The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: Tricia on July 21, 2013, 09:32:38 am
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I am wondering if the intense heat could be the reason 3 of my 5 are not laying or are laying very intermittently. I am getting two small eggs from 2 of 3 new birds (don't know which ones) and nothing else. They all seem otherwise fine. They have shade, where they spend most of their time, lots of water. They also seem to be eating less food. Not having had hens in a previous hot summer, I am not sure what the norm is. Someone else I know has a glut of eggs. Tricia
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are they moulting? sometimes moulting can be quite subtle-but it will put them off lay. My lot stopped for about a week and are all slowly coming back now. Or is the laying box very hot? that can put them off too. Also check for mites (all kinds) as this weather is good for them.
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Ours stopped when it got hot, for a few weeks Tricia. A few have restarted but the rest are now moulting. So I don't expect much until September. A problem with a Pedigree flock I suppose.
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They don't like extremes in weather conditions, just like us! Most of my cats are hardly eating a thing but are drinking loads.
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Mine seem to be on strike in the heat too - they sit under bushes and take frequent dust baths in the wood ash I put out under the fruit trees in spring, but a good half of them aren't laying regularly and the layers pellets aren't going down to empty in 24 hours after I put them in.
A couple seem to be really suffering, I don't know if there is a health issue with them or simply the heat as they all seem to sprawl around with wings in all directions, laying ones included, whenever I am actually seeing them and the rest are tucked away in every shady corner, the place looks half deserted except when I go out with the corn of an evening..
That said there are one or two I am actively worried about, coming back slowly in the evening by comparison to normal behaviour, and one looks like getting bullied by another when the victim has always been in the top half of hen order and the bully has never shown any aggression previously.. And I don't know if it's heat, hormones, old age changing orders about or something I should be doing something about but don't know what..
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Ellied - same symptoms with a couple of mine. i was quite worried about one lastnight and this morning - don't know if she's on her way out, orjust hot and bothered! Still - thunder storms due tomorrow!
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I've got 25 hens, they went from laying 16-18 a day to a maximum of 9 a day sometimes even less! I thought something was seriously wrong but turns out it's the heat. I think they are starting to get back to normal now... phew.
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Hi there. My girls and boys suffering in the heat also. Have shady places for them to lie, plenty of water etc., but they seem quite listless. Have given my girls and boys pieces of fruit, which they seem to enjoy. Have just been out with the hose and watered the grass so they have cool spots to lie in. A very experienced friend with chickens suggests tonic put in the water when its so hot so I might try that tomorrow. We are getting 4 or 5 eggs a day, whereas we were getting a dozen or so. Just a case of sticking with it I suppose. :thumbsup:
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Mine are too hot, moulting and now being set squawking by a large Goldie puppy! I think they will be packing their bags and leaving at this rate (images of a line of chooks with hankies on sticks over their shoulders ;)).
Puppy has so much to learn (she's 9 months old, re-homed from a London suburb, small house and garden, loving family totally clueless about dogs, so have taught her precious little) that 'it might be funny to make the hens flap and squawk but it's not kind', is a long way down the list.
Meanwhile I am short of eggs!
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I have less eggs too and the hen that was funny the other week is acting very strange this evening. She was sunbathing again. Acting like she is drunk.
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Just to warn you folks, my hen that was behaving strangely, died this afternoon. :'( Don't know if it was the heat or not.
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Heatstroke Sabrina! Can result in sudden death or stargazing -a neurological disorder where their neck twists backwards until their head is upside down. Neither is reversible.
As soon as they look 'wrong' get them into a cold place as fast as possible with a good flow of air -so a cellar with a fan. We are checking ours every 30 minutes as it is 34 here and very humid. Rising to 37 next week and we have no cellar!!! So much for taking Orpingtons to France -the other breeds are coping, in fact the Leghorns and the TNN's love it!
Just fresh water, ABSOLUTELY NO ADDITIVES. It discourages drinking