Cold hardy birds?

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catsew

catsew

Chirping
8 Years
Jun 14, 2011
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Is there somewhere on here that will tell you what kind of breeds are good for cold weather? Or personal experience.

How much time and/or how old do they need to be before winter sets in to survive? We can do a heat lamp if need be, but the coop will not be insulated.
I just didn't know if there was still enough time in say another month to start chicks again or order some, or if I should just wait until next year.
 
Rhode island reds.. red stars, black stars and new Hampshire.. are kept with no troubles in ely mn and we get down to 60 below zero here a lot.
 
I'm in Alaska and have Rhode Island Reds, EE, White Leghorns, Silver Wynottes, Anaconas, Red Star, Black Star, Buff Rocks, Barred Rocks. They all do fine here, all we do in the deep cold months is put in a 250 watt red bulb. Simulates daylight for them and keeps it above freezing. Only had the water in the coop freeze once last year, but it was about 40 below when that happened. For the most part, between the hens and the light, it stayed about 40 above in there.

Best bet is to look for hens that have small combs and waddles, they don't get frostbitten like the leghorns can do. We wipe vaseline on the Leghorns in the deep cold to prevent them from freezing. They tend to go outside, look around and go back in.
 
Forgot to mention the chick time. I've got 240 in my incubator right now and they'll be fully feathered before we have any snow here. I'm going to start in mid March next year and do about 100 a week for the first few weeks.
I let my chicks feather out before I set them outside, some at 6 weeks, some at 8. So, if you got chicks this week, they could be outside and manage fine in Mid September. We don't get snow till late October so I'll have all these out running around before the snow flies.
 
Thanks. Well I guess unless some more hatch in the next few days, we'll wait until next year. Unless some place could ship them here by next week, I'd have to wait another month for a new batch to hatch. We sometimes don't get actual snow here until January and sometimes we have 4 feet in October.

I only looked at 2 places that sell the chicks and they had a minimum of 15. Do they all have higher limits or will there be someplace I can order just a handful of chicks?
 
Brahmas and cochins are cold-weather birds. The feathering on the outsides of the legs and feet help keep them warm at night and the small combs and wattles were developed to help prevent frostbite.
 

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