Belgian Bearded d'Uccle Bantam winter hardiness?

[KayP]

MPC listed Belgian Bearded d'Uccle Bantams as not being winter hardy. That surprised me. Can any of you awesome experts explain this?

 

[pbjmaker]

I'm not sure why? Mine have done fine here in Iowa where they live in an unheated, mostly uninsulated coop. A couple of the roos have some frostbitten combs but other than that are fine.

 

[ThePolishPrincess]

Our MF d'Uccle is always shaking, (not people friendly), so I'm a little biased, but he does very poorly compared to the others in my flock. He's the only one who refused to leave the safety of the coop in the winter and spends free-ranging time all alone. He doesn't stop moving and is forever shivering, too.

Maybe it's because their combs are so big compared to that little body? My guy has SOME frostbite, but I just think he's too small to stay comfortable. Oh well, maybe if he stopped giving me the death glare I'd have a heart to feel sorry for him.

 

[pbjmaker]

Funny - my d'uccle thinks he's a parrot and any time we go out to the coop he HAS TO ride around on our shoulder. The other two roos are indifferent to people - never mean but not "friendly". Then d'uccle hens on the other hand are very friendly and chatty.

I have seen mine shiver - but then it was -17 out with a -40 windchill...

No one left the coop that day.

 

[ThePolishPrincess]

It was 1 degree out once this winter, but other than that it may be in the teens sometimes, mostly 20s-30s. Our guy is just a baby.

He's our lone d'Uccle. We ordered him striaght run so we took a chance. What a pain in the neck, though. He went after my little brother once, and I had to take care of him with a stick until he stayed away. Then I hatched an egg from my WCBP and his offspring, another roo, became my next nightmare. Still gives me the same ol' death glare his Daddy taught me to know often.