Heat tolerant breeds for NW Florida

[Kurczaklover]

I live in rural NW Florida and I am wanting to expand our flock. We presently have 13 hens (6 Golden Laced Wyandottes, 4 Americauna, a Leghorn, a Turken, a ISA Brown) and 1 Barred Rock rooster. I am looking for good sized eggs, no overly aggressive breeds, and want to add some colorful ladies. My husband really wants some Polish like he had growing up in Maine, but not sure if they can take our heat. The chicken bug has bit us hard and we want 2 of everything but our current accommodations can support about 16 more, and a 2nd coop is a year away. I would love suggestions of striking ladies to round out our current flock, plus those that make beautiful babies with a hefty barred rock roo

 

[Sara S]

DELEWARESSS i have 2, they are great and I’m in central west fl, no issues and I have 2 americaunas as well. The delewares lay good eggs, one everyday from them! Good luck!

 

[3KillerBs]

Here in central NC I'm having good luck with my Blue Australorps (from Welp). I presume black would be just as good.

I don't know anything about Polish -- except that I've read that they don't always do well in a mixed flock -- but I have found that Brahmas are weirdly heat-tolerant. I guess that up to a point their thick feathers insulate them from the heat as well as from cold. IMO, Dark Brahmas are the most beautiful hens in existence.

 

[Sara S]

Here in central NC I'm having good luck with my Blue Australorps (from Welp). I presume black would be just as good.

I don't know anything about Polish -- except that I've read that they don't always do well in a mixed flock -- but I have found that Brahmas are weirdly heat-tolerant. I guess that up to a point their thick feathers insulate them from the heat as well as from cold. IMO, Dark Brahmas are the most beautiful hens in existence.

I had 3 chicks and 2 died but I’m at Bean Burrto!

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I live in rural NW Florida and I am wanting to expand our flock. We presently have 13 hens (6 Golden Laced Wyandottes, 4 Americauna, a Leghorn, a Turken, a ISA Brown) and 1 Barred Rock rooster. I am looking for good sized eggs, no overly aggressive breeds, and want to add some colorful ladies. My husband really wants some Polish like he had growing up in Maine, but not sure if they can take our heat. The chicken bug has bit us hard and we want 2 of everything but our current accommodations can support about 16 more, and a 2nd coop is a year away. I would love suggestions of striking ladies to round out our current flock, plus those that make beautiful babies with a hefty barred rock roo

Well hello, neighbor! as @3KillerBs said, Brahma are wierdly heat tolerant. Still, I can't recommend them here (though they do do MUCH better than the CX). If you've got GLW, and you are looking for pretty birds, the Brahma don't really add anything. They lay a similar, slightly less pink-toned egg as the GLW, with similar frequency, and begin to lay even later, on average. I've three Dark Brahma (beautiful pattern, eventually good size, no other traits I want for my culling project).

I've a number of SLW, i imagine your GLW are much the same.

The rest of my birds, largely, are either production hybrids (golden comets), "dual purpose" mostly egg making commercial mixes [see my Sig, below], or the mutts which are my breeding project birds.

If you plan to use your Rooster as a breeder, focusing on breeds only matters for the first gen anyways, so possibly local mutts might do the trick for you, too. Just focus on the traits you want - clean legs, prominent comb, good egg size, frequent, early lay.

[roughly half the current flock in this photo, including a few of the ducks.]

 

[Shadrach]

I live in rural NW Florida and I am wanting to expand our flock. We presently have 13 hens (6 Golden Laced Wyandottes, 4 Americauna, a Leghorn, a Turken, a ISA Brown) and 1 Barred Rock rooster. I am looking for good sized eggs, no overly aggressive breeds, and want to add some colorful ladies. My husband really wants some Polish like he had growing up in Maine, but not sure if they can take our heat. The chicken bug has bit us hard and we want 2 of everything but our current accommodations can support about 16 more, and a 2nd coop is a year away. I would love suggestions of striking ladies to round out our current flock, plus those that make beautiful babies with a hefty barred rock roo

In order for any creature to be climate tolerant one would expect measurable physiological differences between one breed/species and another.
Husky dogs for example are cold tolerant because their fur has different properties to other not cold tolerant breeds.
Certain breeds are deemed to be more heat tolerant because of their comb and sometimes their wattle shape and size. The theory being that these large straight comb (usually) have an advantage in being able to transfer heat to their environment more easily than some other comb types. However, it is the surface area that matter so a crown type comb for example may have a greater surface area than a straight type.

If you have a look at the various breeds recommended for hot climates advocated on the web but nothing concrete in the way of evidence that one breed is in reality any better than another.
What some acknowledge is being hatched and raised in the climate they will live in has a far greater impact of the chickens ability to survive extremes of temperature.
All chicken start to drop dead at anything above their core body temperature (41C) and what keeps them alive is the knowledge of how to find deep shade when the temperature rises above comfort level.
The majority of the heat tolerant chicken breed pages I've read on the web show a poor understanding of thermodynamics and chicken biology.