I'm wondering which breeds are more heat hardy and have done best for any of you here in Louisiana. I'd like to have two or three different breeds, and lean towards darker eggs and gentler birds, since I enjoy holding and petting my animals most. Opinions?
I have had the following breeds over the years:
Ameracaunas, Easter Eggers, Black Australorps, Welsummers, Cuckoo Marans, Exhequeur Leghorns, Blue Andalusians, Blue Rocks, Blue Orpingtons, Rhode Island Reds, & I forget what all else.
Of these, the Blue Andalusians are the most heat hardy - they will lay in the worst summer heat but they lay white eggs & altho mine were hatched by me & handled from birth & friendly, as a whole, they are not a "cuddly" breed. The Orpingtons did worst in the heat -- they had a lot of English blood in them & were VERY fluffy, which may have been a factor. My cousin across the road keeps a flock of Buff Orpingtons & swears by them - they lay well & are friendly.
My Welsummers & Cuckoo Marans both have done fine & I'll always some of them in my flock. Mine lay a nice, dark egg, some of the Welsummers a speckedly egg - both breeds are from breeders not hatchery stock. I keep the EEs because who doesn't like a green or blue egg? So - Welsummers, Marans and EEs are the mainstay of my laying flock. All of mine are friendly & follow me around -- again, I hatched all of these birds so "I'm the Mama"!
The Rhode Island Reds & Blue Australorps are just the 2 breeds I'm currently "playing" with. Whether I keep them permanently or not depends on how well they lay & how much I like them.
Now that I'm thinking about it, I'm pretty sure he said he got the chicks from a lady who got the eggs from Georgia. Whatever the case, I think they're really close to the SOP.
