One Large vs Three Small / Feedback Appreciated

[Katy]

You say you're going with breeds that are less suseptable to frostbite, but I will tell you that I have the most trouble with frostbit combs in my Sussex and my Marans and to some degree in my Orpingtons.

 

[Diavolicchio]

Quote:
Katy:

Thanks for the heads-up.

I guess I didn't do my research as well as I'd thought. The breeds I'd excluded were Campine, Andalusian, New Hampshire and Rhode Island Reds, because of what I'd read about frostbitten combs with these breeds.



John

 

[Intheswamp]

...and yet another wonderfully fabulous coop/run layout from Ed.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
Basically anything with a big single comb is at greater risk of frostbite than things with pea or walnut combs, or relatively-compact-and-not-excessively-long-pointy rose combs.

Thus, the two things in your .sig list that *are* particularly frostbite-resistant are the chantecler and the brahma (buckeyes or easter eggers or wyandottes would be other examples of the genre). The others are all sort of Yer Basic Large Single Combed breeds -- not likely to fare quite *as* poorly as, say, Andalusian or Buttercup roos, but with no particular greater-than-average immunity from frostbitten combs, you know?

Pat

 

[Diavolicchio]

Quote:
Basically anything with a big single comb is at greater risk of frostbite than things with pea or walnut combs, or relatively-compact-and-not-excessively-long-pointy rose combs.

Thus, the two things in your .sig list that *are* particularly frostbite-resistant are the chantecler and the brahma (buckeyes or easter eggers or wyandottes would be other examples of the genre). The others are all sort of Yer Basic Large Single Combed breeds -- not likely to fare quite *as* poorly as, say, Andalusian or Buttercup roos, but with no particular greater-than-average immunity from frostbitten combs, you know?

Pat

Thanks for the clarification.

I'm actually happy with the breeds I've chosen. If one is reputedly more susceptible than another to frostbite, I'll simply start stocking up on Vaseline to rub onto their combs and wattles.

John

 

[Diavolicchio]

Quote:
That works too, Ed

John

 

[Diavolicchio]

Ed:

I just got that copy today of PT Woods' book on Fresh-Air Poultry Houses.

What a GREAT little book. Thanks again for pointing me in this direction. I'd have gone in a totally different direction with the chicken house otherwise, and most likely would have regretted it.

Cheers,




John

 

[Ahab]

Found your thread in the BYC search feature, and wondering how your Open-Air Poultry house-building project went.

Years ago, before Belfast became the broiler capital of the world and 40,000-bird contract chicken barns popped up like toadstools all over Knox and Waldo counties, there were quite a few of these open-air poultry houses around--some still are, though most have rotted into the ground (being mostly built between 1908 and the late 1930s, when open-air was the fad both in chicken health and people health), and quite a few have been repurposed as auxiliary sheds and playhouses.

I could never quite figure out what they were for, with those open fronts (the screening mostly having rusted away), until I read Prince Woods' book. Now it all makes sense.

Thinking of building one myself--the small 6x10 version--and wonder how you made out with yours.