egg laying

[Gma]

Our day old chicks (25 brown egg layers/5 EE) arrived on June 4th, we got our first egg on Oct 19, our first blue egg Nov 13 and in the last week we got: 9/2, 11/1, 11/2, 14, 9/2, 13/1, 14/1, and so far today 7 brown/1 blue eggs. That seems pretty good to me since the weather has been awful. My girls just keep singing.

Is it reasonable to think they are all laying or not? How can I tell without sitting in the hen house every day for a week? Any help on this would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[Illia]

Some helpful advise would be looking at their combs. Do you see anyone who has a considerably duller or smaller comb than the others? (putting the fact that Easter Eggers naturally have smaller combs aside) A bright red comb that is large in size shows that the hen is either ready to lay or already laying.

Another trick is by looking at the fluff on their rump. If it looks perfect and uniform, she might not be laying. If it looks slightly parted in the center, she may have just begun laying. This doesn't always work, but was something I was told years ago, and in some birds, it does work.

A third thing is to look for girls who are "squatting," if you see that your girls are stooping down and spreading their shoulders out when certain things happen, such as touching their backs or approaching them from behind, they're laying.

 

[Gma]

thanks for the tips, I will pay more attention to those things.

 

[Toi-toi]

Quote:
That's what my girls did.