Texas

[84097newbei]

New to Texas and in the Coastal Bend area, Ingleside to be precise. I am looking for someone in this area that can give me info on the best way to protect any girls I get. i.e. heat, humidity, insects... I had 5 beautiful Reds in Utah and just loved taking care of them. Pets that gave me butt nuggets...lol

 

[AllenK RGV]

New to Texas and in the Coastal Bend area, Ingleside to be precise. I am looking for someone in this area that can give me info on the best way to protect any girls I get. i.e. heat, humidity, insects... I had 5 beautiful Reds in Utah and just loved taking care of them. Pets that gave me butt nuggets...lol

I would certainly research heat tolerant breeds. If you need hatchery quality stock to start off Ideal.com is near Austin, or check craigslist. Your coop needs to be ready for the occasional hurricane as you can probably see Harvey just trashed your area in August.
Welcome to BYC BTW.

So I'd recommend a Coop with a concrete pad, hurricane tiedowns fired into the concrete for the feet, a windstorm rated type coop roof. All of this is just on the assumption that you might grow fond of them and treat them like pets, but if it is only the butt nuggets you want save the money and be ready to accept the losses every 8-10 years.

If you are a do it yourselfer, go up into your attic and see why your roof must have survived an almost direct hit from Harvey an emulate its features.

 

[AllenK RGV]

Some other thoughts about living near the coast we have summer 11 months out of the year. My area actually saw snow Christmass 2004 and people still talk about it. When things get wet repeatedly they mold and mildew rapidly. Get used to mosquitoes, but I will tell you vitamin B-1 is amazing if taken daily for repelling them. I didn't believe my wife when she told me about it but believe her now.

Not much you can do against the heat and humidity except install misters which in turn will cause mold and mildew for your chicken. Shade Cloth can help too. If you can site your coop in the shade do so north facing walls are the best for a start if there is no shade available. Don't underestimate the importance of shade at these latitudes direct sunlight adds like 15-20 degrees F between 2PM and 5PM.

As far as insects go in Texas if it is furry or lives under a dark rock just don't touch it unless it is a rolypoly or you know what it is. Pretty much everything here can either bite pinch or sting. Wear leather garden gloves when moving things is what we do for the most part working in the yard.

My wife also wants me to let you know never ever leave the washing machine door closed when not in use, or leave wet clothes in the washer/dryer for more than 24 hours as it is nearly impossible to get those mildew smells out if you do. We have those front loaders with the round windows on them so I don't know if a toploading washer experiences the same issues.

 

[EquiSally]

New to Texas and in the Coastal Bend area, Ingleside to be precise. I am looking for someone in this area that can give me info on the best way to protect any girls I get. i.e. heat, humidity, insects... I had 5 beautiful Reds in Utah and just loved taking care of them. Pets that gave me butt nuggets...lol

I grew up in Rockport. Parents are still there, so I head down when I can. Mom and dad have always had chickens, they have had RIR, Sexlinks, and the current batch contains maybe 15 Easter Eggers.
The coop is in the shade 24/7, which is probably the best way to go there; waters & feed are full 24/7. Never lost a bird from heat that I can recall.
They deal with the mosquitoes far better than I do, they eat the big ones if the can catch them. They free range daily and eat loads of insects, but also have (& require) plenty of places to escape the hawks that also live on the property. Yes: They could get eaten if the dogs are inside and they aren't paying attention. Free ranging during the day is a risk my parents are willing to take and they are fully aware of what might happen. (If they get injured, dad is a vet, he can stich it up or put it out of it's misery.) However, the girls are locked up at night, the coop has a floor, plenty of hardware cloth ventilation and windows (that can be closed with wood shutters). The fenced run goes underground and has a fenced ceiling because of the heavy raccoon, opossum, & hawk presence.
The coop and my parents house survived Harvey. The trees took the brunt of the damage. The girls main shade tree actually fell on the coop... but it may be what held the coop down. Dad built it with a good framing system because of occasional crazy winds down there. Anyhow, I'm sure they'll find another way to give them all shade this summer. The first picture is the coop after Harvey, the 2nd pic is after we cleared their shade tree. It's all fixed now and survived pretty well.
Soooo, I guess my point is that you can live in that area and have your chickens too. If you get another hurricane, it's not hard to put 5 or so chickens in a dog kennel and evacuate with them. Good luck with your Texas adventure. Personally, I love that area.

 

[AllenK RGV]

The coop is in the shade 24/7, which is probably the best way to go there; waters & feed are full 24/7. Never lost a bird from heat that I can recall......

but also have (& require) plenty of places to escape the hawks that also live on the property. Yes: They could get eaten if the dogs are inside and they aren't paying attention.

Free ranging during the day is a risk my parents are willing to take and they are fully aware of what might happen. the coop has a floor, plenty of hardware cloth ventilation and windows (that can be closed with wood shutters). The fenced run goes underground and has a fenced ceiling because of the heavy raccoon, opossum, & hawk presence.

Dad built it with a good framing system because of occasional crazy winds down there. I'm sure they'll find another way to give them all shade this summer.

I like your Dad and betting he installs shade cloths over the coop and run. I was really impressed that his coop survived a direct hit from Cat 4 Harvey. Tell him hello from the folks at BYC!

Outside of hawks in this region all of our predators are night time predators. Coyote, Raccoon, Possum, neighborhood dogs(or dummys dumping unwanted pets in the country) are encountered Texas Wide. edit--Forgot to mention Feral Pigs as a predator nearly Texaswide.

Up in north TX Black Bears are becoming more common, and Puma/Cougars, and bobcats are common predators.

Down here in the Valley you can add potentially but rare as heck Jaguarundi(I have seen 1), ocelot(only seen 1 stuffed in a nature reserve) potentially Havalina, and super rare Jaguar(I don't believe they cross the border here). Also in the winter time in South Coastal Texas the Hawk populations explode from 1 or 2 types to 10+ types overwintering with us. We also get one from Mexico in the Valley to overwinter that kind of boggles my mind.

So noctural predators means ya need a secure the coop or be willing to accept losses.

Oh and wanted to shrink your post that was quoted to the points I'm in total agreement with. I hope you do not mind that I did the editing of a quote attributed to you EquiSally.

 

[EquiSally]

They are precious!!!!!

So all 13 of my hatchery chicks are doing great with their adopted momma! This is so much easier than brooding them inside. I was surprised because she is rather small but has managed to keep everyone warm.
I still cringe when she starts vigorously scratching in & around the food dish while babies run under her. If only she knew she is just burying perfectly good feed, and not surfacing it. So wasteful. Lol. This weekend I need to add a wall mounted feeder that she can't knock over or get up into. At least she is light and the bedding is fluffy if they get stepped on. Fingers crossed that this continues to go well.

 

[Kiki]

So all 13 of my hatchery chicks are doing great with their adopted momma! This is so much easier than brooding them inside. I was surprised because she is rather small but has managed to keep everyone warm.
I still cringe when she starts vigorously scratching in & around the food dish while babies run under her. If only she knew she is just burying perfectly good feed, and not surfacing it. So wasteful. Lol. This weekend I need to add a wall mounted feeder that she can't knock over or get up into. At least she is light and the bedding is fluffy if they get stepped on. Fingers crossed that this continues to go well.

Pictures!!!!

 

[AllenK RGV]

So all 13 of my hatchery chicks are doing great with their adopted momma! This is so much easier than brooding them inside. I was surprised because she is rather small but has managed to keep everyone warm.
I still cringe when she starts vigorously scratching in & around the food dish while babies run under her. If only she knew she is just burying perfectly good feed, and not surfacing it. So wasteful. Lol. This weekend I need to add a wall mounted feeder that she can't knock over or get up into. At least she is light and the bedding is fluffy if they get stepped on. Fingers crossed that this continues to go well.

So what breed of chicks are you going with?

 

[AllenK RGV]

Funniest thing I watched the local weather forcast just now and it hit me.....In north Texas WFAA or KXAS refered to Cold Fronts as "Cold Fronts", the local KRGV station calls them "Cool Fronts" guess I'll try KHOU and see what they call them. It was just odd as I still refer to them as Cold Fronts and have never heard the term cool front before.

 

[Kiki]

Cool fronts is normal to me.
It rarely gets COLD here.