I'm New Here and Have Concerns About High Temps and Egg Production

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gmadden62

gmadden62

Hatching
Jul 26, 2016
5
2
9
Castaic, CA (Southern Cali)
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
 
Greetings from Kansas and welcome to BYC! Glad you signed up. Here where I live we are just coming off a string of 100 degree and high humidity days. Egg production always seem to drop in the oppressive heat of summer. There are things you can do to keep your ladies more comfy but not sure if it will up production. At least it doesn't for mine. You might post in this thread https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/18/chicken-behaviors-and-egglaying
Perhaps someone there might have some ideas. I wish you all the luck and enjoy BYC!
 
Hi and
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High temperatures will cause stress that will make hens lay fewer eggs sometimes. But, it sounds like you're doing a great job of keeping them cool and the decrease in production is probably more because of their young age. It may take them a little while to get into a really regularly laying.

Thanks for joining us, and good luck!
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A lot of folks are dealing with the same issues. I would overlook the low.no egg production and just hope they survive the summer. Some use air conditioners in the coop but, that will only cause them to struggle more when returned to normal hot weather.
 
welcome-byc.gif
glad you have joined us.

I'm in GA and my flock has to also deal with excessive heat and humidity. Sounds like you are doing everything right to help them get thru the summer.

Many have misshapen eggs when starting to lay - but make sure they are getting layer feed and if needed added oyster shells - re: shell less eggs.

If they appear healthy and show only some open beak ( panting) without wing spread, then they will be ok and hopefully the egg production will improve soon:)
 
welcome-byc.gif


You are doing pretty good there with helping them out. We are also having..the..heat wave. I wet that ground down like no other where they usually like to hang out..to the point of mud in the late morning. Under our apple trees. They love it.
 
sunflour said:
:welcome   glad you have joined us.

I'm in GA and my flock has to also deal with excessive heat and humidity.   Sounds like you are doing everything right to help them get thru the summer.

Many have misshapen eggs when starting to lay - but make sure they are getting layer feed and if needed added oyster shells - re:  shell less eggs.

If they appear healthy and show only some open beak ( panting) without wing spread, then they will be ok and hopefully the egg production will improve soon:)
Click to expand...
 
Thank you. My girls are open beak panting during the day which ends for the most part when I let them free range in the evening. They forage and dust bathe and we give them small amounts of healthy treats including little bits of frozen fruit to cool them down (they don't love that), and a couple of ounces of meat protein (they go crazy for that!). They are not keeping their wings spread out. They are eating (a LOT) of layer food as well as getting access to oyster shells. For the most part they seem very happy and healthy. I suspect this hiccup is related to the heat and the fact that they are all new to this egg laying business.
 

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