We have silkies up here in Wisconsin. They free-range when it's 20F or higher unless it's windy. My hubby plows them paths in the snow and we lay logs for them to jump up on along the way and sprinkle a few treats if they make it that far.
They are more hardy than most think; however, we baby ours. We do heat their coop to 35-40F all winter. That's also for me, so their water (5-gallon DYI nipple bucket) and eggs don't freeze. I refused to haul water in the winter.
We use a thin oil-filled radiant heater (NewAir) but there are many such safe heaters for coops if that's the route you go.
Another consideration about silkies is they are the most likely breed of chicken to become vitamin deficient, meaning, prone to wry neck, neurological issues, etc. We not only feed them good layer feed, but supplement with Rooster Booster (vitamins/minerals) granules in their feed, and I ferment grains and grow wheat sprouts for them. We've never had an issue here in 7 years.
