"WINTERIZING" my WHITE CRESTED BLACK POLISH in UPPER PENINSULA, MICH ?

[ladychicken&Ducklover]

I live in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, close to Marquette, and , like many Northern states, tend to have Many days of Negative temps and Several feet of snow.

I purposely have Cold weather breeds , however, an acquaintance had a 2 day old WC Polish straight run baby that she could no longer keep. So, being such a softie, I took the baby .

Well, 4 weeks ago , the baby Crowed. , " Phillip" is His name.

He is a FANTASTIC Roo : Super sweet, and LOVES HIS GIRLS!!

He "Protects them, finds tasty bugs and worms, calls the girls over and lets them have his "findings" BEFORE he eats.

Literally, like clockwork, he rounds them up, and stays on the ground floor Until all the girls go up their ladder , ( In the Order HE wants them to go up ), then he goes up into their loft for bedtime !

Needless to say, he's a GOOD BOY, and I WILL be keeping him.

So, I have a Very big concern and I need Suggestions NOW, because it wouldnt be surprising to gave snow flying within the next couple of weeks !

I need ideas about how to make sure he Does Not get his " Hair " wet when he drinks his water and ideas on how to keep him SAFELY warm and comfortable with the other chickens ??

I have 3 ducks too BTW.

They All live in a 12x20 open front "house" that I plan on temporarily putting up either OSB board or maybe Plexiglass for wall enclosures to keep snow out.

The plexiglass would be used for letting in light since we hardly see the sun for 6 months.

What would be good temperatures to keep the inside of their house at for the Polish ?

Any thoughts or other ideas to " Enclose" their Whole house?

I am just concerned as this is my First winter having chickens , so ANY Help will be greatly appreciated.

DD

 

[2DogsFarm]

I have a Houdan hen and she has lived through 2 Winters w/o any problem except last winter when her (bored) non-crested coopmates pecked her bald

Before that happened I did trim her crest in front so it did not get dipped into their heated waterbowl - she had icy "feather-sicles" before the trim.

Your boy s/b fine as long as your coop gets enough ventilation.
Cold & dry is better than cold & sealed-up - condensation causes frostbite.
At least with his small comb your rooster shouldn't get frostbite there.

I got a heatlamp for my coop, but only used it when temps were in the minus zero numbers.
Added some extra shavings & the hens & rooster all did fine.
Like someone here said: remember, they wear little down jackets all year long.
Fluffed-up chickens seem to keep themselves nice & warm.