Chicken off laying

[gofficer]

HI I have two girls one who is an Isa brown X something who I adopted as she could not integrate into a flock however she seemed really distressed being left out from the rest of my pets and kept coming into the house. I then found a frizzle cross who is young and small so introduced them and Chook Chook my older girl seems to have taken to her after putting her in her place the first few days and now they are firm friends.

However my issue is that before I introduced Squeak Frizzle Sticks (yes a 7 year old named her) Chook Chook would lay pretty much every day. Now i have not seen a egg since the introduction. She does have a habit of hiding her eggs but I have been through the garden and can't find them. I am in Melbourne so it has been hot (in the 30's) and I have noticed her keeping her wings out and hanging out by the dog door as the air con lets some cool air out. Could the heat be knocking her around? Or has the introduction of the new hen been the issues? Also how long should I wait before I get worried and take her down to my chook savy vet? She is a pet and I don't really eat eggs but so not worried about the egg production but don't want to lose her.

 

[Fred's Hens]

You guessed it pretty well.

Excessive heat will stop hens from laying. They simply get out of the mood. Anytime you make introductions, the social network of their world gets all upset. Chickens have a tight social structure and they react badly to change, any kind of change, and not laying is very typically the result.

Hope it cools down for you. Shade, misting water all help. Fans to move the air. The integration issues just take time. Best regards.

 

[gofficer]

Thanks for that, we had a vet visit just to be on the safe side and he sad the same thing, so I have set up the misters for them off the avairys and also been putting ice in their water and no eggs yet but both seem happier.