Open Contest BYC Poultry Caption Contest Photo Submission - Thread #12

Is Poppy a d’Uccle? Love her colouring!
She is! Mille Fleur. It's absolutely stunning in person and very sharply defined. @BDutch said she looks like a sand worm from Arakis, and that would not be inaccurate. Here she is, beached in her sand box:

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She is! Mille Fleur. It's absolutely stunning in person and very sharply defined. @BDutch said she looks like a sand worm from Arakis, and that would not be inaccurate. Here she is, beached in her sand box:

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Gosh she’s a beauty!

How cold hardy are they? I am reading conflicting info some say cold hardy but not so much with heat… fluffy feathers it seems.

Also reading they are ok free ranging and that they are good fliers - my OEGB bantams are hard to keep in anywhere especially the Roo (good thing he’s cute!).

Would you say they are ok to free range?
 
Gosh she’s a beauty!

How cold hardy are they? I am reading conflicting info some say cold hardy but not so much with heat… fluffy feathers it seems.

Also reading they are ok free ranging and that they are good fliers - my OEGB bantams are hard to keep in anywhere especially the Roo (good thing he’s cute!).

Would you say they are ok to free range?
So this will be our first winter, and Poppy's only companions are two Pekins. I did get some reassurance from BYC that she would be fine. She doesn't have tons of down, but her legs are feathered enough to look like pants, and her comb is on the smaller side (no wattles either) to minimize frostbite. I'm on the fence with giving them a small amount of heat overhead, like one of those chick heating pads meant for brooding. Nothing that would change the overall temp of the coop, but something to take the edge off.

She is the only bantam that I would trust free ranging. The Pekins couldn't outrun a vole, but Poppy is a little roadrunner with big flight capacity. Someone said their d'Uccle cleared the roof of their house! I will say she's done really well living in confinement (so far, knock on wood). The breed has a really nice disposition! Very friendly.

Edited to add: We're zone 5. Temps can get down to -20F on a bad night, but my coop and run are weather/wind protected, and I have a basement brooder the bantams can use if things get too rough. I'm very nervous and want them to do well!
 

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