Advice re Vaseline please

[karen7609]

Hi. I read somewhere that when it gets really cold you need to put Vaseline on the girls' combs for protection from the frost. Is this so?
I have 7 beautiful ex batts and this is my first winter with them
Thank you
Karen

[chookmike]

Hello Karen

I think all the experienced laners must be wrapping pressies tonight so I'll have a go for you. This is only our second winter so we aren't much further ahead of you. Last winter was pretty severe even here in Hertfordshire and as a softie animal lover I was constantly worried about the hens up there in the cold. You must just accept that they will be fine in all but conditions which are almost unheard of in the UK.

Temp of the hen house is almost irrelevant provided it is draft free, or as close as possible - worth having a good look and even taping up any gaps due to a bit of wood rot or something like that. I do not mean air-tight, rather bad draft-free. The other even more important thing is liquid water - iced over water is of no use to them although you will see them eat frost off the wire and snow off the ground. If you have to change the water every few hours then that's what you have to do. Many keepers won't have a water supply in the hen house due to spillages but we keep a good sized pail of water in there with a very large stone in it and they can't pull it over. Their heat in the house gives the water a chance of staying liquid and as they are not waking up until 7.45 at the moment - maybe 7.15 in the depths of February you can get up there to see to the frozen water before it is an issue.

They'll go back in the house in sideways rain which cheats our roofing, but other than that they'll stand in freezing mud all day without a care - rather more happily than I did on the rugby pitch at school.

Their combs would be protected from frost bite by Vaseline just as explorers used whale fat and stuff but it would have to be extremely, extremely cold I imagine. Wind chill is the killer with frost bite I think, so back to a ventilated but not drafty house. Even enemy hens get chummy when they need a warm body to snuggle up with.

Perhaps take care as the number of consecutive days of freezing weather continues - it wears every warm blooded creature down. And feed them lots of good carbs for slow energy release, protein for maintenance and forget most of the greens and stuff except for fun.

I would have given them beef casserole and dumplings some days last winter but that's a no-no. So I had it.

They'll be fine. Look out for them though.

Cheers

Frankly, the chances of my getting Vaseline on that-lot's combs and still get out to work is about nil.

[karen7609]

Chookmike, thank you so much for this. Youve been a great help. Much appreciated
Karen

[davina112]

I put Vaseline on my chooks when it gets really cold, haven't done so thus winter though, as yet. If needed I wait until they are roosting and then take them out one at a time, apply the Vaseline and then put them back.

[Mo]

I wait till they are quietly roosting if I want to catch mine, too. The timing is critical if you haven't got 10 hands (to hold torch, hold hen, do whatever) - it needs to be light enough to see that it's the hen you wanted. I've made that mistake before now.

[sandy]

It really does have to be bitterly cold for their combs to get frostbite. I have out it on once a few years ago but then it wont hurt to have a preventive if the temperature does drop.

[little brown hen]

Calendular cream was recommended to me by my vet. Its antiseptic, and one of my hens had frost bite. Her comb healed completely. Vaseline is good for leg mites too.