Is egg laying seasonal - I need advice

[mungbean]

I have what I think is a brown shaver that just turned up at my place one day about 3 months ago. We built her a coup and she has been putting herself to bed and laying an egg 6 out of 7 days. Now that summer has started (in New Zealand) and the weather is humid she has stopped going in her coup and stopped laying. Is this usual? I feed her a balanced diet with heaps of maize and she has fresh water every day and likes to rip open my rubbish bags and eats all sorts of meat and stuff but her favourite is CAT BISCUITS! Any advice for a newbie would be much appreciated, thanks

 

[rooster-red]

Usually they slow down or stop laying when the weather is cold.

Maize to chickens is like candy to humans, not very nutritional. It is harder to digest and brings their body temp up, and in hot weather can contribute to death.

Cat biscuits have a lot of protien, but also has a chemical that can harm your chicken if you feed it to her on a regular basis.

You didn't mention feeding a source of calcium, which is needed to form egg shells.

You might consider feeding layer pellets which are a source of calcium and correct nutrition to keep her laying.

 

[picklespickles]

in summer on the really hot days mine slowed down or quit.

 

[mungbean]

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Do they just start laying again when it cools down again?

 

[mungbean]

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Wow, I guess that's why she really likes the maize, I'll stop giving her so much. The layer pellets, is that the stuff that looks like rabbit food and goes mushy when it gets wet? If so she if feed mostly that. I don't feed her cat biscuits but she steals them from our cats bowls in the mornings, we have taken to feeding the cats inside as they are scared of her.

Would 'chalky' type egg shells mean that she is lacking in calcium? As sometimes they are a bit like that. She has layed 2 really enormous eggs that we have kept to show our family as we have never seen anything like them and they have little ridges around the widest part, thoses ones aren't chalky though, they are a nice brown colour.

Thank you so much for your help.

 

[picklespickles]

like during a hundred degree week, they'd be off. next week, they'd be back on again.

 

[silkies4ever]

My silkies do slow down every once in a while and stop laying for a few weeks, but I can't link those breaks to the weather.

My white bearded alone can do a dozen eggs in less than two weeks and she has in the middle of our 100 degree + summers and our frosty winters.

As for chalky eggs, I've read somewhere that that's a result of a malfunctioning uterus. They are fine for consumption, but not breeding as the chick won't be able to hatch. I'm not sure if that's correct or not, just what I've read from an article once upon a time.