Easiest way to mark eggs from hens?

[The Kooky Kiwi]

I read about lipstick being used for that reason. But.... I think I only have pink, purplish, and red. I had honestly not even thought about the fact that any reddish colors would be a problem

I assume the idea of not using red is to avoid mistaking for blood? But surely lipstick is easily identifiable from blood??

But yeah.. perhaps time to explore the goth lipstick? (black) or the glam lipstick? (blues and purples)

I have visions of sparkly lipstick covered eggs hehe.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I assume the idea of not using red is to avoid mistaking for blood? But surely lipstick is easily identifiable from blood??

Chickens peck at red too, even if they don't know it's blood

 

[The Kooky Kiwi]

Chickens peck at red too, even if they don't know it's blood

Aha! Something I didn't think of.

 

[My2butterflies]

Alright, I marked three hens. Green on the EE I don’t want to hatch from, blue on a slw, and purple on a turken.

5 eggs were already in the nest boxes. I’m hoping none of the hens I marked laid yet. They are typically ones I see in the nest boxes later in the day.

 

[My2butterflies]

It worked! Only one egg from a marked hen so far.

Spoiler: Food coloring on vent

I don’t know if anyone wants to see the coloring on the vent so I tried the spoiler button for the first time. (Hope it works)
I only used one drop of color. I held the dropper a couple inches away. When the drop hit she contracted her vent a few times. She also pooped right after Her poop was purple
Here is the egg.

 

[jake and pippa]

I have used blue coat successfully. I just spray some on the vent and make sure I let it dry before the bird walks off. Of course that only gives you one bird at a time. It is possible to buy nests which close behind the birds so that you can collect eggs and know that they are from individual birds. You can also put your a subset of your birds into a dog crate at night and collect the eggs from there. One thing that helps is that it’s often possible to tell the difference between eggs even if they’re all more or less the same color. Some eggs will have a little spackling some eggs will have a lighter or darker brown. They can different in shape.

 

[raingarden]

This is wild.

The food color is water based. Doesn't it dry out in a few hours and stop working?

If I use my wife's lipstick should I tell her about it afterward?

 

[JacinLarkwell]

This is wild.

The food color is water based. Doesn't it dry out in a few hours and stop working?

If I use my wife's lipstick should I tell her about it afterward?

Well, it gets inside the bird, so I think the moisture keeps it liquid

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Well, it gets inside the bird, so I think the moisture keeps it liquid

And I think it's almost a daily thing