Nankins

[Alaskan]

How happy are Nankins at 10F?

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

How happy are Nankins at 10F?

We do get to 10 degrees here where I live, although I have never kept Nankins through the worst part of winter (even though I have had them three times LOL).

Judging from the way mine have been acting (the ones I have now) compared to the large fowl in the 30's, I am going to say they feel the cold more and I would not place them in a cold hardy class at all:

http://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=c...8&ilc=12&type=198484&p=nankins+not+cold+hardy
you can see the various quotes around the web on this search result for "not cold hardy" here

I would give them a heat lamp and then you would be good to go.

 

[Alaskan]

Oh bother. Thanks for doing the legwork for me. I had been reading up on them, but was hoping that the people who said that they weren't cold hardy were the same kinds of people who always heat their coops.

I just can't have a breed that needs a heat lamp, i have spotty electric.

 

[Micki]

I live in Missouri and have 6 Nankins (two breeding trios). When our temps dipped below 15 degrees, I brought them inside in cages and put them in our spare bedroom until the temps went up again. I only have rosecombs now. Last winter I had single combs too, and a few got frostbitten on the tips of their combs. I adore my Nankins...they are SO sweet, especially the roosters (which I find interesting). Other than the boys crowing, having them in the house wasn't a big deal for us off and on this winter. The crowing didn't bother me, but it bothered my husband and son. Even so, they tolerated it because they didn't want the birds to freeze.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

I live in Missouri and have 6 Nankins (two breeding trios). When our temps dipped below 15 degrees, I brought them inside in cages and put them in our spare bedroom until the temps went up again. I only have rosecombs now. Last winter I had single combs too, and a few got frostbitten on the tips of their combs. I adore my Nankins...they are SO sweet, especially the roosters (which I find interesting). Other than the boys crowing, having them in the house wasn't a big deal for us off and on this winter. The crowing didn't bother me, but it bothered my husband and son. Even so, they tolerated it because they didn't want the birds to freeze.

I have switched to rosecombs too now so as to hopefully never have frostbite on the little guys.

 

[Alaskan]

Going from the warm house to the cold outside wasn't a big shock to them?

 

[Chickenlover20]

I have two nankin, they are a pair.. I live in Maine, wher there a long winter climate. I had to watch carefully to their combs to make sure there no frostbite.
And put them in coop with silkies, standards, and other chickens that are cold hardy to keep them warm.

 

[Micki]

Going from the warm house to the cold outside wasn't a big shock to them?

I was worried about that. I closed the vent in that bedroom so it stayed cool in there. Our weather can vary greatly within a few days time. I wouldn't put them back outside again unless it was above 35 degrees during the day and not below 15 at night. Their coops were deeply bedded with pine shavings and some straw on top (their coops are the size of typical dog houses). No roosts in the coops and I would close them in at night. They'd snuggle up together on that bedding and they did fine. I brought them inside 3 or 4 times over this winter, each time for a few days when we had bad cold snaps. We had one night where the wind chills hit -28 F, and I think it got up to +10 F during the day that day. Our power was out for 19 hours, but thankfully inside the house never got below freezing, although it was close. The birds were in the bedroom that night and came through it fine. They certainly would have frozen to death if they'd been outdoors that night. My big chickens made it through fine in their coop, with a few getting a touch of frostbite on the tips of their combs. I was amazed how well my big birds did, and I was thankful that they weren't used to a heated coop when the power went out that night.

 

[Alaskan]

Wow! Well, thanks for the detailed response.

Sadly, that has made it rather clear that if I were to buy some Nankins, I would kill them all in the first winter.

 

[Micki]

Wow! Well, thanks for the detailed response.

Sadly, that has made it rather clear that if I were to buy some Nankins, I would kill them all in the first winter.

Unless you wanted to move them indoors for awhile . Notice the picture of one of my Nankins roosters perching on my daughter's shoulder while playing the piano. Even better was when he started to accompany her by crowing...

I have had them perch on my shoulder while on the computer. They are sweet, sweet, sweet!