I've been thinking about this for a couple of years...

Hi and welcome to BYC from northern Michigan

Google the Henderson chicken chart, it also rates breeds on their cold hardiness

 

& from Alabama. Glad you joined us.

 

Hello from Kansas, Debbie1, and ! Best of luck in your cold weather breed search. I think a warm coop (as in draft free....not necessarily heated - the chickens themselves keep it pretty warm) is very critical. The breeds sumi mentioned and others, Chantaclers for example, are great cold weather fowl. Good luck to you!!

 

Welcome to the forum! Glad you joined us.

A whole lot of breeds do well in cold weather, even Turkens (also called Naked Necks) that have no feathers on their necks and about half the feathers as normal breeds on the rest of their bodies. Others have given you good plaxes to look for which breeds to look for.

I don't know what you consider cold weather for chickens? Chickens wear a down coat all year. Some do better in cold than others but heat kills a whole lot more chickens than cold. With a properly constructed coop, which means good ventilation and good draft protection, people keep chickens in Alaska without providing extra heat. Here are some articles that might help you decide what you need to do as far as a coop. I know I should not, but I kind of smile when I see people worrying about it being too cold for their chickens when they are in Florida or the Gulf Coast.

Pat’s Big Ol' Ventilation Page
https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=1642-VENTILATION

Pat’s Cold Coop (winter design) page:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=1642-winter-coop-temperatures

Pat’s Big Ol' Mud Page (fixing muddy runs):
https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=1642-fix-a-muddy-run

Maybe this will help demonstrate my point. It was 4 degrees above zero Fahrenheit when I took this photo. The wind was dead calm. Mine really don't like a cold breeze. But I just left the pop door open and let them decide what the wanted to do. At 4 degrees Fahrenheit they wanted to take in the sun.



The biggest risk to chickens in truly cold weather is frostbite, especially in the combs and wattles. Certain breeds with small combs are less likely to get frostbite. But lots of people keep single combed breeds with huge combs in cold weather without a problem by providing a good coop.

Good luck!!! Hope this helps.

 

Hello, Welcome to BYC !