The ladies are making me nuts!!!

[Kidwantschickens]

Eggs are tricky lol. I thought French marans and cuckoo marans laid similar color eggs with the cuckoo being slightly lighter, so it is hard to say if the 2 dark eggs are from the same or different girls.
In theory, you should have 3 blue/green egg layers, but have you ever had a day where you have collected 3 blue eggs? To confuse matters, it is possible that one of your EEs laid the tan speckled egg. I have 1 EE and 2 OE that don't lay Blue/green eggs.
I also found a picture of the only day all 13 of my hens laid on the same day. My Speckled Sussex laid #7
View attachment 3259489

Thank you!! This is so helpful!!

The cuckoo Marans for sure lays a medium brown egg. I've gone in right after she lays. I'm 90% certain the prairie blue bell lays a blue green egg because I went into the nest box right after she exited. Also mostly sure both EEs are laying green-blue eggs but, can't swear on it, I'm not sure if we've gotten 3 of those eggs on the same day. We have more blue green than any other color though.

The dark eggs with speckles.... I'm not sure those are a Maran. They are bigger than the French Marans regular eggs, so I guess time will tell. I have the neighbor 18 yesterday, this is what I have left (we got another 6 today). The light cream one I got about 2 weeks ago, she laid it in the middle of the yard I think this might be the Faverolle egg, haven't gotten another similar egg since though.....

 

[Kidwantschickens]

Still getting 6 a day. Not sure if it is the same 6 or not. Would be nice to get 3 blue/green in a day.

 

[Melissa67137]

I feel you, I only have 4 hens, the oldest is in molt so not laying but lays a light cream egg, the next oldest has been laying for a couple months now and lays a greenish blue egg, and one of the youngest two has been laying a month now lays a vibrant robins egg blue, but her hatch date sister still hasn't started laying.....or at least I have found no egg from her yet. She will go and spend time in the best box but no egg is left behind. Mine are kept in a covered run and I look all over it for eggs but find none ..... So I don't know where she is laying or if she is laying at all. So frustrating, I am starting to worry as she is now 23 weeks old....her hatch mate and the next oldest started laying right at 18 weeks.

 

[kmk]

I'm guessing they're laying somewhere I can't find. And I'm guessing the only solution is to trap them in the coop a few days. But maybe you guys have tips in how to find a nest?

I've seen 2 eggs that were dark black copper Marans ish (I don't have a BCM). This was two weeks ago so I know she's laying more.... All 11 of 12 hens are squatting, and they are just starting to lay, good laying breeds, so I feel like I should be getting more than 5 of the same eggs a day .. I found a pinkish one in the yard a few days ago, never saw a similar one again, found a speckled one in the nest, never saw a similar one again, and there have to be others. I'm consistently getting ones from my cuckoo Marans, the 2 EEs and the sapphire gem.

Are they eating some but not all? Or do they have a nest somewhere and how do I find it??

Keep looking. Every day is an Easter egg hunt when they first begin laying. One of ours would only lay in the ash pail from our woodburner. Thank God it's summer and the bucket isn't hot or full of ash. Ours have now settled in and seem to know what the nesting boxes are for.

 

[tlcmurphy]

Does anyone have any guesses on who laid the light brown speckles egg? And do you all agree that the three eggs were laid by 3 different hens or are the two dark brown speckled eggs from the same? The one on the bottom of the pictured three eggs was not laid yesterday, it was from a previous day. And it is so much larger, I would think it is a different hen.

That said, with the size of these eggs, there has to be a nest somewhere. These don't look like "just starting to lay" eggs to me. For the life of me I can't find their nest though.

We had a Cuckoo Marans that laid mid- to light brown speckled eggs.

 

[WylieCoyote]

I'm guessing they're laying somewhere I can't find. And I'm guessing the only solution is to trap them in the coop a few days. But maybe you guys have tips in how to find a nest?

I've seen 2 eggs that were dark black copper Marans ish (I don't have a BCM). This was two weeks ago so I know she's laying more.... All 11 of 12 hens are squatting, and they are just starting to lay, good laying breeds, so I feel like I should be getting more than 5 of the same eggs a day .. I found a pinkish one in the yard a few days ago, never saw a similar one again, found a speckled one in the nest, never saw a similar one again, and there have to be others. I'm consistently getting ones from my cuckoo Marans, the 2 EEs and the sapphire gem.

Are they eating some but not all? Or do they have a nest somewhere and how do I find it??

Well I know they do lay egg else where, because I have seen where they or one has been laying in different places you wouldn't expect they would. One place was in my work shop up on the top shelf and was using a box with some stuff in it. It was by accident that I seen it and the hen in it. That particular hen we thought went missing but was actually probably shut in my work shop when I locked it up. Another place was where I have some lumber sitting on a rack is where I found another egg. Then another place was where I kept my metal tin and and some left over rain gutters, found an egg there. I do not know which one laid those. But it not alway the obvious location to look.

 

[PeeperKeeper15]

I'm guessing they're laying somewhere I can't find. And I'm guessing the only solution is to trap them in the coop a few days. But maybe you guys have tips in how to find a nest?

I've seen 2 eggs that were dark black copper Marans ish (I don't have a BCM). This was two weeks ago so I know she's laying more.... All 11 of 12 hens are squatting, and they are just starting to lay, good laying breeds, so I feel like I should be getting more than 5 of the same eggs a day .. I found a pinkish one in the yard a few days ago, never saw a similar one again, found a speckled one in the nest, never saw a similar one again, and there have to be others. I'm consistently getting ones from my cuckoo Marans, the 2 EEs and the sapphire gem.

Are they eating some but not all? Or do they have a nest somewhere and how do I find it??

This is my first time with chickens and this is my experience : We have six nesting boxes for 12 chickens. All nesting boxes have Pineneedles in them except for one didn’t and that’s where our mystic Maren laid her first egg and it cracked. So I put Pineneedles in that nesting box and she changed her mind and went to the farthest one at the other end and used that one and uses that one daily. Two of my other chickens just started laying eggs and they’re using different nesting boxes daily. The egg song could also be hey you’re using my nesting box get out. What I’ve done is put only one distinct material in the nesting box that’s nowhere else in the yard comfy and that’s Pineneedles. I also sprinkle a safe collection of herbs in their nesting boxes to freshen them up daily to draw their attention there And I know they like that. My pullets are sensitive so if anything happens it distracts them from laying in a consistent manner such as heatwaves and cold Like we get here in Connecticut bouncing 30° swing in temperature, changing some thing in their nesting boxes, changing up the routine, Thunderstorms, moving the feeders etc.. Because they are five months old I’m keeping them from free ranging now until after 12 o’clock in the afternoon and yes they are complaining but I want them to get used to the routine. I only get three eggs a day right now but the other pullets get to see and experience the nesting boxes and the layers laying in them so they’ll follow suit and lay eggs in the nesting boxes… That’s the plan anyway lol. I also put a valance across the nesting boxes for more privacy and at first that disrupted them that day but they like it. I just added oyster shell, grit, and a layer boost vitamin to go in their water all which seem to help immediately I noticed a difference overall. I feed them Nutrena which I feel is a good quality food but it just didn’t seem to have enough ingredients for each hen separately so now they have the option of Oyster shell in a separate feeder if they need it. I love this site and all the people here are great My Mystic Maran is the first layer and she was looking all over the yard frantically for a place to lay her eggs even was going up to the garage roof but thankfully she chose the nesting boxes.

 

[PeeperKeeper15]

Well I know they do lay egg else where, because I have seen where they or one has been laying in different places you wouldn't expect they would. One place was in my work shop up on the top shelf and was using a box with some stuff in it. It was by accident that I seen it and the hen in it. That particular hen we thought went missing but was actually probably shut in my work shop when I locked it up. Another place was where I have some lumber sitting on a rack is where I found another egg. Then another place was where I kept my metal tin and and some left over rain gutters, found an egg there. I do not know which one laid those. But it not alway the obvious location to look.

I’ve been training my dog to sniff out the eggs… she won’t eat the raw eggs she likes them scrambled

 

[Kidwantschickens]

I’ve been training my dog to sniff out the eggs… she won’t eat the raw eggs she likes them scrambled

I wish my dog would be useful for anything but opening the doors and running up the electric bill or opening the pantry and helping himself. He's clearly smart..... He's just a jerk. Lol

 

[Kidwantschickens]

So Friday we got 7 eggs, that is our max so far. All looked familiar except on. So now I'm thinking maybe they just aren't all laying yet. That said, 2-3 of them are large enough and consistent enough that maybe they were on a nest. No one has laid a repeat of the pink egg we found in the yard so she must not be laying anymore. I think that might have been the SF.

Will be interesting to see as the month progresses. I think I bought them March 26-29th ish, then a few more the following week which I think was end of March early April, and then the salmon Faverolles I got in first week of April. So they're just hitting that 20-22 week stage. Most are.closer to 24 weeks but over half are laying currently....