My dear hubby just bought me 6 laying hens and a rooster 2 nights ago! These came from the director of the local 4-H group and all are very healthy. Except for one. (always that one, isn't there!?) She is a Buff Minorca and she has a large comb, but, it is tinged with purple...I was always in the inclination that purple combs were the sign of heart problems. She is only 10 months old. Her other 2 siblings look fine. She eats and drinks. No cough or weeping eyes. No running poops. Should I worry? Should I worm her? Any clues here would be greatly appreciated.

Okay, the other thing is, being as I am recently transplanted from Florida to Flagstaff...What do I do for chickens in sub zero weather?? They are in an enclosed hen house. It has one window (high up) that stays open (has chicken wire on it). I close their little 'hop out' door in the evening or in inclement weather. I give them warm water twice a day, sometimes with vinegar (cider) in it, and sometimes with a little molasses (left over from the goats). Do I need to put a light in there for warmth? How cold is too cold? If it helps any, I have a pair of brown leghorns, three Buff Minorcas, and a mom/pop White Orpington. Thankyou for your advice in advance, Blessings, Sissy

Ps...I keep teasing my hubby that I am going to make them little chickie booties and coats!! He thinks I am serious!! would be funny if someone would suggest that on the forum for him to read !!

-- sissy sylvester-barth (jerreleene@hotmail.com), December 13, 2000

Answers

I don't know if your chicken is sick, sounds like she's fine if she has no symptoms but I don't really know. My chickens do OK in the cold with no heat source, but some combs/wattles have been lost to frostbite in below zero weather. Aparently then they don't do OK if they're getting frost bit, eh? Either way, they're chickens, not pets here and if they are in pain we kill them. This is sounding worse and worse when I really just wanted to relay a funny story......

My parents gave all our chickens away when they moved. The lady that took them grew concerned when they molted and took them to the vet. After learning the "problem", she immediately knitted all of them coats, which they all had to wear until their feathers came back. She also hung curtains inside the coop on the windows to "liven it up for the hens". Each hen had her own nesting box with her name on it.

After this lady, nothing you do for your chickens will seem wierd.

-- Julie (Julieamc@excite.com), December 13, 2000.

When I was 14 years old, I went out to care for my poultry (bantams,pheasants, pigeons, and ducks) on Christmas morning and it was -45F. Our animals survived without supplemental heat, but they were definitely NOT happy with this, nor do I recommend it. They got warm water twice a day as well, and had a house in a semi-heated shed with my dad's hunting dog, so it wasn't quite so frigid. Our rooster had a large comb (as opposed to the hens who had little ones and rose combs) and his turned quite purple from the cold every winter, but recovered in the summer.

My house was insulated and I closed the turn-out door every night (didn't open it on really bad days -- like Christmas!!). I am sure if I'd known to supply more heat that they would have been far happier. Friends in the same climate used to put a 100 watt light bulb in their chicken's house in frigid weather, enclosed in an empty large tomato juice can so that it supplied heat without artificial light at night. They seemed to like it lots.

-- Julie Froelich (firefly1@nnex.net), December 14, 2000.

We've had chickens survive seventy degrees below zero in an unheated shed in Alaska, but some did lose combs and toes. I recommend for cold weather some of the rose-combed birds, like the Wyandottes, or ones with no visible comb, like the Polish (though large-bodied birds will handle really cold weather better). Feathers on the feet don't seem to help much if any, as we had both feather-footed and bare- footed birds lose toes. However, they did continue to lay, and seemed to recover in the spring and did just fine. Geese and ducks are hardier, as long as they don't sit in their water and freeze down, as we had one goose do. We did, however, lose our buck goat that winter, due to his urinating on his front legs and beard -- if he would've stayed dry, he'd've been fine (all the does did fine), but being wet in temperatures that cold is a recipe for disaster. We had friends with two underground barns, where water never froze, and their buck did well, so that is what our plans are for next winter, when we will again have a buck to winter over.

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), December 14, 2000.

We live in Northern Maine. Sometimes-40 & then windchill. Our chickens are happy in an un heated coop. I kept the winter space small and the roost high and no drafts. Some frostbite on rooster combs and 1 toe missing last winter. 50 plus chickens none lost from cold yet!

-- Cecilie McKee (Cecilie36@hotmail.com), December 14, 2000.

== My parents gave all our chickens away when they moved. The lady that took them grew concerned when they molted and took them to the vet. After learning the "problem", she immediately knitted all of them coats, which they all had to wear until their feathers came back. She also hung curtains inside the coop on the windows to "liven it up for the hens". Each hen had her own nesting box with her name on it. ==

Was that lady's name Martha Stewart?!!! -LOL-

-- ~Rogo (rogo2020@yahoo.com), December 18, 2000.

I make miniature dolls/dollhouses. I recently created "Chez Josephine" Baker Cabaret - circa 1927 roombox. The menu at her cabaret included chitlins, fried chicken, rooster combs, collard greens, blackeyed-peas, and cornbread. I am able to recreate tiny replicas of all the dishes, except "rooster combs." Please, does anyone know how they would have been prepared and served?

-- Nancy Faye Roach (murbert@webtv.net), March 01, 2002.