gmadden62
Hatching
Hi guys!
I've been a regular visitor to BYC, but have not taken the time to join until today. So... hello!
We live in Southern California in the suburbs and have a small, 4 hen flock. Our girls recently started laying. Poppy, our Buff Orpington is 20-1/2 weeks old, Lily, our Easter Egger and Daisy our Barred Rock are 19 weeks, and Hyacinth our Silver Lace Wyandotte is 18 weeks. Poppy has been laying fairly regularly for the past two weeks other than two soft/shell-less eggs. Lily has been laying regularly for about a week and it appears the other two have joined Team Egg Layer as well. But we have a problem.
The past two weeks, the temperatures have been above 100 degrees every day. We keep a fan on all day long, give them ice in their water to keep it cool, give them a chunk of watermelon to snack on also for hydration purposes and our coop and run is in the shade. Nevertheless, it appears that egg production as dropped off and today we got two shell-less eggs that were in the coop below the roost rather than in their nesting boxes.
My concern is that the high temperatures are wreaking havoc with my girls.
Do any of you veteran flock keepers have experience with very high temperatures and changes in egg production? Should I be concerned? Is there anything more I can do?
Thank you for your comments.
G
I've been a regular visitor to BYC, but have not taken the time to join until today. So... hello!
We live in Southern California in the suburbs and have a small, 4 hen flock. Our girls recently started laying. Poppy, our Buff Orpington is 20-1/2 weeks old, Lily, our Easter Egger and Daisy our Barred Rock are 19 weeks, and Hyacinth our Silver Lace Wyandotte is 18 weeks. Poppy has been laying fairly regularly for the past two weeks other than two soft/shell-less eggs. Lily has been laying regularly for about a week and it appears the other two have joined Team Egg Layer as well. But we have a problem.
The past two weeks, the temperatures have been above 100 degrees every day. We keep a fan on all day long, give them ice in their water to keep it cool, give them a chunk of watermelon to snack on also for hydration purposes and our coop and run is in the shade. Nevertheless, it appears that egg production as dropped off and today we got two shell-less eggs that were in the coop below the roost rather than in their nesting boxes.
My concern is that the high temperatures are wreaking havoc with my girls.
Do any of you veteran flock keepers have experience with very high temperatures and changes in egg production? Should I be concerned? Is there anything more I can do?
Thank you for your comments.
G