New to chickens

[EmKelly]

Hello everyone,
Next week we will be getting our chicks (4 RIR's). We live in Central Florida, and I was wondering if anyone has experience with raising chickens in Florida. With the heat, humidity, and potential predators are there any tips you may have or anything special I should do to keep my chickens healthy. Thank you

 

[redsoxs]

Greetings from Kansas EmKelly, and ! Great to have you in our community. Here are some links to help you on your maiden voyage with chickens:
The Learning Center is packed with informative articles that will well prepare you to be a responsible chicken keeper. You'll want to spend a lot of time initially in the Baby Chicks section but read ahead as well. https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center
You mentioned predators as well. In the Keeping Your Chickens Healthy section of the Learning Center you'll see useful articles about the many beasts out there that love chicken, and how to prevent them from getting yours!
Hers is a link where you can find the FL thread should you like to chat or ask questions of other Florida poultry folk: https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/26/where-am-i-where-are-you
I wish you well on your poultry journey. Peruse the forums and ask any questions you have along the way. Best wishes!

 

[Pork Pie]

Hi and welcome to BYC - great that you have joined us. Redsoxs has given you plenty of helpful links, but here's another, just for good measure

- https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/788391/keeping-chickens-cool-in-summer-heat

Best wishes
CT

 

[N F C]

Until this spring when we moved to WY, I lived in central FL and had a flock. The heat and humidity can do a real number on the chickens so you're wise to be prepared for it. The FL state thread is a great place to get local help and they are a very friendly bunch of people.

A few of the things I did:
* Put out extra waterers (sometimes I'd put frozen water bottles in them)
* A shallow plastic tub for the girls to stand in
* Removed the glass windows from their coop and put in hardware cloth "windows"
* Run a box fan in the coop, not pointed at the birds, to aid with air circulation
* Gave them cooling treats like melon and cucumber
* Sprayed their run with water a few times a day to keep the ground cooler

Enjoy your new flock, thanks for joining us!

 

[CuzChickens]

Hello there and welcome to Backyard Chickens! You have gotten some great advice and links already, so I'll just say hi!

 

[RodNTN]

Hi and

You have already been given some great tips, links, and advice so I will just say enjoy BYC and best wishes!

 

[BantamFan4Life]

Welcome to BYC! I'm glad you joined us!

 

[QueenMisha]

Welcome to BYC! It's great to have you.

 

[drumstick diva]

 

[sourland]

Welcome to BYC. Good luck with, and enjoy your birds.