Southern California San Fernando Valley

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jglassick

jglassick

Hatching
5 Years
Jul 17, 2014
2
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I have just joined... and am doing the research on my own backyard chickens...
because of Coyotes etc. in my area we have to have an enclosed coop... got some great ideas on building a fully enclosed coop from the website...

but now for the real question... what type of chickens can I raise here in the San Fernando valley... it does get hot 100 degrees a couple of weeks during the summer...

suggestions are certainly appreciated!!!

I did the research on the website and it gives me 3 options because I picked hot location... is that correct?

I would like egg laying chickens!

Thanks

Jon
 
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Welcome to BYC! I have the perfect chicken for you--the Black Australorp. They are extremely hardy and heat resistant. I raised them in the northern Sacramento Valley where summer temperatures commonly frequently reached 117-118 F (123 F once), and with shade, good ventilation in the coop, and plenty of fresh water, they did just fine. In addition, they are calm and gentle birds (I've raised lots of them and never had an agressive one), and they are the best layers of the standard brown egg laying breeds. Until it was broken in 1979 by a caged White Leghorn (which are high strung and flighty birds), the world's egg laying record was held by a Black Australorp with 364 eggs in 365 days (still a record for brown egg layers), and while my Australorps have never reached that kind of production (and likely never will), I have still had a few of them lay more than 300 eggs in a year. You can research these breeds for yourself (a good place to start is the Breeds icon at the top of this page) and Murray McMurray has an excellent "Chick Selector" at http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/chick_selector.html to help you select the best breed for your purposes (just be sure to click on "show more characteristics."). Whatever breed you eventually decide to get, good luck with your flock.
 
There are all sorts of heat tolerant chickens out there. The Mediterranean class are all heat tolerant. That would include Buttercups, Anaconas, Leghorns, Minorcas, Catalanas, Andalusians and Penedesencas. Other breeds would be any smaller bodied, lightly feathered chicken like sex links, game birds, EEs, Fayoumi and the long tail breeds. You have plenty to pick from. The better layers on that list will be the sex linked, leghorns and EEs.
 
Hello there and welcome to BYC!
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I am not sure. But you might do some chatting with your chicken neighbors in your state thread to see what breeds they keep and how they survive your brutally hot climate....https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/161/california-southern

Enjoy this new adventure you are on and welcome to our flock!
 
Hello :frow and Welcome To BYC! You've gotten some good suggestions above, here are also some chicken breed charts that mention if birds are heat tolerant, http://www.sagehenfarmlodi.com/chooks/chooks.html and http://www.albc-usa.org/documents/chickenbreedcomparison.pdf and http://www.mypetchicken.com/chicken-breeds/breed-list.aspx
when you have narrowed down your choices, don't forget to check the BYC Reviews section for member reviews on the different breeds. https://www.backyardchickens.com/products/category/chicken-breeds
 
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from Washington! In our flock we have great people and it is always great to have a new member:) In our flock, we have no pecking order!

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By the way, not saying that you will do anything bad, but no fowl play
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Michael O shay has all the info:)
 
I hate heat, my best advice would be to move somewhere cooler.
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I do think they are threads on BYC that deal with getting chickens through the hot weather, re: misting hoses, real or artificial shade, fans, frozen water bottles etc. Welcome to the flock.
 

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