New from Central Texas

[Blue Raptor]

Hello y'all, from Central Texas. My wife and I are considering getting laying chickens for our 3 person family. We have friends who have chickens and my daughter (8yo) has loved chickens (I think) for as far back as I can remember. Whenever chickens are around she will follow them around and eventually end up with one in her arms. She's never considered them her "favorite" animal though. Anyway, she is allergic to cats and we are not a dog family (tried that and failed). So we are thinking chickens might be right for us. Plus, who can argue with back yard fresh eggs. That's better than farm fresh!

We don't have any yet but we are looking to get between 4 and 6 hens, no roosters. I don't know yet what breed I want. It has to be cuddly for the 8yo to pick up and heat tolerant for the HOT summers here in the Austin, TX area. Oh, and hopefully something brown so the stray feathers blend in with the yard more.

I'm also trying to figure out accommodations for the ladies so they will be cool enough in the summer (114F) and will still be ok in the winter (occasionally down into the teens except for during snowmageddon when it was down to 8F!!!). It was 15F last night with a wind chill of -1. Yikes!

This seems like a good community. I'm sure I can learn a lot from y'all. Just have to keep digging.

Happy roosting!

Welcome to BYC!! Merry Christmas!

 

[TXchickmum]

from North Texas! Australorps are great heat tolerant breeds with which we've had good luck! Open air coops/runs work well for our climate. -lots of shade and fresh cool water make for a more tolerable summer. We've got misters and fans on the run for the really hot days. (My girls are having a party in this cold right now. -not phasing them.)
Good luck on your new poultry journey!

 

[swampfox440]

We are at -5F and dropping windchill is -30 and dropping. welcome to BYC! pleased to meet you and thanks for joining us.

 

[DobieLover]

Hello and welcome to BYC! Glad you joined.

 

[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!

 

[chrissynemetz]

Welcome to BYC! We're glad you decided to join us!

 

[rjohns39]

Hi and welcome to BYC We're so happy you've decided to join us

 

[Idaho Chicken Bungalow]

Welcome to the coop! I use the Forums and Articles tabs at the top of the page to do research. You can get lost for hours. It's nice to know you are minutes away from getting help with questions and emergencies!
My Pet Chicken have filters in the search of both heat/cold tolerant birds. In my experience some chickens are harder to keep alive in the extreme heat than the extreme cold.