Does heat affect egg laying? We've had 90+++ temps for the last

[4boysmom]

10-12 days, and # of eggs I'm getting has gone down.....any suggestions? Coop is shaded, which I thought would help.

 

[Chickenaddict]

I noticed my egg numbers went down yesterday because of the heat as well.

 

[EweSheep]

Yes they went down and it's a good thing!

 

[gumpsgirl]

Heat can cause stress on chickens and anything that causes stress takes a toll on egg laying.

My coop is in full shade and doesn't generally starting heating up until about 3:00 in the afternoon. At that point I usually run a fan and that seem to help tremendously. I also offer chilled watermelon rinds and ice in the chickens waterer here to help beat the heat. You can also try spraying down the roof of your coop a few times during the day. People have said that helps as well.

 

[jodief100]

Heat does affect egg laying. Add a little oatmeal to thier feed and do whatever you can to cool them off. Frozen plastic bottles of water in the coop, open everything and ice in the water helps.

 

[gritsar]

Depends partly on the breed. We're hitting 100 every day, plus oppressive humidity and I can't get my girls to slow down! I wish they would because I worry about the effects on their bodies.
Nobody's asking for eggs. I guess they all assume that hens wouldn't be laying in this heat. I now have over 7 dozen eggs in the frig.

 

[LarryPQ]

Yes it can. It is hot here, and many times my bigger breeds close up shop for the summer.

The smaller, less "floofy" breeds continue to crank them out in 115+.

ie- my polish, OEGBs, EEs, RIRs.

 

[EweSheep]

Leghorns and Mediaterean breeds do very well in this heat. Churned out eggs like no tomorrow!

 

[Becky1961]

I have three Black Star Sex Links that have been laying steadily since last Sept. It's rare that I do not get three eggs every day. Except in the last week. It has been getting up to 97 degrees with the heat index at 104. My girls have the run of the farm every day, all day. Their barn is in the shade with a creek running next to it, so they can get where it's cooler. How can I be sure the lack of eggs is because of the heat and not something physically wrong?

 

[teach1rusl]

I've actually been surprised that my ladies have still been popping them out. They do get a lot of cool/cold treats, ice in their water when it's in the 90s, and I do run a fan in their coop to at least give a breeze. I expected a severe drop in production, and feel badly for them that their bodies are working so hard in this nasty weather...

97 plus humidity today!