Best chicken for hot Texas?

[babalubird]

If you lived on 16 TREELESS acres in Central Texas, where summer temps can reach 100-103 for several days in a row, what chicken breed would you choose to breed and free-range?

We plan to use portable chicken tractors and livestock guardian dogs.

We hope to make some money on this, so would you choose one mult-purpose breed or two separate breeds and flocks for your layers and your broilers?

Thanks.

Connie

 

[Rooster-Spur]

I don't exactly know But it would probably need to be Light colored and have a Large comb. Maybe some more knowledgeble people will reply. I hope I have been some help.

 

[becky3086]

Maybe dark cornish. They are supposed to be good at foraging for themselves.
Becky

 

[destorieswind]

Pearl White Leghorns are pretty resilient to heat. I live in AZ with temps in the 115's in summer and they seem to do all right as long as they have water and shade. Not the prettiest chickens thou...

but great layers!

 

[skeeter9]

Our summers are in the 100's here and very dry. I have had great luck with Orpingtons, Australorps, EE's, New Hampshire Reds, and Marans. My Wellsumers seemed to be more affected by the heat, but they still did ok. The only thing I do for them is run a big box fan to move the air, and sometimes I wet down the dirt in their runs. Obviously, when they are outfree-ranging they are just on their own.

 

[mikarod]

In the hot humid 110* of Oklahoma...RIR's and Barred Rocks have always done well.

For layers that have good production...get some Red Stars (red sex-links). They'll lay really well, plus you can get some good meat off of them when they're spent (after their first year).

For broilers, I'd go with white rocks or barred rocks. They have a nice yellow skin and will grow relatively fast. The larger breeds (Jersey giants, etc.) take a long time to grow. Cornish crosses are the most feed efficient, but are not good foragers since they cannot fly away from predators.

 

[NancyDz]

This is from "My Pet Chicken"

Hot Summers
If you live any place that regularly gets over 100 degrees, you want to avoid the fat, fluffy and feather-footed breeds. Bantams do well in the summer (except the feather-footed varieties), and the best Standard breeds for hot climates are:


White Leghorns
Light Brown Leghorns
Blue Andalusians
Golden Campines



I know I read somewhere that Australorp are one of the best layes in hot weather, I have two and they laid all summer here and we get over 100 degrees often.

 

[onthespot]

I'd go with something not too heavy bodied, or if you were raising meaties, do it in the spring and/or the fall. Egg layers, stick with lighter bodied ones like the leghorns and such.

 

[gritsar]

My LF brahmas do fine in the heat of summer in SW Arkansas and they're dual purpose birds, but do mature slowly.
They have a habit of lounging around in the heat of the day, doing their best foraging in the early morning and after 3 or 4 PM.
One of the reasons I selected the brahmas was because of their good heat tolerance.

 

[blackred]

We here in Central Texas have not only heat but high humidity. We used Marans for about 4 years and they laid well in the winter( both days) but not in the summer. We might get 5 eggs from 40 hens, but they were pretty eggs!.
We got tired of that and bought some ISA browns this year and they did better than expected.
Like one of the post listed you need lighter- Mediterranean type breeds.

Bob