Help a newbie identify who lays what?

[ontheridge]

Thanks for all the thoughts! Here's another photo -- I was hoping it would show that some of the lightest eggs look a bit pink/tan, while others are a more brown/tan. In this photo I'm referring to the bottom middle and bottom right (they are also very different sizes, pink being very large). If I have one black sexlink laying the light eggs, would she be laying with contrasting sizes and differences in color "tone?" Also, you see the big spots on the darkest brown, which folks tend to think is from the Welsummer vs the Marans, but the medium brown ones sometimes have teeny speckles, more uniform than the big splotchy one (bottom left), so I thought that was worth noting as well. Right now I'm wondering if they should be labeled like this (from top left: marans, welsummer, marans; from bottom left: welsummer, black sex link, black sex link)?

 

[CayuseRanch]

I guess that's a key point, are my three Marans REALLY Marans? If they are, in fact, Barred Rocks then they'd be laying the light eggs and Cruella could be laying the medium, leaving the specked darks as the Welsummers. Geesh, I'm confused. We got the chicks at our local co-op and were told we got 1 marans, 2 welsummer and 3 rocks... but the black and white gals that we thought were rocks are more spotty than barred and their leggs are whitish (not yellow), so I assumed the employee made a mistake and we really got 3 marans... is this making sense? Here's one of those gals... Barred Rock or Maran?? The three of these gals look identical, so they are all the same whatever they are.



My husband and I are going to start tracking which color eggs we get each day, bc like you said, if there are more than one of the light eggs a day, it can't be Cruella (our 'Black Sex Link'/ mystery hen).

This looks like a barred rock to me. I don't see any feathering on the feet.

Hello! I have my first ever little flock of 6 chickens. I got them in early summer and they just started laying a couple of weeks ago. So far, I'm getting about 3 eggs a day, colors being either very dark brown & speckled, a more medium brown, or a lighter 'tan'ish color (the three colors are in the photo below). The chicks were sold to me as 3 barred rock, 1 marans, and 2 welsummer, but I've been doing some research and have since come to the conclusion that I really got 2 welsummer, 3 cuckoo marans and 1 "mutt." (I put some of the girls' photos on here too so you can weigh in on what they are if you'd like.) I was told by someone that the "mutt" is laying all the lighter colored ones... but that would mean she is WAY out laying the others. Thoughts?

My Marans lay the dark speckled ones but I understand that Welsummers can do that as well. You definitely have 2 hens that are laying the light brown eggs. There is a difference in tint. The Black sexlink above will be a prolific layer though as well as a barred rock. In this pic, I see barred rock, Black sex link, welsummer and the feet of probably another welsummer.

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

Thanks for all the thoughts! Here's another photo -- I was hoping it would show that some of the lightest eggs look a bit pink/tan, while others are a more brown/tan. In this photo I'm referring to the bottom middle and bottom right (they are also very different sizes, pink being very large). If I have one black sexlink laying the light eggs, would she be laying with contrasting sizes and differences in color "tone?" Also, you see the big spots on the darkest brown, which folks tend to think is from the Welsummer vs the Marans, but the medium brown ones sometimes have teeny speckles, more uniform than the big splotchy one (bottom left), so I thought that was worth noting as well. Right now I'm wondering if they should be labeled like this (from top left: marans, welsummer, marans; from bottom left: welsummer, black sex link, black sex link)?

Since you still seem to be unsure of who is laying what, do this. Get different colors of food color dye and put different colors on each hen's vent. Then when they lay the egg it should come out with streaks of whatever color of food dye you used. It doesn't hurt the hens at all and the eggs are still safe to eat. This is the simplest sure fire way to find out who is laying what.

 

[RoostersCrow HensDeliver!]

X2 on the food coloring. Then there is no guessing.