Need some experienced Wyandotte owner's feedback (Texas Heat)

[awagnon]

Looking to add some chicks to the flock again this year. I am interested in the silver laced wyandotte breed. One article I read says they are good with heat a cold but another one says because of their dense feathering, they have a lot of trouble in hot weather. I am in Texas and we get some scorching hot summers most years. Should I look into another breed? Current flock is 2 Red sl (comets), aka "The Terrorist Sisters", 1 Buff Orpington, 2 Sapphire Gems, 1 Speckled Sussex. My plan is to add 1 more Speckled Sussex, 3 Buff Orpingtons, and 2 Silver Laced Wyandottes. If the Wyandottes can't handle our summer heat, I will go with 2 Barred Rocks.

Any advice on the SLWs? Will this blend of breeds work well? I am effectively managing the 2 pushy girls, but when the go to chickie heaven NO more of that breed. lol

 

[awagnon]

The degree of fluffiness will also depend on the type and source of the chicken within a breed. Hatchery stock tend to be less luscious and fluffy than breeder stock, hatchery chickens tend to look more "ordinary" than what the true breed calls for. With Orpingtons there's also a big difference between English style and American style. Hatcheries usually sell American style, which are slimmer and less fluffy and not much different than just generic chickens in terms of shape and fluff. English Orpingtons that come from a breeder, on the other hand, can be as round as a basketball and extremely fluffy. I've had both hatchery stock American Orpingtons and breeder stock English Orpingtons and they are like two completely different breeds! The hatchery Orps do fine in the summer, but my English basketballs suffer quite a lot - they pant and spread their wings out and get sluggish and just miserable (we have frequent 90-degree stretches and really high humidity in the summer). I haven't had breeder stock Wyandottes so no personal experience, but with the hatchery quality Wyandottes I have had I've noticed a similar difference - they don't get as round and fluffy as they are supposed to per breed standard. And mine have been fine in the hot summers. So, if you want to be on the safe side, get yourself some generic hatchery Wyandottes that won't get thick and fluffy, and they'll probably be fine.

Well that's good to know. I don't intend to participate in any chicken runway shows so breeder stock isn't a requirement. My current flock are girls I have purchased from various local farm stores and they have been very healthy and manageable so far. Although my happy accident Buff girl is pretty fluffy and round, she's probably an American Orpie. I have never seen any 'breeder quality' chickens in person so I don't have anything to compare to. She is the last to start panting when Summer cranks up. Wyandottes are usually on offer at all 3 of the options I have near me so hopefully they will be OK in our hot humid Summers, as much as they can be anyway. I will stick with the 'ordinary' stock of my local stores. I am not about to tell the girls they are 'ordinary' tho. They think they are REALLY SPECIAL! More like REALLY SPOILED. lol

 

[K0k0shka]

Well that's good to know. I don't intend to participate in any chicken runway shows so breeder stock isn't a requirement. My current flock are girls I have purchased from various local farm stores and they have been very healthy and manageable so far. Although my happy accident Buff girl is pretty fluffy and round, she's probably an American Orpie. I have never seen any 'breeder quality' chickens in person so I don't have anything to compare to. She is the last to start panting when Summer cranks up. Wyandottes are usually on offer at all 3 of the options I have near me so hopefully they will be OK in our hot humid Summers, as much as they can be anyway. I will stick with the 'ordinary' stock of my local stores. I am not about to tell the girls they are 'ordinary' tho. They think they are REALLY SPECIAL! More like REALLY SPOILED. lol

Of course they are all special I don't show mine either, I just fell in love with the round look. I wanted to hatch them myself, and hatching eggs are really hard to find in my area (feed stores only sell chicks and there are no farms nearby that sell hatching eggs either), so I figured if I have to order them online and pay for all that, might as well get some fancy fluffs that will be eye candy as well. The poor things hate summer though.

 

[K0k0shka]

OMG SO fluffy and gorgeous! My buff girl looks alot like yours minus the fluffy pantaloons. lol

Mine is actually Lemon Cuckoo, not Buff But gets mistaken for a Buff a lot because the other varieties are less known. She's lighter and more yellow than a Buff, and the males of her variety are white with yellow ("lemon") cuckoo patterning (Buff males are the same color as the females). The fluffy pants are adorable but too big for their own good... I need to give the ladies butt baths because they poop their pants no matter how low they squat But they enjoy the attention and don't give me a hard time at all, so it's all good.

 

[MommyGirl]

I’m in Georgia heat and I have had good luck with Wyandottes. Ive have seven of them for almost 4 years

 

[RojoMarz]

How does your BO do in the Texas heat? I'm in Colorado and have 1 BO that is several years old and three SLW's that will be 1 year old in April. We don't have the heat that you would and I see my BO panting during our summer. Perhaps she is more acclimated to cold and less acclimated to heat, so heat affects her more...anyway, I think the SLW's will be similar in size and fluffyness to the BO. So, I expect the same panting from the SLWs.

 

[tripletfeb]

Looking to add some chicks to the flock again this year. I am interested in the silver laced wyandotte breed. One article I read says they are good with heat a cold but another one says because of their dense feathering, they have a lot of trouble in hot weather. I am in Texas and we get some scorching hot summers most years. Should I look into another breed? Current flock is 2 Red sl (comets), aka "The Terrorist Sisters", 1 Buff Orpington, 2 Sapphire Gems, 1 Speckled Sussex. My plan is to add 1 more Speckled Sussex, 3 Buff Orpingtons, and 2 Silver Laced Wyandottes. If the Wyandottes can't handle our summer heat, I will go with 2 Barred Rocks.

Any advice on the SLWs? Will this blend of breeds work well? I am effectively managing the 2 pushy girls, but when the go to chickie heaven NO more of that breed. lol

I'm in Ohio so I'm sure I don't get the heat you do but we do get in the '90's and very high humidity. I've had silver laced wyandottes in every flock I've had, love the way they look. They do as good as any other cold/hot hardy breed. Just supply them with fresh, cold water like you would any other chicken. And shade. They'll be fine

 

[awagnon]

How does your BO do in the Texas heat? I'm in Colorado and have 1 BO that is several years old and three SLW's that will be 1 year old in April. We don't have the heat that you would and I see my BO panting during our summer. Perhaps she is more acclimated to cold and less acclimated to heat, so heat affects her more...anyway, I think the SLW's will be similar in size and fluffyness to the BO. So, I expect the same panting from the SLWs.

My Buff does pant on the hottest, most humid days, but no more than my other girls who are supposed to do well in hot climates. I have never seen the SLW in person so I didn't know if they were fluffy or not when full grown. Thanks for that comparison.

I can usually find my girls parked in front of the wall of frozen jugs I put in the run daily for them during the summer. I either put them where the south wind blows across them with room on the other side for the girls to lounge or put some in a pan in the coop with a fan blowing over them to try to cool it down a bit for them. The only one of my girls who didn't seem to mind the heat this year was my Speckled Sussex. Not much panting or wing spreading from her even though she seems kinda fluffy too.

 

[LaFleche]

Looking to add some chicks to the flock again this year. I am interested in the silver laced wyandotte breed. One article I read says they are good with heat a cold but another one says because of their dense feathering, they have a lot of trouble in hot weather. I am in Texas and we get some scorching hot summers most years. Should I look into another breed? Current flock is 2 Red sl (comets), aka "The Terrorist Sisters", 1 Buff Orpington, 2 Sapphire Gems, 1 Speckled Sussex. My plan is to add 1 more Speckled Sussex, 3 Buff Orpingtons, and 2 Silver Laced Wyandottes. If the Wyandottes can't handle our summer heat, I will go with 2 Barred Rocks.

Any advice on the SLWs? Will this blend of breeds work well? I am effectively managing the 2 pushy girls, but when the go to chickie heaven NO more of that breed. lol

For your climate I would advise to choose "mediterranean" breeds like Ancona, Leghorn, Minorca and similar which will be better equipped to endure scorching heat because of their large combs and wattles as well as clean legs.

But any breed would need lots of shade and bushes to hide under.

 

[awagnon]

For your climate I would advise to choose "mediterranean" breeds like Ancona, Leghorn, Minorca and similar which will be better equipped to endure scorching heat because of their large combs and wattles as well as clean legs.

But any breed would need lots of shade and bushes to hide under.

Well I have never seen the Minorcas or Anconas offered around here. I don't want to order direct from a hatchery and risk getting DOAs in my package. Nor do I want to deal with our local post office. Not a very friendly crowd at mine. I don't like leghorns because of their temperament/flightiness. Yes, I know there are exceptions to every breed. I just know I am not that lucky. lol I want birds that I can 'tame' and handle so when I need to examine them or treat them for anything I am not beat to death by a flailing chicken or run to almost heart attack level trying to catch one might need to be contained for some reason. lol I am not home when they are sleeping so getting them off the roost night isn't a fix for me. Even my sister's leghorns put up quite a fight when she's had to do that, she tells me. I would hope that the places offering chicks would tend to order the breeds that fare well in the local climates, but it is a biz after all so what do I know.