What breed of chicken would be better for Northeastern TX?

[turtlemother3]

We have a half acre in town and I have found out we can have 4 chickens per 1/4 acre's. My idea is to have a garden with flowers, fruits and veggies that would be fenced in, with the chicken coop connected to the garden. We would like chickens that are friendly with the family, would help take care of the garden (unwanted bugs), and that would produce eggs. What would you suggest and where would I need to look to get chicks in the spring? I say chicks because I heard that if you get them young then they know the family as they grow.

This is somethings that I have read, so if some of these things I have written are not true, please let me know. Just learning here peeps!

Thank you in advance!

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Chickens will eat every green living thing in the garden eventually, so you may want to do the Balfour method.

This involves having two chicken yards attached to the henhouse. You only give them access to one side, and garden the other side. Then the following year, switch over. This way your place is totally down to dirt when you plant your seeds, and already fertilized. It is also healthy for the chickens as the soil can rest and may help prevent frequent worm problems.

Plan to use 1/4 inch hardware cloth to keep out rats/weasels/raccoons/dogs from your coop windows- not chicken wire.

For the fencing, plan on netting overhead if you have a hawk problem (think snow load for overhead netting, heavy knotted netting). I use regular 2x4 inch field fence and it works well (if you use a dog kennel as a shelter make sure you line it with another type of fencing along the bottom or the hawks and owls will pull them through the fence).

I would definitely get chicks since it is much less risky in terms of getting chicken diseases than buying older hens. Chickens have a lot of diseases they can get. They may come to you infested with worms if you buy older ones.

Additionally, some reports of chicken moats are fun to read (chicken run surrounds garden to keep bugs from reaching plants). I have not tried this myself.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

You can also just fence your garden out of the chickens' reach. Then let them into the garden after the season is over for cleanup.

Oh I forgot to mention breeds:
Henderson's chicken chart is good to look at as well as the breeds section of BYC.

You need to decide if you want fliers or heavy fowl, white or brown eggs, bantams or standard, and so on.

If you could mention these choices it would help.