How can I tell if they have started laying yet?

[choptank330]

to be honest i dont know what kind of wyndotte. But i am 95% sure that the RIR was the roo!!!! she is different

 

[outdoorsii]

to be honest i dont know what kind of wyndotte. But i am 95% sure that the RIR was the roo!!!! she is different

ah! ok

 

[Yukonchick]

Hook up a baby monitor in there and when yu hear some serious clucking then you know. I got a baby monitor in my hen house in case of predators like weasels or marten.

 

[pemphredo]

OK so someone in this thread at some point suggested food color the hens vent to know who was laying what..... that I did today. I have 3 hens that lay almost the exact same looking egg LOL
so I had my 12 year old daughter help me.... OMG I was laughing so hard after that I about peed my pants LOL we had food coloring on our hands after.... I said to her " uhm what are you going to say tomorrow at school if someone asks why you have red and blue on your hands. she said " well I am not going to say "i held my chickens down and food coloringed their butt holes." OMG i was laughing so hard when she said that I was like "when you put it that way it sounds creepy. LOL OMG these chickens vets looked like they were talking to us and my daughter goes "it looks like their butt holes are trying to eat the food coloring" needles to say 2 of the 3 that are laying eggs the same have now got colored feathers and vents so.....

 

[thebanthams]

Pemphredo, Thats really funny !

 

[BY Chicken Lady]

I suspect I have two new layers. I have one 8 mo laying hen and she has been laying eggs for months now, and one daily without fail since my 13 week old cockerel has been mating with her. Their eggs are fertile, one is ready to hatch in my incubator. They started mating about 2-1/2 weeks ago.

My other 7 chickens are pullets and are 15 weeks and 2 days old today. This morning I found two soft shelled eggs broken on the floor of the coop. About 5 days ago I found two other soft shelled (really shell less) on the coop floor. My laying hen is still laying her beautiful egg everyday so these soft shells must belong to my pullets. My hen does not like any other chickens in the coop when she sits in the nest box to lay her egg. If they come in she stomps around inside making a barking like racket til they leave. This could explain why they would be laying on the floor, it could also be because they are very young and don't know where to lay them.

I guess I need to sit out by the coop in the mornings to figure out who is laying these softies. I didn't expect them to start laying until 18-20 weeks....but then again I totally did not expect my cockerel to be fertile and mating successfully at 13 weeks either.

So, guess I should switch everyone over to the laying feed now...?