Newbie to this site

[Helen Bainbridg]

Hi everyone, I am in Australia and would like contact with someone here for advice re our climate conditions and the effect on my chooks. We have had very hot weather lately and no eggs. I guess the hens don't like the heat as well as me. I have four 12 month old ISA brown hens which were reared organically and I think that is the problem. They took about 3 weeks to settle in and I have had to supplement their food with rice to get the protein content up high enough for them to lay. One started loosing feathers and has lately come good, but no eggs from her, the others are not doing as well as I expected. They layed 5 eggs in the last week, not really good from 4 chooks. Help please

 

[N F C]

Welcome to BYC!

There are several reasons why chickens slow down on their egg laying. Here's one link that will help explain the various causes:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/423023/why-arent-my-chickens-laying-here-are-your-answers

There's a good sized group of Aussies on this site and you can find a lot of them here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/598568/australia-six-states-and-that-funny-little-island

I hope you find the answers you need to help your girls.

Thanks for joining us, hope you like it here!

 

[M series]

Hi Helen,
I am in sw WA and no expert but I have read that extremes of temp can upset them, stop laying etc. In Jan/Feb during some very hot weather, mine stopped laying - very hit and miss. Also 2 moulted - looked TERRIBLE, feathers everywhere. I give them sunflower seeds and very occasionally mealworms (apparently too many can cause renal failure) in addition to usual feed but they can become fussy... Mine are! Won't touch pellets, so now mix crumble in to feed. But are treated as pets really. Only 2 of my 4 are laying regularly anyway, but the eggs are huge. They have lots of shade too and water available inside and outside of lockable area, so if one lot heats up, there is cooler alternative. Sometimes just have to go with the flow - if they get stressed for whatever reason, like new chooks added to flock, diet change, anything, it can affect egg production. I am chook sitting 2 chooks at present - 1st day all layers laid, then haphazard for 2 weeks, today all layers laid again. Hope this helps a bit.