what breeds do well in florida weather?

[floridagirl13]

I live in mainland florida and I am curious, which breeds are better suited for the miserably hot summers we have down here. I don't want to purchase the wrong breed for our climate, you know?

 

[flgardengirl]

HI I am in FL and all of the breeds I have do pretty good except the pure Ameraucanas. They seem to suffer a lot in the heat and humidity compared to the others and they don't lay well when its hot.
Key West chickens thrive and flourish in KW florida so they are great for all of florida. They are a smaller chicken and lay small eggs but do lay every day. A lot of people seem to like the small eggs for pickled eggs. They are good foragers and good at watching for hawks and other predators and are excellent mamas. The father's/roos are very involved in raising their chicks too.
If you want larger birds for eating them and for larger eggs, the Marans, Orpingtons, Olive eggers (Marans x Ameraucana cross), RIR, Barred rocks, Leghorns, Sussex, etc all seem to do well here for me.
Silkies do well here too. They are good layers of small whitish eggs.

 

[floridagirl13]

Oh! Thank you! That's wonderful!! I've been looking at a hatchery catalog and I've been considering most of those breeds. The catalog just didn't provide detailed information about what kind of weather they tolerate. Are there any hatcheries here in Florida?