New to chickens in Texas

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chickenewbie08

chickenewbie08

Hatching
Oct 2, 2016
4
0
7
Texas
Hi I'm new to raising chickens. We have 4 production reds that have yet to start laying. They are around 9-10 months now. I'm thinking it's just been way too hot here in Texas. We have a chicken tractor that we built our selves. Thanks for any help!
 
I'm in Texas.

You need to freeze gallon ice jugs and put them out there for them to lay against when it's hot. Put some in their water to cool it down, give them frozen fruit/veggies or even popcicles when it's REALLY hot to cool their core temps down and get a mister. If they are on dirt, soak the wood/cage/floor etc and it will act kind of like a swamp cooler, cooling things down as it evaporates. We are home enough that we do this a few times a day during the hottest part of the afternoon.

The gallon water jugs frozen last all afternoon for them... and they LOVE the frozen veggies/fruit and popsicles the kids give them.

There are birds better in the heat than others... but making sure you have shade, and using frozen water and other techniques, your birds can survive.

Smaller birds, like bantams, silkies, Cochins and many others, do better in the heat. The larger the body mass, the worse they do in the heat here.
 
Thanks for the tips. They seem to be doing pretty well, we've had them since July. They have access to shade and they are on grass and we move them every couple days. We make sure they always have water. I need to get some gallon jugs and try that. We save our watermelon rinds and freeze those for them. I'm sure everyone will be happy when it starts to cool down a little bit.
 
chickenewbie08 said:
Thanks for the tips. They seem to be doing pretty well, we've had them since July. They have access to shade and they are on grass and we move them every couple days. We make sure they always have water. I need to get some gallon jugs and try that. We save our watermelon rinds and freeze those for them. I'm sure everyone will be happy when it starts to cool down a little bit.
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our birds like it a lot LOL
 
Greetings from Kansas and :welcome. Great to have you with us! Yes, the Texas heat can take take its toll....still you should have gotten something by now. When its very hot my girls will avoid the hot coop and lay under a shady shrub or the like. They can be quite creative where they stash them. If you give them any free range opportunities, look in every cool, shady spot you can think of. But if you don't let them out and you still haven't had eggs after this long, I'd post here https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/18/chicken-behaviors-and-egglaying.

As a newbie you also might read up on the Learning Center here https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center

It has loads of great information. You might also locate one of the TX threads in the link below if you'd like to chat with fellow Lone Stars. https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/26/where-am-i-where-are-you
Good luck and best wishes! :)
 
redsoxs said:
Greetings from Kansas and :welcome. Great to have you with us! Yes, the Texas heat can take take its toll....still you should have gotten something by now. When its very hot my girls will avoid the hot coop and lay under a shady shrub or the like. They can be quite creative where they stash them. If you give them any free range opportunities, look in every cool, shady spot you can think of. But if you don't let them out and you still haven't had eggs after this long, I'd post here https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/18/chicken-behaviors-and-egglaying.

As a newbie you also might read up on the Learning Center here https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center

It has loads of great information. You might also locate one of the TX threads in the link below if you'd like to chat with fellow Lone Stars. https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/26/where-am-i-where-are-you
Good luck and best wishes! :)
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Thanks! Yes I've done lots of reading and I'm stumped! I did post in the chicken behaviors and egg laying forum. The lady I got the chickens from said she expected them to start laying any time, but that definitely by September. Well September has come and gone and still no eggs. The coop has Windows, although not very large ones (I've told my husband we should make them bigger) and the run is about 24" wide by 15' long and attached to the coop and they get moved to fresh grass every 2-3 days. So not too many places to hide eggs. Maybe they are just lazy? :/
 
chickenewbie08 said:
Thanks! Yes I've done lots of reading and I'm stumped! I did post in the chicken behaviors and egg laying forum. The lady I got the chickens from said she expected them to start laying any time, but that definitely by September. Well September has come and gone and still no eggs. The coop has Windows, although not very large ones (I've told my husband we should make them bigger) and the run is about 24" wide by 15' long and attached to the coop and they get moved to fresh grass every 2-3 days. So not too many places to hide eggs. Maybe they are just lazy?
hmm.png
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When we got ours in the spring, we got them at 16+ weeks and those one's held off laying until closer to 24 weeks... instead of 20. So that may be your case too. It was nearly another 4-6 weeks AFTER we expected them to start laying, that they did.
 

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