The best chicken here in tropical northern Australia is a duck. Khaki Campbell's.
In summer chickens lay in the shade with their wings held out to the sides, panting in obvious distress. They don't lay because of the heat and high humidity. They don't lay in our extremely mild winters because they're moulting.
Ducks don't care about stinking hot, humid weather.
They keep on truckin' regardless.
I'm not sure how broody they are but at least there are no restrictions on owning drakes like there are with roosters in built up areas.
I will always own chickens as I need them to work over compost but the chicken flock are the "B" team here.