Chicken breed advice?

[GoldfieldRancher]

Hello,


We live in the Phoenix Arizona area and are interested in starting a small flock of about 2 - 4 chickens and are unsure about which breed to choose. Our prerequisites are that the breed can produce us a few fresh eggs every day, and can handle extreme heat, as it gets to about 115 degrees in the day. We would appreciate some advice as to which type of chicken would be best for us. Thank you!

 

[nchls school]

Hello,


We live in the Phoenix Arizona area and are interested in starting a small flock of about 2 - 4 chickens and are unsure about which breed to choose. Our prerequisites are that the breed can produce us a few fresh eggs every day, and can handle extreme heat, as it gets to about 115 degrees in the day. We would appreciate some advice as to which type of chicken would be best for us. Thank you!

I'd ask locals about the breed they have. A trip to the feedstore should provide the answers you seek.

 

[ButtonquailGirl14]

Leghorns are a great option!

 

[50-45-1]

I would choose a white leghorn for you.
They are great layers, handle the heat much better than heavier and darker colored breeds.
I have had a few and they have great personalities.

 

[21hens-incharge]

Hello,


We live in the Phoenix Arizona area and are interested in starting a small flock of about 2 - 4 chickens and are unsure about which breed to choose. Our prerequisites are that the breed can produce us a few fresh eggs every day, and can handle extreme heat, as it gets to about 115 degrees in the day. We would appreciate some advice as to which type of chicken would be best for us. Thank you!

Good to have you here!
I am glad your looking into getting birds suited to your climate.

Stop in here and introduce yourself. There are lots of really great people that can help with just about anything. I am sure they would like to meet you too.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forums/new-member-introductions.44/

Another good place to find out what works for your climate is in your states thread. Easy to find in the link.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/find-your-states-thread.270925/

I would think Mediterranean breeds would handle the heat.
Leghorns and hamburgs come to mind.

 

[Alaskan]

I second (and third?) Leghorns or other Mediterranean chickens.

You want chickens that have big combs, since the combs will help them to cool off.

The great thing is that most Mediterranean chickens have excellent egg production.

Leghorns come in a WIDE variety of colors if you look at breeders, even some hatcheries now carry a few different colors. Some possible colors in Leghorn are white, dark brown, light brown, buff, black, porcelain...and lots more.

Penedesencas are great for hot climates, lay well, and lay super dark eggs...hard to find though.

But fat poofy chickens will have trouble in the heat, as will those with tiny combs.

 

[Alaskan]

Egyptian Fayoumi would also be a great high heat chicken.

 

[GoldfieldRancher]

Thank you all for the help! We will now research the breeds that you all brought up and hopefully find one that works best for us. Thanks again!

 

[springvalley123]

I used to live in Black Canyon City, which is several degrees cooler than Phx. Remember, it doesn't cool off in the valley (nor in BCC) at night. I had brown leghorn hens and turken pullets, and they needed a fan, ice bottles and misting system. Although the leghorns used to forage as pullets their first summer (7/26 hatch), the time the following May came around, they were under the butterfly bush with the ice and fan. If I had to live in the Valley or even black canyon again, I'd go with the Fayoumis or maybe the penedesenca if I didn't want to deal with birds roosting on the roof etc. (but if you get fayoumis be sure to know they're one of a very few breeds, that you need to know what you're doing regarding mixing them, from what I read on this site). The andalusians (as pullets at least) were only as tolerant of the extreme heat as the leghorns. Also I noted that as youngsters, the birds did far better with the heat than once they were grown, regardless of breed. An acquaintance had australorp and americana, said they did well in BCC, but she had a lot of shade. Also, I"ve had plenty of people also in Black canyon and PHx, say that barred rock, rhode island red and australorp were heat tolerant. I didn't have barred rock, but sold the other two breeds as pullets in May (before it gets very hot) because they were not handling the heat. I'd advise going to a person's place and seeing how they really do before getting any other breeds---are they just not dying, or do the people have super dense shade, etc?

 

[Silkies for life]

Leghorns sound like a good option!