Dominique vs Barred Rock, which is better?

[TeamChaos]

I'm in WI and this is my first winter with chickens. I have barred rocks and dominiques- 2 of each, in addition to a rhode is. red, buff orpington, 2 cochins, 2 generic white roos, 2 black jersey giants and 7 EEs. As far as frostbite goes, one of my little cochins has a nasty looking point on her comb even though she doesn't have the most fleshy face in the flock. My dominiques have really tiny, tiny combs while my barred rocks have pretty showy combs and wattles but no problems in the cold.
As far as personality goes- my dominiques are total lap chickens. I'm embarrassed to say I didn't dote on them but they definitely like people and are friendly little ladies. My barred rocks aren't flighty by any means, but the dominiques are second only to my buff orp. for not only tolerating humans but choosing to interact with them. The differences in the dominique and barred rock, in my limited experience, are as follows: dominiques have very small combs and no wattles to speak of, their eyes are bigger and more googly (kind of like light green fish eyes, in a cute way) and they talk a lot more than any of my ladies; when the weather was a little more hospitable, both kinds were laying every day. The barred rocks are more independent and are a lot more confident foraging without a whole flock around them.

Both have been a delight!

 

[FrancesR]

I'm just wondering...why not think about a cuckoo marans? You still get the stripey pattern, but the dark eggs are very pretty. I have cuckoo marans and barred rocks; both seem pretty mellow.

 

[wood&feathers]

I don't know how much rosecomb vs single comb matters in hens. On cold nights mine seem to just tuck their heads away under their wings for the night.

Just remember ol' Craney Crow askin' Brer Fox "...would you mind tellin me de reason why all de birds in dis swamp takes der heads off when dey go ter bed?" I think in the swamp they do it to keep the skeeters from bleeding them dry, but it keeps them warm in the cold too! I've never seen the rooster do this - he keeps watch.

I do think frostbite on their combs hurts. I have put vaseline on combs of 3 different roosters and they all bliss out like there is plenty of sensation there. My main roo came to us with all his points gone to frostbite and pecking, and vaseline really seemed to tame the "mean rooster" we were given.

 

[Chick_In_The_Burbs]

Quote:
I love the look of marans and it would be awesome to get the chocolate eggs but I am concerned that they'd get frostbite. They look to have fairly tall combs and fair sized waddles.

 

[JustAChickenLittle&More]

If you put a light in the pen (heat Lamp) would that make any difference in how well the cold would be tolerated as well as have any bearing on the frostbitten combs?

 

[briteday]

We live at 5500' elevation in the Sierra Nevada foothills. I think we are pretty much on par with the same weather as the OP. I've had RIR, delawares, EE's, RIW, barred rocks, sussex, sexlinks, australorps, Jersey giants, cochins, silkies, ...friends have orpingtons and tons of banties. Everyone does just fine with no insulation in the coops and no heat source for the winter. The only breed that seems not to do so well are the seabrights, maybe needing supplemental heat. My RIR roo has gotten some very minor frostbite teeny spots on his comb on a rare occasion. But even then it disappears when the weather warms up.

 

[Chick_In_The_Burbs]

Quote:
Sound pretty close... We're at about 6500' here and the basic weather is likely the same. Thanks! I'll add the Sussex back to the list for debate and DH seems to like the Light Brahmas more than the Australorp. I just worry, probably too much but I just don't want to get a breed out here that won't thrive.

I'm going to try and buy from local breeders so that may end up shifting our list around a bit. I figure if I stick to local breeders I can't go too wrong. I still can't find anyone listed as selling standard Doms. I still have a few more places to check though!

JustAChickenLittle&More- A heat source will help, but unless I want to install something that will guarantee the temps stay above, say, 20 degrees then they'll still be at risk to some extent. And that's only in the coop. I am planning to put a wall mounted heat pad in the new coop we're building to take the bite out of larger temperature drops. I don't worry so much when it's staying in the 20ish range but I do get to worrying when it drops below that, especially when we hit single digits or worse. Last week it went from averaging about 15-25ish degree lows to -3 plus wind chill (weatherman said it 'felt like -17) and the next night we ended up with -7, wind chill factor down to -24. I just don't want to create a situation where I'm relying on a heat source to keep them from getting frostbite or freezing to death; I want them to be able to handle their environment even if the power goes out. It's also a good part of why I'm getting more; DH is tired of worrying about our three girls in their eglu (one always seems to end up sleeping by herself in the nest box). They'd probably be fine but neither of us can stop worrying about them in frigid weather. A sturdy coop with six cold-hearty hens and a larger heat source that we can turn on at need will help us sleep at night.

 

[JustAChickenLittle&More]

Burbs you def have a point. I can see where you wouldn't want to rely on a heat source. Good thinking.