We live in Northern Wyoming, in an area between three mountain ranges and we are considered "high desert" here. We get sub-zero lows in the winter (hit 19 below the first week of November!) and hot, dry summers. Chickens suffer more in the heat than they do in the winter. I have
Easter Eggers, which did very well in this climate, both last summer and all winter. Egg laying was okay during the winter, but first year layers often do very well then kinda drop off as the years (or sometimes months) go by. Their small combs are a real advantage in the cold. The other breed we were very happy with was our
Red Sex Links, also known as
Golden Sex Links, Golden Comets, Red Stars - they have many names. The biggest advantage there is that they can be sexed at hatching, so if you want all girls your chances of getting all girls is pretty high. They also did well in the heat and the cold. The
Buff Orpington did very well during the winter, but she is so heavily feathered and heavy bodied that the summer was tough on her. She's worth the effort, though, because she has that laid back personality Buff Orpingtons are deservedly known for. We have
Cuckoo Marans and they handled both the warm and cold quite well, even though they have rather large combs...at least mine do. This year marks my foray into both
Buff and
Light Brahmas, which should have absolutely no problems during the winter, but being heavily feathered and big bodied birds keeping them this summer might be a bit of a challenge.
With good ventilation, most chickens will do well in almost any weather. You just need to be a little more creative in the summer.....lots of ideas out there for that. I keep dabs of frozen vegetables - you know, that last little bit in the freezer bag that is not enough for a meal but too much to dump
- and dump it all together in one large resealable freezer bag. Then I take the bag out and dump some of it in the run. Like most others, I also add ice to waterers, freeze empty plastic freezer pop bottles full of water and set them around the run, and they can't seem to get enough watermelon in summer, either!
You are way smarter than me - I let my enthusiasm run away with my common sense and started studying and researching AFTER I already had 22 chicks in the brooder! The Learning Center, in the top of the BYC home page, is jam packed with fantastic information and lots of good ideas. You can also research breeds by clicking on the Breed tab. And as always, help is usually just a post away. Welcome!
Edited to add: The birds I listed are the ones I have personal experience with and it is by no means a complete list. Everyone has favorites, and rightfully so, and many will be happy to share what they know about breeds that I have mentioned and the many I haven't.
welcome to BYC !!
