Nice! We live in Garland right near Richardson. We put ours out last October at 8 weeks and they did fine. What you’re thinking of sounds great. I don’t really know anything about silkies, but I think at 8 weeks all chickens are pretty weather hearty. All ours did fine last winter as it’s not...
We also have to clean it more in the spring because of the rain and our yard doesn’t drain well. We are just in a backyard. What part of north Dallas are you in?
Me too! We use leaves or grass clippings combined with pine shavings for substrate. Every few months we completely bag up all the floor and start afresh.