# Frostbite on rooster wattle



## Lizjax (Jan 20, 2018)

My big Black Copper Maran rooster has gotten a little bit of frostbite on his very large wattles They have gotten very swollen and he is having trouble holding his head up and walking. How can we treat this?


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## Latestarter (Jan 20, 2018)

Once the damage has been done, you pretty much have to wait for them to heal. You can take triple antibiotic and GENTLY rub it onto the wattles. This will help protect from additional moisture while also helping to aid in healing. Whatever you do, do NOT use a water based product, and do not rub too hard... moisture and cold temps is what caused the frost bite in the first place, and if you rub too hard, you'll peel the damaged skin right off.  Good luck with your boy. Generally they heal up well, just takes some time and it appears we're going to have non freezing weather for the next week or so, so that will help also.


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## Lizjax (Jan 20, 2018)

Thank you so much, can we donanythingbabout the swelling?


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## Latestarter (Jan 20, 2018)

I had 4 paras of info typed & F!#&%^g windows 10 decided I needed an update restart & did so without notice or permission, deleting everything  <sigh> OK, again...

Typically you apply cold compresses to decrease swelling... Not a good idea in a frostbite case. The triple antibiotic will help in this regard to some degree. As long as the wattles don't start bleeding. If they start bleeding I would recommend Blukote spray before the triple antibiotic to stop the bleeding and camouflage it so other birds don't peck at it and make things worse, followed with triple antibiotic to help keep water off & help it heal faster. I've had roos get frostbite on their comb tips. It's only an issue if the area turns black. That means the area has died. It will dry up and slough off. No real negative affect to the birds, they just no longer had comb tips. It's a beauty issue rather than a health/function issue. They didn't seem to care one way or the other once it had healed. They just went on being chickens...

How are you watering your birds? If in some sort of container where the birds have to lower their heads (and dip their wattles in the water), you may want to change to nipples, in an elevated container (where they don't have to lower their heads much to drink). I really prefer the horizontal type to the vertical type. When they dip their wattles then start scratching and pecking at the ground, if the ground is covered in snow/ice or is frozen, this helps the wet wattles freeze. Generally their heated blood flow will prevent this unless the temp is at or just below freezing. Looks like the next week or so is supposed to be above freezing.

You could mash up/powder a baby or low dose aspirin and mix it with scrambled eggs (after cooking/cooled, not before) or add to any "moist" food source he'll eat. This will help ease pain, lower swelling, and thin his blood a bit allowing for better circulation. If you must use regular strength aspirin, use a 1/4 or maybe 1/2, ground up/powdered. I personally don't use any of the other "pain relievers" such as ibuprofen, aleve, etc. Just aspirin.

Let us know how it goes down the road please.


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## Lizjax (Jan 20, 2018)

Ok fantastic. Thank you so much. They have an open water source they drink from. His wattles are very large so I'm assuming that's how it happened. I'm going to bring him in the house, the other rooster are picking on him right now because he's weak.


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