Any variety of the Plymouth Rock, Australorp, Rhode Island Red. and Orpingtons are great also!!!
Just starting...any suggestions on cold weather hardy breeds?
- Thread starter LadySwan517
- Start date
Hi all,
I'm in Maine, near the coast so temps below freezing by Oct, we've already had subzero this Fall. Often have 20F below zero for a week or two, but not so much snow to insulate. Trying to get breeds that are cold hardy, good layers but not too large as I just want eggs (learned decades ago that I just can't kill a bird I raised). Have them in a new coop which isn't insulated yet and has large windows (old porch that faces north east) but is good sized and draft free. So far, the 7 hens are doing OK, still getting 4 or so eggs a day, too. The two bantam (Wyndottes) have taken to soeeping in one of the nest boxes over the last few days, tho. The others are a pair of Hambergs, two EEs and Big Bertha, a blue Wyndotte/Cochin cross. Looking for a nonagressive, cold hardy roo.
I'm in Maine, near the coast so temps below freezing by Oct, we've already had subzero this Fall. Often have 20F below zero for a week or two, but not so much snow to insulate. Trying to get breeds that are cold hardy, good layers but not too large as I just want eggs (learned decades ago that I just can't kill a bird I raised). Have them in a new coop which isn't insulated yet and has large windows (old porch that faces north east) but is good sized and draft free. So far, the 7 hens are doing OK, still getting 4 or so eggs a day, too. The two bantam (Wyndottes) have taken to soeeping in one of the nest boxes over the last few days, tho. The others are a pair of Hambergs, two EEs and Big Bertha, a blue Wyndotte/Cochin cross. Looking for a nonagressive, cold hardy roo.
im new to backyard chickens too..i grew up with them and love them so. I live on Marylands Eastern Shore, sometimes we do have cold winters, and I was wondering about the coop. My husband has built a beautiful one..looks like a little log cabin..should I put some kind of heating supply in the coop if it does get really cold?
im new to backyard chickens too..i grew up with them and love them so. I live on Marylands Eastern Shore, sometimes we do have cold winters, and I was wondering about the coop. My husband has built a beautiful one..looks like a little log cabin..should I put some kind of heating supply in the coop if it does get really cold?
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No heat is necessary. We do like to have a way to plug in a dog dish for water..
- Nov 5, 2013
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- 9
Just joined this site and haven't started yet. Still trying to figure out if there are ordinances against it in my small town. I'm in SC so it's very hot here in the summer but can also be very cold here in the winter. Is it too late in the year to start raising chickens?
No, it's not too late, but if you get baby chicks you will need to be able to keep them warm and out of drafts until they are fully feathered.
Chickens can take an amazing amount of cold weather without harm. As long as they are dry and out of drafts, and have plenty of food and water (water, not ice!), they can stand temperatures way below zero. Heat lamps are a fire hazard and totally unnecessary as long as your chickens are feathered out. If you have really cold winters (I'm talking Alaska, Canada, and the northern tier states), you'd be well advised to select birds with small combs, such as the Chantecler with a cushion comb, Buckeye with a pea comb, or Wyandottes with their rose combs. Also look for large-bodied birds with plenty of wide feathers to hold their body heat in close. I've kept chickens in the Interior of Alaska with no supplemental heat, where temperatures can get down to minus seventy or colder (F, not counting wind chill); the single-comb birds got frost-bite on their combs, and a few had toes freeze and eventually fall off. (Feathered feet are NOT an asset in extreme cold weather, by the way -- they tend to collect ice and mud.) In spite of that, we had eggs all winter (if we could collect them before they froze solid!). I think, if I was to return to that area, I'd try keeping my chickens inside a greenhouse, or just stick with ducks and geese, as they can tolerate much colder temperatures than even chickens can. (They make a mess with their water dishes, however, as the water they toss around freezes and makes stalagmites!)
Kathleen
Chickens can take an amazing amount of cold weather without harm. As long as they are dry and out of drafts, and have plenty of food and water (water, not ice!), they can stand temperatures way below zero. Heat lamps are a fire hazard and totally unnecessary as long as your chickens are feathered out. If you have really cold winters (I'm talking Alaska, Canada, and the northern tier states), you'd be well advised to select birds with small combs, such as the Chantecler with a cushion comb, Buckeye with a pea comb, or Wyandottes with their rose combs. Also look for large-bodied birds with plenty of wide feathers to hold their body heat in close. I've kept chickens in the Interior of Alaska with no supplemental heat, where temperatures can get down to minus seventy or colder (F, not counting wind chill); the single-comb birds got frost-bite on their combs, and a few had toes freeze and eventually fall off. (Feathered feet are NOT an asset in extreme cold weather, by the way -- they tend to collect ice and mud.) In spite of that, we had eggs all winter (if we could collect them before they froze solid!). I think, if I was to return to that area, I'd try keeping my chickens inside a greenhouse, or just stick with ducks and geese, as they can tolerate much colder temperatures than even chickens can. (They make a mess with their water dishes, however, as the water they toss around freezes and makes stalagmites!)
Kathleen
- Nov 5, 2013
- 6
- 0
- 9
Thank you VERY much!
I am (of course) going to recommend Buckeyes as the perfect bird for what you're describing! Buckeyes are a nice dual purpose bird; they lay between 150 to 200 large brown eggs a year. Extra males, with their wide breasts, dress out nicely. They forage very well (they eat pretty much anything that moves: bugs, lizards, frogs, mice, whatever, if it moves they eat it.) Buckeyes get along with each other and humans well. They are not flighty and the hens are almost too friendly, when we walk into the pen we have to shoo them away with our feet!
They are the only breed of American chicken created by a woman, Mrs. Nettie Metcalf of Ohio, and the only American breed with a pea comb, which means no frostbite in winter (unless you live in Saskatoon or someplace like that.) They tolerate heat and cold well, some will go broody (if you prefer them to raise their own babies) but are not excessively so, and we think they are just an all around perfect homestead chicken.
Here are some pics of our Buckeyes:
Check the links in my signature for more info on this great breed!
They are the only breed of American chicken created by a woman, Mrs. Nettie Metcalf of Ohio, and the only American breed with a pea comb, which means no frostbite in winter (unless you live in Saskatoon or someplace like that.) They tolerate heat and cold well, some will go broody (if you prefer them to raise their own babies) but are not excessively so, and we think they are just an all around perfect homestead chicken.
Here are some pics of our Buckeyes:
Check the links in my signature for more info on this great breed!
Ameraucana and easters eggers are excellent! pea combs, and nicely feathered. Spend loads of time with chicks, and it makes them super tame. My big hens still allow you to pick them up and there now off free ranging and basically pretty self reliant but haven't the slightest issue with being touched, once that base is created it stays.
I am (of course) going to recommend Buckeyes as the perfect bird for what you're describing! Buckeyes are a nice dual purpose bird; they lay between 150 to 200 large brown eggs a year. Extra males, with their wide breasts, dress out nicely. They forage very well (they eat pretty much anything that moves: bugs, lizards, frogs, mice, whatever, if it moves they eat it.) Buckeyes get along with each other and humans well. They are not flighty and the hens are almost too friendly, when we walk into the pen we have to shoo them away with our feet!
They are the only breed of American chicken created by a woman, Mrs. Nettie Metcalf of Ohio, and the only American breed with a pea comb, which means no frostbite in winter (unless you live in Saskatoon or someplace like that.) They tolerate heat and cold well, some will go broody (if you prefer them to raise their own babies) but are not excessively so, and we think they are just an all around perfect homestead chicken.
Here are some pics of our Buckeyes:
Check the links in my signature for more info on this great breed!
what nice pictures they look stunning with a snow backdrop!
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