Tracking Down the Owner of an Egg

[Mimi13]

Yesterday, while I had the misfortune of working away from home, one of my baby chicks layed an egg. They grow up so fast, don’t they? I wasn’t quite expecting an egg at exactly 18 weeks. But lo and behold, last night when I got home I immediately went out to their house to do a quick head count and check for eggs (I also have four hens) and found the cutest little thing, one of my babies’ eggs alongside one of my older hens’.



From L to R, the unknown owner’s egg, a BO egg and an Amber Link egg.



Anyway I would like help confirming who that sweet, little egg might belong to.

The egg is a beautiful, speckled, brown egg. The brown coloring was not smooth, but not exactly splotchy either. And oh so tiny, but the shell was nice and firm. It just so happens I began layer feed one week early, so that most likely helped build that firm shell.



I have about six pullets that are reddening up pretty good, but I’ve seen no squatting as of yet. They are my BPR, BCM, RIR, Barnevelder, BA, and NN. For that coloring of egg, I believe my possible owner would be one of the following: BCM, Barnevelder, or Welsummer (but she’s not very red yet). I have listed them in bold. These pictures are of the pullets that have really reddened up in the past 7-10 days, well, except for my Wellie that is.

I think the owner is the Barnevelder, but that is a total guess. Please tell me what y’all think and THANK YOU very much!

Barred Rock - Big Bertha


Black Copper Marans - Molly


Rhode Island Red - Ruby


Barnevelder - Brownie


Australorp - Barbie


Naked Neck - Mrs. Biggles (I don’t even know what color egg a NN lays.)


Welsummer - Duchess

 

[KitCO]

I get an egg that color. It comes from either my Barred rock or red sex-link.

 

[Mimi13]

I get an egg that color. It comes from either my Barred rock or red sex-link.

That would make more sense then, because my Barred Rock seems to be the most mature (looking) pullet out of the bunch. I didn’t realize her eggs would be that dark. Neato!

I think I’m going to have a time figuring out all the eggs and respective layers with 21 “new to me” breeds. Oh what fun it’ll be.

Thank you so much.

 

[Chick-N-Fun]

Congratulations on your first little speckled egg! It always feel like Christmas when you discover new eggs in the nesting boxes! Enjoy!

 

[Mimi13]

Congratulations on your first little speckled egg! It always feel like Christmas when you discover new eggs in the nesting boxes! Enjoy!

Oh, I know and I can’t wait!

 

[aart]

I think the owner is the Barnevelder, but that is a total guess. Please tell me what y’all think and THANK YOU very much!

Time for a butt check, that'll tell the tale!
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/who-is-laying-and-who-is-not-butt-check.73309/

 

[fuzzynurse]

Time for a butt check, that'll tell the tale!

I agree with aart. Since you have so many different breeds, I'm assuming they are from a hatchery. You may have some chickens with mixed breed ancestry, so you can't rely on what the "normal" egg for any breed looks like. I've had speckled and plain from the (supposedly) same breed.

Transylvanian Naked Neck is a brown egg laying breed. Most of the Naked Necks/Turkens from hatcheries are probably not true TNNs. The naked neck gene can be crossed into any of a chicken's descendants, which is why most hatcheries call them Turkens instead of NNs. HOWEVER, yours has a bowtie/tuft on her neck so she's not homozygous naked neck (I suspect the majority from hatcheries aren't). So there's no reason you couldn't have a green, white, or even blue egg layer, but that seems unlikely, since that would require some effort to breed them that way (i.e. weed out the brown egg genes). There are some breeders who do that, but probably not big hatcheries.

 

[Mimi13]

Time for a butt check, that'll tell the tale!
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/who-is-laying-and-who-is-not-butt-check.73309/

Believe it or not, out of curiosity I checked my Barred Rock this morning. I could snugly fit two of my fingers between the points, but I have very small hands so I’m not convinced she’s the layer. Later this afternoon I am going to check several others.

Thank you.

 

[aart]

Believe it or not, out of curiosity I checked my Barred Rock this morning. I could snugly fit two of my fingers between the points, but I have very small hands so I’m not convinced she’s the layer. Later this afternoon I am going to check several others.

Thank you.

It takes some practice and comparison with other birds laying and not.
Check some of your older hens taht are laying.
Easiest to check them all off the roost after dark.