Cochins or Orpingtons? VS The Freezing Cold

HamsterJenn

Hatching
Jan 17, 2018
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2
7
I'm in Ontario Canada, and it routinely gets quite cold here. I would like to get some Cochins but I am really not sure they can handle the cold. I have some booted banties, and they didn't handle it well last year at all. They all lost the tips of their toes, and I think it was because the feathers hold the wet too much and they got frostbite. They are free ranged, their choice, but the little booted guys did a lot of high stepping, shaking their feet, and generally acting like their feet hurt.

If I do get Cochins, I don't want them to be unhappy in the cold and suffer the same sort of damage. They are my top pick of breeds to get, though, so if I can get it to work I would like to. My second choice are Orpingtons. (Silver laced either way!)

What say all of you with Cochins? How cold tolerant are they? Can they handle sub freezing outside temperatures, at least as well as a naked-leg breed (my mixed breeds do fine, the barred ones and the rhode reds).
 
Welcome to BYC! I don't know if I qualify to give advice to someone so much farther north, I am in SW Missouri. But I have a bantam Cochin cockerel named Carl, and he has been out in -8º F and has not gotten any frostbite. He is low in the pecking order, and the girls make him go outside every day all day long in the cold and now in the snow. I feel he has a snowsuit that keeps him warm. Today it finally got above 20º F. Some of the leghorns have frostbite on their combs, but not Carl.
a snowy pic.jpg

cochin.jpg
 
Welcome to BYC! I don't know if I qualify to give advice to someone so much farther north, I am in SW Missouri. But I have a bantam Cochin cockerel named Carl, and he has been out in -8º F and has not gotten any frostbite. He is low in the pecking order, and the girls make him go outside every day all day long in the cold and now in the snow. I feel he has a snowsuit that keeps him warm. Today it finally got above 20º F. Some of the leghorns have frostbite on their combs, but not Carl.
View attachment 1239422
View attachment 1239424
Carl is so cute! I love him. :love
I have a special affinity for Cochins, especially the boys. *sigh*
 

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