I'm really enjoying reading this thread. We're in southern WI and every year we tend to get down to -40* F. Yep that's right and while often that includes wind chill it isn't uncommon to see that without wind chill.
Whatever birds you get the most important thing is going to be having a well ventilated but draft free coop. Insulation is your friend if your worried about your flock but most breeds do okay just being able to be dry and out of the wind. Our main coop and the one we keep the entire flock in during winter is a 100+ year old 2 room milk house. It's wonderful. Make sure your future coop is rodent proof. Our milk house coop has a concrete foundation that goes up a foot all the way around. Last winter rats chewed through and got inside.
We have a large mixed flock and a large coop... Or three coops hahaha. This year we added a smaller coop with attached run, which is still a pretty good size. We also have a tin covered grow out run in an outbuilding and this fall built a tractor for our coturnix quail to get sunshine and forage. Quail may be a great option for you if you've never tried quail eggs they are said to be hypoallergenic. Quail are extremely quick to mature so you could have a fast turn around for putting them in the freezer but they don't go broody.
Okay back on point. Our mixed flock contains or has contained many of the breeds you have mentioned and those others have mentioned as well. Before I list some of them though I just want to say that we do hatch out many mutts in addition to pure breed chicks and some of my favorites are mutts. We also grow out and eat all of our spare cockerals and roos. We have approximately 30+ that will be going in the freezer soon. While it's not a guarantee many of our mixed cockerals grow faster and or larger than our pure breeds due to hybrid vigor. We have had only small problems with frost bite in the past and only to combs and wattles.
We tend towards the cold hardy smaller combed breeds but I also take into account their heat hardiness as we also tend to break 100* F in the summer. With up to 100 yes 100% humidity! We have to swim to the coop to do chores some days lol or at least it feels like it.
Some of the breeds we have include English and American Orpingtons, silkies, cream legbars, oegbs, EEs, wyandottes, brahmas, Delaware, hybrid brown layers, a sebright, and untested in our winter, we have some breeds we added this year Dominique and Buckeyes.
I love our cream legbars but they do have large combs prone to frost bite. The wyandottes are great but did have some mild frostbite year before last. Orpingtons are great but the roos have some larger combs. The brahmas are great pea combs, not big layers, good meat value, slow growers, but do have feathered feet. We have not had any trouble with our feather footed birds before except some mild scaley leg mites which any bird can get. Interestingly, although we've had lice twice in our flock I've never seen any on our silkies when we have checked and treated them all. Yes silkies are small and some people say they're bad foragers or bad in cold. We've never had that problem and some(not all) but some of our silkies are some of our best foragers. Yes their crests can be a problem but they can be trimmed or some strains may have little or no crest.
We did have a bantam Cochin but I don't believe she was pure. She was sweet and broody but never managed to hatch any eggs.
Some of my broodiest birds besides the silkies have been my Orpingtons. They're great! My oegb are also determined broodies but they're a very small breed and can't cover many eggs at a time. I have read if you plan to have a mixed flock to stay clear of large fowl game birds bc they are more aggressive, but that's only what I've read.
Will check back later if I think of anything else.
Whatever birds you get the most important thing is going to be having a well ventilated but draft free coop. Insulation is your friend if your worried about your flock but most breeds do okay just being able to be dry and out of the wind. Our main coop and the one we keep the entire flock in during winter is a 100+ year old 2 room milk house. It's wonderful. Make sure your future coop is rodent proof. Our milk house coop has a concrete foundation that goes up a foot all the way around. Last winter rats chewed through and got inside.
We have a large mixed flock and a large coop... Or three coops hahaha. This year we added a smaller coop with attached run, which is still a pretty good size. We also have a tin covered grow out run in an outbuilding and this fall built a tractor for our coturnix quail to get sunshine and forage. Quail may be a great option for you if you've never tried quail eggs they are said to be hypoallergenic. Quail are extremely quick to mature so you could have a fast turn around for putting them in the freezer but they don't go broody.
Okay back on point. Our mixed flock contains or has contained many of the breeds you have mentioned and those others have mentioned as well. Before I list some of them though I just want to say that we do hatch out many mutts in addition to pure breed chicks and some of my favorites are mutts. We also grow out and eat all of our spare cockerals and roos. We have approximately 30+ that will be going in the freezer soon. While it's not a guarantee many of our mixed cockerals grow faster and or larger than our pure breeds due to hybrid vigor. We have had only small problems with frost bite in the past and only to combs and wattles.
We tend towards the cold hardy smaller combed breeds but I also take into account their heat hardiness as we also tend to break 100* F in the summer. With up to 100 yes 100% humidity! We have to swim to the coop to do chores some days lol or at least it feels like it.
Some of the breeds we have include English and American Orpingtons, silkies, cream legbars, oegbs, EEs, wyandottes, brahmas, Delaware, hybrid brown layers, a sebright, and untested in our winter, we have some breeds we added this year Dominique and Buckeyes.
I love our cream legbars but they do have large combs prone to frost bite. The wyandottes are great but did have some mild frostbite year before last. Orpingtons are great but the roos have some larger combs. The brahmas are great pea combs, not big layers, good meat value, slow growers, but do have feathered feet. We have not had any trouble with our feather footed birds before except some mild scaley leg mites which any bird can get. Interestingly, although we've had lice twice in our flock I've never seen any on our silkies when we have checked and treated them all. Yes silkies are small and some people say they're bad foragers or bad in cold. We've never had that problem and some(not all) but some of our silkies are some of our best foragers. Yes their crests can be a problem but they can be trimmed or some strains may have little or no crest.
We did have a bantam Cochin but I don't believe she was pure. She was sweet and broody but never managed to hatch any eggs.
Some of my broodiest birds besides the silkies have been my Orpingtons. They're great! My oegb are also determined broodies but they're a very small breed and can't cover many eggs at a time. I have read if you plan to have a mixed flock to stay clear of large fowl game birds bc they are more aggressive, but that's only what I've read.
Will check back later if I think of anything else.
