I have three chickens and only one is laying ???

[Ocar3273]

Ok, so I live in a place that is kinda hot right now and it has left some of the chickens panting is that a reason that they are not laying ?
Or please tell me anything that is essential in their diet

Thank you!!!

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

What breed(s) and ages are the birds? Were they previously paying and then stopped? If they stopped, how long has it been?

 

[Ocar3273]

Well they are only a year old the older one actually is laying better than the younger ones, we have the Plymouth Rock (she lays good)
Then I think either astralorpes or black Orpington (they are not all that good.

 

[333113]

Make sure they have lots of water if they are panting, and a shady area to retreat to when the sun is high. They are probably hot.

Changes in the weather can slow down layers for a while, then they adapt to the weather and resume laying. When I was in the army they used to tell us that it takes two weeks for a person to get acclimated to a change in weather or climate. It's not that much different for birds.

 

[Ocar3273]

Ok Thanks that was very helpful

 

[333113]

We are all going through a bit of this egg slowdown right now. Change of seasons is always rough but this year with our Midwest storms we are constantly cycling between hot and chilly. With luck this will settle down to weather we can all get used to!

 

[Ocar3273]

Ok

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Yup, mine always take a break in the hot summer months and again in the winter when daylight hours are short and the weather is cold. They also won't lay while they're moulting but I have not figured out if that's during the summer heat or some other time. We usually always get SOME eggs all the time but we average 20 - 25 birds, so I guess they take turns.

 

[Ocar3273]

Ok, ya I got 2 eggs this morning so only one more isn’t laying

 

[GC-Raptor]

Ok, so I live in a place that is kinda hot right now and it has left some of the chickens panting is that a reason that they are not laying ?
Or please tell me anything that is essential in their diet

Thank you!!!

Last summer my Golden Comets (2 years old at the time) egg production dropped to about half of what it was before the heat.
Feed consumption also dropped to about half.
Modern chickens need a lot of nutritious feed to produce eggs. Less feed equals less eggs.
I got my hens to eat more feed during the summer by wetting the feed with cold water from the fridge. . They loved it.
I did this around 1 in the afternoon during heat waves. Mid 80s Fahrenheit and up. About a 1/4 cup of feed per hen, before wetting.
Egg production came back up to levels before the heat wave, and the cold water helped to cool them. Shady areas all day are important too as well as cold water to drink. I also put out a pan of water that they can walk through. . GC