Cream Legbars and Cold Weather

[havingagreatflockingtime]

Hi - we are considering expanding our flock with some Cream Legbars. I am reading mixed reviews on if they are cold hardy enough to tolerate New England / CT winters. In the winter we do have average temps in the teens, 20s and 30s during the day with drops at night into the teens. On occasion we do hit single digits. Does anyone have any experience with them? Do they require heat in their coop? Thanks!

 

[deidreg]

My cream legbars came through winter just fine. Our coldest nights were -6 degrees F.

No supplemental heat. Just a bit of scratch before bed.

 

[Amer]

They would probably get frostbite without proper ventilation.

 

[Iluveggers]

We have 2 cream legbars, coldest temp here was about -15 this winter. They did quite well (the girls had smaller combs than I expected). Our half-legbar roo has horrible frostbite, as does our Orpington roo (both have huge combs), but the rest of the flock doesn’t. Any large-combed breed can have trouble in winter, but our legbar ladies did great!

 

[havingagreatflockingtime]

We have 2 cream legbars, coldest temp here was about -15 this winter. They did quite well (the girls had smaller combs than I expected). Our half-legbar roo has horrible frostbite, as does our Orpington roo (both have huge combs), but the rest of the flock doesn’t. Any large-combed breed can have trouble in winter, but our legbar ladies did great!

Awesome, thanks so much for this info! We have three buff orpingtons and they did great. Did you have heat in your coop at all during these below zero days we had?

 

[Iluveggers]

Awesome, thanks so much for this info! We have three buff orpingtons and they did great. Did you have heat in your coop at all during these below zero days we had?

No heat. The boys like to run around in the snow for some reason, and I think they got wet before roost the night they got frostbite. . We have ventilation along the top of both sides of the barn, and everyone did great!

If we had an extended period of negative temps, I would have thought about adding some heat, but all negative drops we had were 24 hours or less each time.

 

[havingagreatflockingtime]

No heat. The boys like to run around in the snow for some reason, and I think they got wet before roost the night they got frostbite. . We have ventilation along the top of both sides of the barn, and everyone did great!

If we had an extended period of negative temps, I would have thought about adding some heat, but all negative drops we had were 24 hours or less each time.

Thank you so much for this info! I hope the frostbite improves quickly!

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

My legbar males get frost bite easier than my leghorns. I think it might be because of the crest holding moisture close to the comb, but it's just a theory. They also tend to have very fat, coarse combs compared to my leghorns and this could also be the cause.

Dubbing the males wouldn't be a terrible idea.