Those nice tips on the comb are suceptible and so are the wattles when they get wet in the watercup. Do your best to keep good air exchange, damp air is the real damage doer. On the coldest nites, it MAY help to rub some vaseline into the comb/wattles. Any type comb can be damaged by poor air circulation.

Good tips fancifowl - I never thought of vaseline. You are bang on about the air circulation, I think.

Sheila - I have a barred rock rooster with a similar comb type and we live in Canadian zone 5 (New Brunswick) so I know what you mean about the bitter winters! So far I have had no trouble with frostbite. My roo and hens don't go out much in winter, though. They don't like the snow! Our chicken house is insulated and has a window that I can open for air, but I find just opening the door a couple of times a day gives them plenty of freshness. I do only have a rooster and 6 hens right now, though, so there isn't much moisture buildup anyway. I also provide them supplemental heat when it gets really cold - a heat lamp on a timer. I know they don't need it (have friends that don't use one) but I like to think of them as "cozy" when it's 30 below 0 Celcius :)

Charles sure is a handsome fellow.

You are right, Genny, Charles is gorgeous!

Sheila, I agree with all the above. Damp followed by frigid temperatures can cause problems, particularly for roos with large single combs. Losing the points of the comb is not a serious matter, but severe frostbite can make them pretty miserable (and temporarily sterile until they heal).

You will perhaps recall that I lost my rooster Napoleon last winter from complications due to severe frostbite. It wasn't a severe winter, but we did have one cold snap that followed sharply on a mild damp spell. In retrospect, I think it was having the geese under the same roof that boosted the dampness to dangerous levels. They do splash water about. One of the reasons that we built a new smaller chicken house for the Dominiques.

Vaseline will certainly help protect Charles' comb and wattles but it has to be applied fairly regularly. Massaging it in well helps too because it increases the blood flow to the area. Fortunately, most chickens like to have their wattles rubbed. It's a good way to calm an upset broody or a bird that you need to doctor in some way.

Another thing that can help is to make a roost hood. This is just a simple canopy that is suspended over the roost, high enough to give the birds room to roost but low enough to trap some of the rising body heat. It is most effective if it is lined with a reflective material such as that foil-covered bubble wrap insulation or perhaps just a cheap space blanket. If you need more info, I'll be glad to elaborate.

Maggie, you bring up a very good point and concern, I currently have my four ducks in the same coop with Charles and my big girl hens. I have noticed I need to clean the coop about 3x as much as I usually do despite the fact that they are outside all day. I attribute this to the ducks, we have a large cement mixing tub covered w/hardware cloth that we use as a platform to set the water on. This set up helps to catch the water that the ducks splash but the coop still gets stinky very quickly. The water that collects at the bottom of the basin is very yucky!

I like the canopy idea, not sure how I'd go about making one though? the coop has a vaulted or open ceiling but is insulated, there are 15 chickens in the 8x8 house which should generate some decent body heat.

The only real solution it seems is to get the ducks their own place before winter sets in. they are the first ones out of the coop in the morning and the last to go in (by prompting) at night. I'd like to build them a house w/out the water inside to keep it dryer.

-Sheila

Sheila, I had the same problem when I moved my ducks/geese to the coop. The water and the mess were too much...so I took the water out of the coop. I read *somewhere* that the duck don't need the water at night in the coop, AS LONG AS THERE IS NO ACCESS TO FOOD. My flocks eat outside, drink outside, and go in at night to sleep. I've been doing it like this now for about 5 months and it works perfectly. Could you move your waterer to the run, outside of the actual coop?

Maggie, when I first started realding your post about the roost hoods, my first thought was that you meant a hood for each chicken!!! I was cracking up...getting ready to ask you for pics of THAT!

Suzie

Hi Suzie, I LOVE your idea, I'm wondering exactly how long they can go w/out water and food. They get locked up around 8 p.m. and I let them out at 10 a.m. so that's kind of a long stretch. I wait that late in the a.m. because of my Mr. noisy "Charles".

What do you think the max time (w/out food+water) overnight could be?

Thanks,
Sheila

The chickens aren't going to get off their roosts until it is light enough to see, so they don't eat or drink during the night.

Sheila, Dave Holderread states that ducks can go for 8 to 10 hours per night without water as long as they don't have access to feed.

Hey Sheila...

Sorry it's taken me so long to get back...we've been out of town. We close ours up at dark, so around 7:30pm, and let everyone out anywhere from 7:15am to 10:30 am. They've done just fine...and that about 12 hrs. or so...

I don't like to let them out too early in the morning because of predators...seems like early morning they may still be hunting? Maybe I'm wrong...anyone know?

Sheila, I thought you kept yours in a run that was attached to the coop...no? Because the ducks could then go in and out as they pleased, to the waterer, back to the dark. So if that IS the case, you also close off the run at night? Or do you let them all out to free-range during the day?

Hi Suzie,
well my chicken coop situation is a little different this year, we doubled the size of the existing coop by building out the back (the front remains exactly the same). Both coops share a sliding door inside so you can walk from one to the other front to back. I keep the door shut to separate two groups of chickens, my big girls and my new girls hatched this spring. My new girls were flying over our fencing when they were free ranging so they are now in the original coop/run confined. My big girls are in the back coop with Charles and the ducks, they free range during the day and get locked up at night. The new back coop is sound insulated to keep the crowing muffled in the morning.

Sorry if this sounds confusing. After I realized I was addicted I just had to increase my flock and expand the coop.

The ducks really need to be out back free ranging during the day, they are messy and do really well in the yard they are in, I just need to get dh to make some sort of structure for them, I think it's time they had their own pad! I have no idea how they will do in the snow? I have some electric water buckets I hope to use for them this winter, we have to lug water from inside the house because the hoses freeze.

-Sheila

Hi guys, been so busy lately I haven't had much time to get over here.

My ideal solution for the geese (or ducks) would be for them to have separate quarters. Removing the food and water overnight is also a way of managing the mess. I did think of a solution, a compromise, that I think would work, but I doubt we will get it implemented for this winter.

My idea is to build a sort of secure mini-run just outside the goose pop-hole. Really secure... even rodent-proof. It would have a gate to the larger run and a divided leather or canvas curtain over the pop-hole to cut the drafts. I would roof it too to help keep the snow out. The geese could then go out for food or water - they don't mind the dark - and whatever critters are in the other half of the building (rabbits this year) would not be subjected to so much dampness indoors.

I have a buyer for my five mixed-breed young geese who will be ready for them in about a month. So I will only have four in there this winter, but even four can spray a lot of water around. I will have to monitor the situation closely to make sure the rabbits are not suffering respiratory problems as a result.

No Suzie, a roost hood is NOT a nightcap for roosters. LOL. I can just see the chickens lined up on the roost with matching knitted toques. Red, with pom-poms would be nice, I think.

Sheila, I am going to post a link for you. It is for a range brooder, not a roost hood, but the construction would be similar and the purpose - keeping birds warm - is the same. You would need more of a long rectangle than a square and hung over the roost rather than over the ground, but I think the picture will give you the idea. And it's an interesting site anyway.

Nice to be back here. I missed you guys!

Here is a link that might be useful: Range brooder to modify as a roost hood.