See the black stripes in Adolf’s wattle (the tissue hanging from underneath his mouth)? That’s pretty much third degree frostbite. It means the tissue is dead and is very painful. It’s interesting how the black runs through the middle of his wattle, not the ends. One of his girlfriends looks on with concern.

Plumpy’s comb is tinged with black.

All four of our roosters are messed up. One is in the shop — literally, he’s in Jake’s shop nursing an injured leg — and the remaining three have frostbite on their combs and wattles.

This is very upsetting and deeply concerning.

I’m upset because I ignored my own intuition. I repeatedly ignored my inner voice telling me over and over again, the uninsulated Hen Hut isn’t warm enough for a winter as cold as this one. Instead, I kept listening to all the farmers around here who kept saying, “They’re birds. Birds don’t need special attention. They’re fine. They’ll be alright. They can withstand really cold temperatures.” And lo and behold, the birds are not alright.

See, this is what happens when you assume others know more than you.   This is what happens when you let others do your thinking for you.  You get roosters with FROSTBITE.

Why just the roosters, you ask? Because hens are smart enough to tuck their heads into each others wings for warmth, protecting their combs and wattles. Roosters do no such thing….probably because they think tucking into each other makes them gay! They suffer all night long, and now all three of the dumbies have combs tinged in black. BLACK. That means the tissue is dead. This is a very painful condition! Adolf kept shaking his head spastically all day, trying in his helpless chicken way to alleviate the pain that I’m sure is burning through the tissue hanging from his cheeks. And now we’re faced with the ghastly decision, do we amputate the infected parts? Or do we let them shrivel up and fall off on their own and HOPE that gangrene doesn’t set in?

In case you’re thinking about getting chickens, know that raising chickens is not, it turns out, all fun and games. (I’ll prove it with photos tomorrow.)

I actually feel kind of sick right now.