Hello all, or Howdy down here. I've been wanting to raise chickens for years but never had the land or the time to get started. I've researched the different breeds and am leaning toward Black Australorps. I am finding them hard to find in my area. At least ones at laying age. I don't really want to raise them for 4 or 5 months before I start seeing any eggs. I'm just looking for hens right now and in a year or so if all works out then maybe buy a rooster and start raising chicks. I'm just outside the Houston,TX area. I built a coop to house 4 hens and will post pictures of it soon. Would like any ideas on how to improve it or make the next one better, I will post it's design before I build it. The funny thing is that my neighbor has a Black Australorp that started getting out because there were animals killing the hens. It learned fast that our backyard on a window AC was a safe place to be at night. It laid an egg 9 days out of 10 on the AC. I finally got my neighbor to take my suggestion to keep it from getting out. She is not very happy today. She got use to being out.
and Welcome to BYC! X2 on the BYC state thread for leads on finding hens in your area. Your local Craigslist and the feed stores that sell chicken feed (often they have bulletin boards) are other places to look.
