how can I tell who is laying?

I have a vague idea but I'd like to know what egg belongs to what chicken.

Well, you could sit out near your coop and watch them. Or, you could try an alternative method. If you've got some food dye on hand, drop a different color in each ones cent. When the eggs are laid, they'll have a streak of dye on them, color depending on who laid them. If you've got a lot of hens, and not many colors to choose from, you might have to do a few at a time.

Good luck.

That might take some work. I’ve had hens that I know which egg they lay show up in one nest but later they lay the egg in a different nest. So even seeing them in a nest is not the perfect answer. I need to know which hen lays which egg too so I can decide which to keep for my laying/breeding flock.

The way I do it, I made some of my nests so I can lock a hen in there. When I catch a hen I want to identify on a nest laying I lock her in there so she has to lay in that nest and no other hen can join her. There is a problem with that. Another hen may have already laid an egg in there. So I either check under her before I lock her in there or move her to another nest that is empty. And I keep written notes so I don’t have to depend on memory.

Some people build trap nests. When a hen goes in to lay, the door automatically closes and she can’t get out until you let her.

I have not tried it but I’ve read if you put food coloring in the vent in the morning before they lay, you can see colored stripes on the egg.

Some people say they have put different color lipstick around the vent to identify the eggs. I won’t be trying that. No way do I try to explain to my wife why I’m putting lipstick on a hen’s vent, but to each their own.

I have yet to even look at the hens vents. Maybe I should try the food coloring idea

notducky said:

I have yet to even look at the hens vents. Maybe I should try the food coloring idea

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