Egg laying

[Alwayswantchics]

A long while back someone posted a way to tell which hen was laying which eggs by using food coloring to the vent. Has Anyone had success doing this?

 

[GitaBooks]

I've never heard of that. It actually sounds like a pretty neat idea!

Just wondering, why do you need to know who's laying what eggs?

 

[Ridgerunner]

I personally have not done that but some people I trust say they have and it works. Just put a few drops of food coloring in the vent in the morning before she lays an egg. The egg should have light streaks of color on it when it is laid.

When the hen lays an egg she forces part of the cloaca just outside the vent to keep the egg from coming into direct contact with the other stuff that comes out of the vent. You can find some videos of this on the internet if you want to see how much actually comes out. So the egg shell is not going to pick up enough food dye to get a lot on it. The streaks might be pretty light but people I trust say they are there.

Another thing I’m not going to try, but I’ve also heard of putting different colored lipstick around a hen’s vent. That’s supposed to work but no way am I going to try explaining to my wife why I’m putting lipstick on a hen’s vent, even if I buy some specifically for that purpose and don’t use hers. You may feel more adventurist.

I don’t know why the OP wants to know which hen is laying which egg, but there could be several reasons beyond pure curiosity. You might want to know which hens are laying so you can remove freeloaders. If a hen is regularly laying a deformed egg you might want to know which hen that is. You might want to hatch a certain hen’s eggs or not want to hatch a certain hen’s egg. That information can be valuable in managing your flock.

 

[aart]

I've read that the gel type food coloring works best and that when dye is applied the vent does some opening/contracting and the dye can be drawn inside somewhat.

I have yet to try it, but am sorely tempted at times to know whether certain hens/pullets are laying which egg for various reasons.

 

[Alwayswantchics]

I have free loaders. Out of 9 hens I'm only getting 4 eggs. Free loaders have to go.

 

[bobbi-j]

I have a friend that measures between the pubic bones. She holds the chicken upside down, finds the pubic bones and checks to see how many fingers she can lay between them. Two fingers = laying hen. No room, no eggs. She swears by it.

 

[Spangled]

A long while back someone posted a way to tell which hen was laying which eggs by using food coloring to the vent. Has Anyone had success doing this?

I tried and it didn't work. That's not exactly answering your question because I think you want to hear from folks who it's worked for. So ... sorry.

It was a mess getting the food coloring in there. Not cool. I used the liquid and not the gel. I think it may have worked for one hen, but most of them pooped the food coloring out befored they laid the next day. Maybe if I did it at 4:30am in the summer it would work better.

Plus I didn't put a drop of green food color on the hen to know which one it was that went with the nearly imperceptibly striped green egg. (Duh. I was left thinking ... Which hen did I put green food coloring in? Which one got the blue food coloring inserted?)

So I just put them in a separate pen when I need to know who is laying. I know that's not always possible though. A chicken ark is so useful for so many things.

 

[Ridgerunner]

There is another way to tell which ones are laying though not which specific egg they lay. Go out to the roosts at night with a medical glove and KY jelly. Push a finger up the vent. If the hen is going to lay an egg the next day you can feel it in there. You need to do this a few nights since they occasionally skip a day.