Are These Breeds Cold Hardy?

BaileyMChicks

Songster
May 8, 2015
585
41
111
Wisconsin
Hi I'm not sure if this was the best place to post this, but out of all of the categories I think it fit this one the best. Anyways, I was going to get old English game bantams, D'Uccle bantams, Japanese bantams, and polish, but before I do I would like to know how cold hardy these breeds are. I live in northern Wisconsin and sometimes it can get down to -40 with windchill! So it gets very cold here. My coop stays rather warm and last year it got down to -50 with windchill(not in the coop, but outside ), but all the chickens were fine. The roosters had slight frostbite on the tips of their combs, but that was it. The coop stays warm and there is ventilation, but the freezing wind can't get in. So yeah...I'd like to know how cold hardy they are, and I can put bag balm on their combs too. It gets below freezing in the coop, but not deathly cold. I could always put a heat lamp in there too. Thanks

I hope all of this made sense...

Oh and also, the hatchery I'm ordering these from only sells these breeds as straight run, so before I get the 30 chicks I'm going to build a 'bachelor pen' of sorts, so if I end up with wayyy to many roosters, will they fight if kept together?

And how heat tolerant are these breeds also? It doesn't generally get over 85 degrees here, and even then its only for a very short time.

And how broody are these breeds? Like, as much as a silkie or Cochin banty, or not very much at all? I know it depends on the bird, but normally how broody is the breed? I heard they were fairly broody and good mothers, but....
 
Breed discussions would likely be a better forum than emergencies for this post.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/14/general-breed-discussions-faq

That said, consider where a breed originated to determine its hardiness.
D'uccles are from Belgium, so they're cold hardy.
Old English games are from England, so they're hardy.
Polish are from western Europe and developed in the 1600s or earlier so hardy
Japanese are from Japan so possibly less hardy.

All but the Polish are tend to be very broody.

Wind chill doesn't matter till the birds go outside.
 

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