Rainy Months and Fancy Feathers
Here we go again guys..the cold, wet months are here. I wanted to just take a second to offer my 2 cents on housing feather-footed breeds, and more fragile breeds like Silkies and Polish. Cochins do well during cooler weather. The hot months are when they suffer. Having heavily feather feet though, it's best to keep them inside when it's very muddy, or in a covered run that's not sloppy. Besides damaging their feathers, they can get mud and ice balls on and between their toes.
Fragile breeds like Silkies, Polish, and frizzles of any breed, absolutely need to be kept inside a draft-free and dry coop when it's cold and wet.
I urge you to please reconsider keeping those breeds if you can't provide that type of housing for them.
Frizzles can not puff up their feathers and keep warm like other breeds because their feathers don't lie close to their body.
Silkies don't necessarily mind the cold, but if it's wet and cold, there's a good chance of them getting chilled and sick because again, their feathers are more like fur and they get soaked. They can also get mud and ice balls on their feet.
Polish have profusely feathered heads, and if that crest gets wet in freezing temps, it freezes. How miserable for them?! Polish are just a fragile breed, period.
During warm and wet periods, there's a whole other set of problems, for any breed, but respiratory illness and coccidiosis are two of the top problems of warm OR cold weather when wetness is also a factor.
Just passing on some advice from past and current experience. Consider the housing you're able to provide when choosing what breeds you'd like to own.
