egg laying...or not

[RoyalPayne]

Trying to find someone who knows how to tell if a chicken is still laying. My flock is 49 strong, and the only ones I can tell who are not laying are the Americanas. No blue eggs. My chicken are 2 - 4 years old, and I am still getting 24 to 28 eggs a day. Even in the winter. Seperating one chicken, monitoring, tagging, and then releasing will not work. Standing outside the coop, with a camera to catch pics of the laying hens takes too much time. So any ideas, tips, musings?

 

[Ridgerunner]

This article is the best I can do for you.

Pigmentation to Evaluate Laying
http://www.ca.uky.edu/smallflocks/Factsheets/Evaluating_egg_laying_hens.pdf

I don’t know where you are or why your hens are not all molting. To me with a flock that age you are getting really great production if you are in the northern hemisphere. Or maybe several have already finished the molt and are back to laying.

This is not always as easy as you might think. In your case I’d look to see which ones are molting. While I was at it, I’d look at the vent. A small, tight, dry vent means they are not laying. A large moist vent means they are at least laying some, even if not every day.

Good luck with it.