I've got ten chickens and have been perusing this site since I got them. I've learned so much here! Four chicks are about 22 weeks old. My Austorlorp and one RIR are laying (for about a week now). I have another RIR and Buff Orpington who haven't started laying yet. I have six others that are about 16 weeks old. Three are RIR's (or production red--who knows--Tractor Supply isn't the best at labeling). The other three were unidentified at Tractor Supply but were black chicks with a white spot on the head. Supposedly pullets, but looks like two of them might be roosters. (They seem to be barred rocks.) I'll have to give them away because I can only have hens in town. They are pretty though. I probably won't be able to contribute a lot to the site because I'm just a beginner, but it's nice to have a place to ask questions. BTW, I live in SE Texas and it has been as hot as Hades here, and my chickens seem to be tolerating the heat just fine. I hope to post some photos of my coop, which I designed and built after looking at lots of photos and plans here, soon!
Welcome hnortman! I'm in hot Texas too. My chickens handled today's heat well-- I think they are getting used to it. Cannot imagaine how it would feel to have all those feathers on in this weather. Congratulations on getting your firest eggs, it sounds like you will be getting a lot of eggs in a very short time into the future. Looking forward to pictures of your coop!
Thanks for the welcomes. I'm sure many people do this, but we keep improving the coop and run. We installed a box fan in the coop (blowing outward) to give a little more ventilation. Recently, we built a little roof section over the area where we keep their feed in the run. It doesn't rain much, but when it does it makes a mess of the feed! We also hung up a bug zapper because the flies got so bad after it rained. We don't keep it on all the time, but it seems to help. I'm going to have some wicked compost with all this heat! It's cooking like crazy, but I have to cover it with a layer of leaves to keep the smell down.
Welcome to BYC! You have come to the coolest place on the internet for chicken knowledge. I started with chickens last summer and the people of BYC have been great. This year I have tried hatching and buying chicks for even more chickeny joy. Please visit my BYC Page for my blog links that you may find informative or amusing. Quote:You may be pleasantly surprised at how much you can contribute. Being a newbie did not slow me down a bit....
