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.”