Extreme heat threatens egg production

As Jamaica’s blistering heat continues, egg farmers are warning that the greatest threat is not the birds dying in the heat, but the thousands of eggs that may never reach consumers as stressed chickens stop laying altogether.

President of the Egg Farmers Association, Mark Campbell, said a single day of extreme temperatures can slash egg production on some farms by as much as 40 to 50 per cent, creating significant financial losses for producers.

“The bird has no desire to eat, and, if the bird does not eat, it does not lay,” Campbell told THE STAR. “That little three- or four-pound body just takes the feed and converts it into an egg. If they don’t have the feed, they have nothing to convert into an egg.”

According to Campbell, the impact can be immediate and severe.

“A man who usually sees 10 dozen eggs one day will see six dozen. If you look at the bigger farmers, the loss will be bigger times that,” he said.

Although public attention has centred on the recent loss of about 1,200 layer chickens across the industry, Campbell said the reduction in egg output from surviving birds could prove even more costly if the hot conditions persist.

Unlike broiler chickens raised for meat, layer hens are kept specifically for egg production and cannot simply be replaced when production falls. Campbell explained that large farmers often order replacement birds about a year in advance, making it critical to protect hens already in their productive laying cycle.

For now, he does not expect Jamaican consumers to face an egg shortage because the industry is currently in its normal flock replacement period.

“It’s not really affecting the Jamaican consumer. A lot of these birds have been replaced. We are in a period in Jamaica now where farmers usually replace their birds, so a lot of young birds are out there in the field,” he said.

However, he warned that prolonged periods of intense heat could quickly change that, if farmers are unable to keep their poultry houses cool.

“If the farmers do not take certain precautionary measures, production can be severely negatively impacted because, with the heat, the birds usually cut production. They do not eat the feed when they are affected by the heat,” he said.

Campbell noted that while outdoor temperatures have reached between approximately 32°C and 35°C in parts of the island, especially along the south coast, the conditions inside many poultry houses can be far worse because most are roofed with galvanised sheets.

“When this kind of temperature hits the roof of these chicken houses, which are usually made of galvanised zinc, there is a multiplied effect on the temperature,” Campbell said.

Those soaring temperatures can overwhelm a bird’s ability to regulate its body heat, leading to fatalities in extreme cases.

To limit further losses, the association is urging farmers to cool poultry house roofs during the hottest hours of the day, typically between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., using sprinklers or ordinary garden hoses. They are also encouraging producers to change feeding and lighting schedules, so birds eat during the cooler morning hours, before temperatures become unbearable.

“They can also manipulate the feeding programme and feed the birds in the early morning before it gets hot,” he shared.