Six Keys to Selecting a Chicken Breed... Number 4

This is a article from the magazine Backyard Poultry By: Brandon Mitchell from Tennessee.

                          4 TEMPERATURE TOLERANCE
Unless you're in the far north or south, you probably don't think about heat or cold tolerance when picking chicken breeds. I rarely do, but you should consider a few things. Black feathered chickens get hotter than light red, yellow, and especially white. Birds with single combs and light feather colors do better in hotter climates, but single-combed birds often suffer frostbite. Pea and rose combs are better choices for those cold nights. Feathers around feet can keep a dry chicken warmer at night, but if those feathers get wet, which is often the case in winter, it can lead to more problems than hens without feathers on their feet. Crested chickens have many of the same advantage and disadvantage as feather-footed breeds, although a crest is only a problem with rain, whereas a muddy pen affects feather-footed chickens whether rain caused the mud or not.