanging 1" over the 5-gallon metal water container doesn't keep it from freezing. Now I'll be getting myself out there to check on them post-haste with meds in hand just in case.
Thankfully the Roo is docile like yours... but I hadn't thought of treats, and that will surely help if I need to handle him.
By the way - I found you via the 3rd (old post) Barn Hop on the Prairie Homestead -love it!
I just seen my rooster around 1:50ish PM and immediatlly brought him inside and hes currently inside sleeping on my desk..but i am so scared and worried that he could die..i just put antibiotic cream on him..I was wondering how Pernie is today? so i have an idea. Thank u!
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