bantam cold tolerance

[Oscgrr]

I hope this isn't a stupid question. Right now I have eleven happy and healthy hens. They live in a coop in the back yard with no heat source whatsoever, well... except each other. They roost close together at night. It doesn't get very cold here, teens often with the occasional string of single digits. I admit that I was a little anxious approaching the winter not knowing how they'd take the cold but I was reassured by the number of Alaskan BYC members that don't heat their coops.

I'm thinking of getting bantams this spring. I'm going to build a larger coop for my existing flock and I'm thinking of putting bantams into the old one. Are they, bantams, as cold hardy as the full size variety? I'm sure that common sense come into play here with certain breeds not being fit for the cold any more than the full size versions but I'm curious about the bantam variety of cochins and brahmas and the like.

 

[Frannabelle]

I have 14 Bantams here in Michigan, they all did remarkable well with the winter cold. Even my tiny little D'uccle hen did not seem to have a problem. On some of the really brutal days, a few of them would stay inside the coop house, but usually they were out and under my deck.
I think you'll do fine!

 

[Zoomom]

I have a Silkie and two Belgian D'Uccle...they are all fine in their coop. It's not heated. All I do is close the windows and make sure they get fresh water every morning and night so they don't dehydrate. They also get BOSS and scratch at night.
This is the second winter for the Silkie - last year she had a silver laced Polish friend to snuggle up with but I had to put hthe Polish down over the summer, so now the Silkie sleeps alone at one end of the coop and the other two sleep snuggled at the other end. On really cold nights, the Silkie sleeps in the nest box.
We have had minus 18 Celcius this winter some days...

 

[nuttyredhead]

I have 11 chickens, 10 are bantams and so far they have been just fine! I have no heat in the coop, it has gotten down to 16 in there. My coop is 8 X 16. My rooster has a bit of frostbite, but nothing severe. They actually meet me at the door in the morning waiting to go out!!!!

 

[gritsar]

Your winters are much more severe than ours of course, but...
I just wanted to say that I have an accidental bantam brahma in with my LF brahma and she does fine. Also, in my other coop, I have two silkies in there and they do fine.
We get down to the teens in winter, sometimes single digits or lower.

 

[elmo]

Seramas are a bantam breed known for sensitivity to cold.

 

[mmaddie's mom]

I have nothing but Banties (right now only 2 roos... long story including a mink and a good chicken friend who took my girls for the rest of the Winter until coop is secured) and even with just the 2, they did fine... even below 0.

With the exception of Seabrights... they seem a bit more fragile.

 

[Oscgrr]

Thank you for the replies. Operation bantam is a go. I toyed with the idea of maybe building a nice big quail set-up but I read somewhere that they don't take the winter very well and I'm not going to heat the out-doors so I turned my attention back to chickens, bantams. I couldn't find anywhere that mentioned whether or not they were cold hardy and you folks have set my mind at ease.
Thanks again.

 

[clairabean]

We only have banties. I live in BC, where we get cold snaps of -30*C. No heat in the coop, but it is insulated. They all did great.

 

[Thomas Lamprogiorgos]

Rosecomb English bantams are the best choice for you.