Figuring Out Egg Production

Missceegee

Songster
Jun 27, 2021
183
442
156
North Florida
I am trying to figure out my production. I use a community Best Nest Box.

Old Flock - Born mid Jan 2021
1 Buff Orpington (4-5/week x 1= 4-5)
2 Brown Leghorns (3-4/week x 2 = 6-8)
10 Rhode Island Reds (5-6/week x 10 = 50-60)
1 Rhode Island Red Rooster

From these, I have gotten a max of 9 eggs/day once. I have gotten 7-8 for about two weeks. This week I am getting fewer and today only got 4. Using the averages above that is 60-73 eggs per week. I'm getting 50--55 I'd guess. I have no idea who is laying and who isn't. I have at least one laying a rubbery soft egg probably 10-12 times now despite laying feed and free choice calcium. This is from the roost usually. I don't know which one.

Newbies - Born mid March 2021. Bought June 2021 as 14-16 week old pullets. Isolated and then added to Old Flock July 2021
2 Starlight Green Eggers
2 Plymouth Blue Rock
1 Silver Lace Wyandotte
1 Black Sexlink
1 Black Astralorp

These guys are in with the older bunch and are similar in size. They are not yet laying. They will occasionally mix, but generally stay together. No one seems to like Speckles the wyandotte. Everyone is always chasing her. She often roosts alone, too.

Biddies - Born mid July 2021. Bought this week. In the brooder house, but separate pens.
20 Cornish meatbirds going out to pasture in a couple weeks when more feathered
3 Ameraucana pullets staying in the brooder house til ready for an outdoor tractor
3 White Crested Polish straight run (hoping for hens) staying in the brooder house til ready for an outdoor tractor



Thoughts on my egg production? Is it important to know who is laying and who isn't? Not sure how to do this unless I stick a camera out there. Anyone track eggs - by color, or good/bad, or some other means?
 
I track by egg color.
I have Easter Eggers so not a high production breed. Each one lays an egg every other day or every three days. As they get older, the gap widens. They do keep laying as they age but not like they did when they were pullets. My 9 year old hens lay once in a while or a long while.
 
I track by egg color.
I have Easter Eggers so not a high production breed. Each one lays an egg every other day or every three days. As they get older, the gap widens. They do keep laying as they age but not like they did when they were pullets. My 9 year old hens lay once in a while or a long while.
Thank you. I am going to start doing this, too.
 
Thank you. I am going to start doing this, too.
An idea is a camera in the coop pointed at the nesting box. All my hens have different or slightly different feather patterns. It may help you to some how be able to tell the girls apart. Some people do leg bands but be careful if you choose this route, sometimes the bands can tighten on their own and cut circulation off to the foot.
 
Mine do have leg bands and I have a photo album with each chicken’s photo. My kids think I’m nuts. I went out tonight to see who is roosted over the rubber egg drop location and have noted the closest four. We will see tomorrow morning.

Some of mine lay late in the afternoon too.

I may get hubby to set up a deer cam in there this week.
 
Mine do have leg bands and I have a photo album with each chicken’s photo. My kids think I’m nuts. I went out tonight to see who is roosted over the rubber egg drop location and have noted the closest four. We will see tomorrow morning.

Some of mine lay late in the afternoon too.

I may get hubby to set up a deer cam in there this week.
What do you feed the flock? and do you provide oyster shells as a free choice?
Some chickens need more calcium than others.
 
They are pastured in a large field during the day and forage. I do have free choice oyster shell and they eat it consistently. I was feeding Nature wise all flock because of the roo but switched to nature wise layer pellets because of the egg issues. Hopefully Big Red is hanging in there. He seems fine. I have fed one bag of Purina Layena when I couldn’t get the other. I think they may be getting too many treats. We give scratch and mealworms but it should not be so often. They get some garden scraps too. I was just talking to the kids about it.
 
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They are pastured in a large field during the day and forage. I do have free choice oyster shell and they eat it consistently. I was feeding Nature wise all flock because of the roo but switched to nature wise layer pellets because of the egg issues. Hopefully Big Red is hanging in there. He seems fine. I have fed one bag of Putin’s layers when I couldn’t get the other. I think they may be getting too many treats. We give scratch and mealworms but it should not be so often. They get some garden scraps too. I was just talking to the kids about it.
Try cutting out the treats completely to see if that helps with the rubber egg. (the flock may not be happy with you but they do forage)
Treats are anything other than their chicken feed, it should be a maximum of 10% of their diet.
Whether you feed layer or all flock, both are debated by many people and there are plenty of people who continue to feed the entire flock what they have been doing for years.
 

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