Egg laying

[Chic Rustler]

How do you guys tell which of your chickens lay which eggs and when? I just find eggs in the nest box. But 9 hens are laying 7 a day so theres a couple slackers i need to identify

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

How old are your birds and what breed(s)? 7 eggs a day out of 9 birds is actually really decent production - not every bird is going to lay an egg every day....a good average is to look for 5-6 eggs a week so at 7 a day x 7 days= 49 eggs a week your right in the middle of averaging 5-6 a week per bird. Some breeds have lower production rates and may lay only 4-5 eggs a week and if your birds are in the third or later laying cycle you can expect that to be lower still.
As to telling who is in or out of production - you start with the vent -- a non-producing bird's vent will be dry, tight and puckered in appearance - often yellow and crusty looking; a bird in production has a wide, moist, plump vent.

 

[Chic Rustler]

Thanks for the tip on the vent. I got 6 red sexlinks, 2 rir x Buff orpington all 1 year old and 1 black astrolarp of unknown age.

 

[aart]

Agrees 7 out of 9 is pretty good.

I've found pelvic point spacing to be easier than vent appearance...at least until you've had some practice.
Vent Appearance:
Dry, tight, and smaller - usually not laying.
Moist, wide, and larger - usually laying.

Pelvic Points, feel for the 2 bony points(pelvic bones) on either side of vent:
Less than 2 fingertip widths apart usually means not laying.
More than 2 fingertip widths apart usually means laying.

 

[Chic Rustler]

Yeah 7 is pretty good. Especially in February! I was just wondering for future reference so i know when to cull.