Paranoid about frostbite!

[Alaskan]

Oh, and nope, I haven't ever used anything on any combs or wattles.

I am just not a "high input" kind of chicken person. Also, my chickens haven't ever seemed to be that uncomfortable with the frostbit comb and wattles. One of my leghorns got a bad spot on her comb maybe two weeks back and she never skipped a beat, kept on laying too.

Not that I am saying it is good. i was in a great state of unhappiness when I made my last chicken order, and it was the height of stupidity on my part to buy chicks with giant single combs.... And I will NEVER do that again.

 

[gander007]

What kind of chickens do you raise in Alaska ?????

 

[Alaskan]

Well, I live on the coast, so high humidity.....

So I really should only have breeds with tiny combs and wattles.

But, last spring I obviously wasn't thinking (a dog had broken into my coop and killed all of my chickens, over 40, in February) and ordered a mix of breeds, including 5 leghorns.

Stupid of me.

 

[Hokum Coco]

I really should only have breeds with tiny combs and wattles.

The best dual purpose bird I ever heard tell of.
They are a bit hard to obtain.
They are polar bears when it come to the cold.
Some say they are a bit flighty but I disagree with that.
I call white leghorns flight.


They are not the best egg layers but they are the BEST dual purpose bird and can handle cold extremely well.
Check out the link on the 100% Canadian bred Chantecler chicken.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chantecler_(chicken)

Chantecler

A White Chantecler rooster, taken at the Abbey of Notre-Dame du Lac in 1926. Today's Chanteclers have much smaller wattles.​

The Chantecler is a large chicken that lays respectably well and is a good meat producer. Roosters weigh around 9 pounds (3.9 kilos), and hens are 6.5-7.5 pounds (3-3.4 kilos).The breed possess yellow skin and beaks, and lay brown eggs. With plumage that lies tight against the body but has a good deal of fluff, and an exceptionally small cushion comb and wattles, the Chantecler is one of the most cold hardy chickens. They are gentle birds amenable to taming,

 

[Alaskan]

I think if I wanted a breed perfect for this high humidity and cold, it would be the Ameraucana. There is nothing on them to freeze.

I already picked out my breeds for next year, and I keep wondering if I should change my order. I wanted historical breeds, so picked Hamburg, RC brown leghorn, and Dominique. But, all of those have wattles. I don't have big problems with wattles freezing, but I do have some.

 

[gander007]

Ameraucana chickens are great all weather breed now I only say this because I have had them for years but another one
that lay's about the same amount of egg's and 24 months out of the year is the Russian Orloff a chicken used in Siberia
so ya know this one can take the cold very well and not a bad looking chicken ether easy going ........

gander007

 

[RubyMay]

I have three Chantecler pullets and they are such sweet birds. They have not started laying yet, but they don't mind the weather at all. They have pretty much no comb or wattles. They are a rare breed from Quebec, and their history is kind of neat. They are a bit flightier than my Orpington girl, but I would say they are about the same as the wyandottes as far as friendliness goes.

I am hoping to get some wheaten ameraucanas in spring. I was also thinking about getting some Welsummers, but now I am going to look through them all again looking for small combed birds!