New in Texas

[chickluvinfreak]

Our RIR's didn't do well in the heat here - we have humidity instead of a dry heat - it's really the humidity that does them in.

My friend lost all her RIR's roo's to the heat too this year. You'll want smaller birds that do better in the humidity unless you want to have a swamp cooler, or AC in the chicken house for them.

Our heat indexes in a lot of area's of texas, especially closer to the coast, will hit 140+ even in the shade. 

I wasn't sure if Texas got humid or not and I don't know what breeds do well in humidity. Do any chickens? The dryness is one of the only good things about arizona. And it gets 140 degrees in Texas!? I don't know how you or the chickens can live in that. I lost almost my whole flock last year when it was 120 degrees. It was before I has installed misters. This year has gone by much better with misters and constant water checks.

 

[Flock In Texas]

Where in Texas are you? We've only been in texas for just over 2 years now - but I think were here to stay!

Your biggest issue with owning chickens in texas will be the heat... make sure whatever flock you decide to get, that you get birds that are heat hardy - I've done a tone of research since all my big RIR roosters died from the heat on our first attempt. (yikes.)

So, if you want suggestions, let me know!

We live in the DFW area. The humidity is not as bad as the coast, but we get less rain also. I'm all ears for suggestions. I really don't want to kill a bunch of chickens on my first try.

I wasn't sure if Texas got humid or not and I don't know what breeds do well in humidity. Do any chickens? The dryness is one of the only good things about arizona. And it gets 140 degrees in Texas!? I don't know how you or the chickens can live in that. I lost almost my whole flock last year when it was 120 degrees. It was before I has installed misters. This year has gone by much better with misters and constant water checks.

We have more humidity than Arizona, but it doesn't get quite as hot. We have had a mild Summer so far. We have only had about 7 or 8 triple digit days and the highest heat index has been about 107. We usually have 20 or 30 100+ days by this time in August. I have a large Bradford Pear tree in the middle of my back yard. I plan to put the tractor where it gets evening shade. I will freeze table scraps and fruits and veggies for snacks and put ice in the water reservoir instead of water.

I plan to put the food and water buckets inside of the tractor (out of the Sun). I want to plumb them so that food and water are dispensed at the ground level, under the main house, and I will plumb in fill ports that are accessible outside. I may attach awnings that can be moved around for shade and attached to my top corner eye bolts with carabiners. The eye bolts are primarily for security during winds, but I like to multitask.

I guess what's holding me up from starting construction is I was hoping for a free pair of wheels. I didn't want to get too far and make it heavy before I made it mobile. I have a pair of very large casters for the end near the handles so I can redirect it while I slightly lift it, but I want bigger wheels that will lower to get the tractor off of the ground. I check Craigs list for wagons, lawn mowers, dollies, etc....., but I'm trying hard to find something I don't have to inflate. I may break down and buy a pair at Tractor Supply, Northern Tools, or Lowes.

For you veterans out there, Lowe's and Home Depot give 10% discount to veterans with proof of veteran status. I'm not retired military or even a VA patient, but they accept the "Veteran" status on my CHL and driver's license. I've saved over $1000 in the last 5-6 years from that alone.

Thanks for the replies.

 

[kajira]

I wasn't sure if Texas got humid or not and I don't know what breeds do well in humidity. Do any chickens? The dryness is one of the only good things about arizona. And it gets 140 degrees in Texas!? I don't know how you or the chickens can live in that. I lost almost my whole flock last year when it was 120 degrees. It was before I has installed misters. This year has gone by much better with misters and constant water checks.

With the humidity, the heat indexes get really hot - where I live, it averages 105-109 during the hottest parts of the summer, for a few hours a day... add in the humidity, and it raises the heat index another 30+ degrees. It's so hot you could almost cook an egg on your car! A dry heat isn't so bad - our smaller chickens, like the Cochin, and bantam do okay in the heat, I rarely see them panting. My RIR hen is always panting. my RIR/Cochin cross rooster is our only rooster that survived the heat.

We spray down the dog house/coop/tree/ground 2-3x a day during the hot period, refill their pool and all the water out there 2x a day when it's this hot, plus spray them down a few times a day, or my kids will go out there and manually dip them in the pool to cool them off, and share popcicles with them and put out frozen gallon water jugs for them to lay against.

The ones that do okay in the heat seem fine, but all my RIR roo's died - as did pretty much everyone I know who tried to keep them down here, with out having AC in a coop for them. The free-range chickens who survive tend to be smaller and not a "meaty" bird.

 

[kajira]

We live in the DFW area. The humidity is not as bad as the coast, but we get less rain also. I'm all ears for suggestions. I really don't want to kill a bunch of chickens on my first try.

We have more humidity than Arizona, but it doesn't get quite as hot. We have had a mild Summer so far. We have only had about 7 or 8 triple digit days and the highest heat index has been about 107. We usually have 20 or 30 100+ days by this time in August. I have a large Bradford Pear tree in the middle of my back yard. I plan to put the tractor where it gets evening shade. I will freeze table scraps and fruits and veggies for snacks and put ice in the water reservoir instead of water.

I plan to put the food and water buckets inside of the tractor (out of the Sun). I want to plumb them so that food and water are dispensed at the ground level, under the main house, and I will plumb in fill ports that are accessible outside. I may attach awnings that can be moved around for shade and attached to my top corner eye bolts with carabiners. The eye bolts are primarily for security during winds, but I like to multitask.

I guess what's holding me up from starting construction is I was hoping for a free pair of wheels. I didn't want to get too far and make it heavy before I made it mobile. I have a pair of very large casters for the end near the handles so I can redirect it while I slightly lift it, but I want bigger wheels that will lower to get the tractor off of the ground. I check Craigs list for wagons, lawn mowers, dollies, etc....., but I'm trying hard to find something I don't have to inflate. I may break down and buy a pair at Tractor Supply, Northern Tools, or Lowes.

For you veterans out there, Lowe's and Home Depot give 10% discount to veterans with proof of veteran status. I'm not retired military or even a VA patient, but they accept the "Veteran" status on my CHL and driver's license. I've saved over $1000 in the last 5-6 years from that alone.

Thanks for the replies.

You might get away with RIR - but honestly, from my experience with island reds, is they can be aggressive ********, even the females. Especially in a large group.

I would suggest if you don't plan on eating them, you get Silkies, Cochins, or even the polish hens. -- Sex linked (red buff) females do well in the heat and will have nice eggs. I'm going to try a batch of "easter eggers" but they may not do so well in the heat - I'll let you know how they do down here! LOL

We are definitely looking into misters and make-shift swamp coolers for next summer. It's a complete pain in the butt trying to get big enough ice blocks out there every day for them, where I live, we've had 3 days of rain 3 months, and it's 102 right now when it was 2pm, and not even the hottest part of the day.

We rarely get weather below 100 from jun-aug.

 

[chickluvinfreak]

With the humidity, the heat indexes get really hot - where I live, it averages 105-109 during the hottest parts of the summer, for a few hours a day... add in the humidity, and it raises the heat index another 30+ degrees. It's so hot you could almost cook an egg on your car!  A dry heat isn't so bad - our smaller chickens, like the Cochin, and bantam do okay in the heat, I rarely see them panting. My RIR hen is always panting. my RIR/Cochin cross rooster is our only rooster that survived the heat.

We spray down the dog house/coop/tree/ground 2-3x a day during the hot period, refill their pool and all the water out there 2x a day when it's this hot, plus spray them down a few times a day, or my kids will go out there and manually dip them in the pool to cool them off, and share popcicles with them and put out frozen gallon water jugs for them to lay against.

The ones that do okay in the heat seem fine, but all my RIR roo's died - as did pretty much everyone I know who tried to keep them down here, with out having AC in a coop for them. The free-range chickens who survive tend to be smaller and not a "meaty" bird.

That's odd that a fluffy breed like a cochin would do better than a RIR. But I've had bad luck with the breed too. 2 out of the 4 I've owned had seizures or heart attacks when they were at point of lay. I think it's because their a production breed? And the other one died of heat stroke with my other 11 chickens. But they were a mix of breeds (silkies, leghorns, Plymouth rocks, exc.) So it wasn't that it wasn't heat hardy it was just WAY TOO HOT. And the last one did awesome in the heat and was super sweet but a coyote got her . So I I have mixed feelings about Rhode islands and probably won't get them again. I saw where you where you were thinking of putting misters in. I really recommend them. Going out and spraying them down so often really is a pain. And the only reason my new flock is still alive is because of the misters. I don't think they would have made it either if I hadnt put them in.

 

[Flock In Texas]

I read somewhere that the larger, fluffier breeds have more insulation and that insulation protects them from short term heat as well. Is that true or have I been reading on Pinterest too much.

 

[chickluvinfreak]

I read somewhere that the larger, fluffier breeds have more insulation and that insulation protects them from short term heat as well.  Is that true or have I been reading on Pinterest too much.

Haha, I love pinterest a little to much too. I'm not sure if that's true, never heard anything like that before. But if it is that would be really interesting. I'll have too research it a bit and get back too you if i can find anything.

 

[kajira]

Haha, I love pinterest a little to much too. I'm not sure if that's true, never heard anything like that before. But if it is that would be really interesting. I'll have too research it a bit and get back too you if i can find anything.

This is the research i've found, and my cochin hen is the only one who doesn't pant in this heat.

I think the RIR will also refuse to drink warm water - I think that's maybe what did my roosters in. When the water warms up, the other chickens were still willing to drink out of it, but my purebred RIR roo's wouldn't... so heat stroke.

We try to cool the water off - but when it's that hot, it just heats up quickly

They are digging holes under the goat house right now and try to hide under there in this heat. Even the shade undre the tree's not good enough for them. We try to soak the ground to help them out too. My husband is talking about spending 600+ on 2 swamp coolers for each hen house... He said he'd take the winter to figure the best place to do things, and the best way to cool them off. Misters would be fine - but a tiny coop that actually has a little window AC unit kept around 85 inside, might actually be better for them, and wouldn't cost too much for a tiny coop to cool (10? a month maybe.) so 20 total in cooling....

Granted, he'd have to build coops designed specifically for an AC window unit.... LOL

 

[chickluvinfreak]

This is the research i've found, and my cochin hen is the only one who doesn't pant in this heat.

I think the RIR will also refuse to drink warm water - I think that's maybe what did my roosters in. When the water warms up, the other chickens were still willing to drink out of it, but my purebred RIR roo's wouldn't... so heat stroke.

We try to cool the water off - but when it's that hot, it just heats up quickly

They are digging holes under the goat house right now and try to hide under there in this heat. Even the shade undre the tree's not good enough for them. We try to soak the ground to help them out too.  My husband is talking about spending 600+ on 2 swamp coolers for each hen house... He said he'd take the winter to figure the best place to do things, and the best way to cool them off. Misters would be fine - but a tiny coop that actually has a little window AC unit kept around 85 inside, might actually be better for them, and wouldn't cost too much for a tiny coop to cool (10? a month maybe.) so 20  total in cooling....

Granted, he'd have to build coops designed specifically for an AC window unit.... LOL

I'm not sire how much it cost to run AC to a chicken coop just that the intial cost of the units is expensive. But if you can afford it they will probably work better than misters. My misters cool the chicken run by about 10 degrees. They never cool down to 85 degrees even if it's only a 100 out. Plus misters create more moisture which is fine if it's dry out but could be a problem since you have humidity. So you think Cochins do well in the heat because they'll drink warmer water than RIR?

 

[kajira]

I'm not sire how much it cost to run AC to a chicken coop just that the intial cost of the units is expensive. But if you can afford it they will probably work better than misters. My misters cool the chicken run by about 10 degrees. They never cool down to 85 degrees even if it's only a 100 out. Plus misters create more moisture which is fine if it's dry out but could be a problem since you have humidity.

Yeah for us, you want swamp coolers, or AC here - I never see anyone here use misters, they usually have an AC'd hen house, or a swamp cooler setup in a small area for them.

Running the electricty to the unit wouldn't cost much, a cheap "window" unit ac is about 80 bucks a apiece, so 160 for the 2 units + extension cords ran along our fence lines to power them. (Not a big deal either.)

However, a swamp cooler may be a better solution, depending on the price, and how we build our coops. This summer was also hotter with a lot less rain than last couple of years.