Greetings from DFW Texas

[kat852]

Hello, there's a simple introduction.

I live in the area of DFW Texas.

I've never had chickens before.
I'm looking to have some backyard chickens and I'm trying to research as much as possible before I get some but not get into a research loop and never actually get chickens.

I also garden and make my own unscented soaps and cosmetics.

We have two cats and two dogs right now.
My only concern is the cats are hunters and have brought in birds of all ages, little snakes, and lizards. Though I wasn't home I was told they brought in a live full-grown blue jay through the cat flap and he flew around the house before someone got them out through the window.

 

[janiedoe]

Welcome to BYC. I'm in east Texas.
My cats are hunters. I have a male and a female indoor/outdoor and a female indoor only.
The outdoor cats kill rodents and have occasionally killed blue jays. None have ever bothered my chickens. I have both standard and bantams, as well as small chicks running around the yard. I'm not sure why, but they seem to know the difference in wild and domesticated birds.

 

[TwoCrows]

Hello and welcome to BYC!

So glad you decided to join us! You might stop by our Learning Center for all kinds of great articles on all the aspects of keeping chickens... https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/ Browse the forums as well. And if you have any questions about anything, be sure to ask.

Welcome to our community!

 

[007Sean]

Howdy, and Welcome to Backyard Chickens.

Happy to have you here with us. Enjoy your time here at BYC!

Thanks for joining our community!

 

[GreenJay]

. Howdy from south Texas!

 

[Kenneth Zweerink]

Welcome to BackYard Chickens. And a Big Hello from Eastern Nebraska!

 

[Kiki]

Welcome from Houston.
Build your coop first...larger...walk in.
Then order chicks from Ideal Poultry.

Don't make the big mistake of buying sick birds off of Craigslist.

 

[Kiki]

Build your coop and run dog proof. Dogs will each chicken much quicker than a cat will.

 

[Nomadicus]

Hello and Welcome to BYC! Glad that you joined our community.

 

[DobieLover]

Hello and welcome to BYC! Glad you joined.

I second the recommendation to build a large extremely well ventilated walk-in style coop. Look up Open-air Coop designs and go with something like that.
As for the cats, I wouldn't worry too much about them. A flock of full-size chickens can take on any domestic cat. I once watched a video of a fox that had broken into a production style, cage-free hen house and get killed by the chickens.