The heat is on in the henhouse, but the flame is out. Chickens don't like to mate in high temperatures, when they also become sluggish eaters, says Frank Jones, a poultry expert at North Carolina State University. That means layers aren't laying as often as they do in lower temperatures and the birds that are supposed to gorge for slaughter are taking their time about it, said Jones and Holly Farms spokesman Gordon Miller. ``They're subject to a lot of the same stresses we are as humans,'' Jones said. ``That means there will be less mating. They don't really feel like eating.'' Turkeys react the same way to summer heat, which has been in the 90s in North Carolina, the nation's top turkey producer and the No. 4 chicken producer. The state is expected to sell more than $1.5 billion worth of poultry this year. Miller said consumers may end up getting burned. If the heat continues, fewer birds could be on the market in time for Thanksgiving and Christmas and fewer eggs could drive up prices. Perdue Farms Inc. spokesman Steve McCauley doesn't believe that higher prices are a given. He said Friday that since the heat is an annual summer ailment, most growers are prepared. ``Typically, if a flock is affected, it's because something went wrong _ fans broke, alarms didn't work,'' McCauley said. ``But one flock is a few thousand birds and Perdue processes 1.6 million a week, and that's Perdue alone, so the loss of a flock or two would never have a significant impact on prices,'' he said.
