How can I tell which hens aren't laying anymore?

Poultry Home Companion

In the Brooder
Oct 9, 2017
8
3
31
Salt Lake City
Hi all!

I've researched the forums and haven't yet found the answer to this question, but I did read some interesting and vague information about food coloring...

Maybe I should be asking this of a math major, but maybe it's more of a chicken expert topic than it is a brain teaser:

We have 19 total laying hens:
  • Six very mature adults hens that were laying pretty steadily until a few months ago,
  • Three adolescents that were born in May and are quite likely all laying by now, and
  • Ten adolescents that were born in June that could be laying by now.
Our entire flock is kept in the same coop and run, so knowing which hen laid which egg is really difficult to establish. With winter upon us, I'm assuming the shorter days will be a significant factor, but let's set that point aside for now. Still, it would be nice to know who is paying the rent and who should be in the soup pot, so to speak. I don't know whether I'll be motivated to cull the old timers out of the flock anytime soon, but not knowing how to do so has me scratching my head.

What is the methodology here? And what in the world is this food coloring trick?

Thanks for any help you can provide!

T


 
The food coloring trick I'm thinking of is that when the egg is already laid you put food coloring on. Or you feed them food coloring or something but I'm not sure about that, so please wait for a better answer than mine!

Do your breeds lay different colors? I have only 6 pullets that will start laying in Late January or sometime February, and I have 3 breeds. Barred rocks, Buff Orpingtons, and Easter Eggers. The buffs and rocks will be a little harder to tell apart because they both lay brown, but my Easter Eggers could lay green, blue, or pink. So I'll have an idea of who laid if not knowing for sure.
 
The easiest and one of the most reliable ways to tell if a hen is consistently laying is by measuring the distance between their pubic bones. You do this by flipping them upside down with you holding onto their legs, tucking their head between your arm and side, and having their butt in the air. With your free hand, feel around the bottom part of their but and you should feel two very distinct bones poking out, these are the pubic bones. If you can fit 3ish fingers between the two bones, they are consistently laying. If you can only fit 2ish, they may be laying but not that often. If you can barely fit one, it's not laying. They idea is that if the hips are wide enough for an egg to pass, the chicken is laying/stretched out.
Here's a video showing what I just said:
As shown on this diagram, you could do it vertically or horizontally (what I wrote applies to vertically/downward pointing fingers). Also, "breast" in the diagram refers to the breast bone or keel.
700

Another diagram:
is_hen_laying.gif
 
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What Rachel said. I have always heard them referred to as 'vent bones', but the 2 finger/3 finger grading system works on large fowl.
 
As shown on this diagram, you could do it vertically or horizontally (what I wrote applies to vertically/downward pointing fingers). Also, "breast" in the diagram refers to the breast bone or keel.
700
Haha! That's a great diagram, never seen that one before!

Here's another:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/who-is-laying-and-who-is-not-butt-check.73309/

But keep in mind just because your older birds are not laying now in winter,
(putting your location to your profile will let us know if it's winter where you are)
does not mean they will not start laying again once the day lengthen.
How old is 'very mature'?

Deciding when to put older birds in the pot/freezer depends on your goals and facilities. I keep 2 age groups over winter, hatch a new batch every spring then extra cockerels and older hens get sold or slaughtered.
 
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Unless your older girls are 5+ years old, they should be coming back into lay quite soon.... you have already kept them rent free for the past few months through their moult, so you may as well hold faith now and keep them another season at least. Red combs are a good indication of which birds are laying right now but feeling pubic bones is probably the most accurate. That said, birds that are internally laying will have red combs and wide pubic bones..... watch out for birds with a wide stance when walking and a swollen abdomen and possibly a poopy butt. Any that look like that, even though they eat and drink and act normally would be the ones to cull first as they are doomed anyway (I sadly have a 3.5yr old legbar currently showing these signs :() You may have none with this complaint but it is sadly all too common in production birds over 2 years old.

I would not be so sure that your pullets have all started laying yet. Some birds take longer to mature than others and pullets approaching point of lay as the days are at their shortest often take longer to start. Obviously breed will play a part too.... I'm assuming all your birds are the same breed??

How many eggs are you getting at the moment from your 19 layers? Pullets can be quite sporadic when they start up as well, so that may be adding to what I assume is a low tally.

The food colouring really only works to try to figure out which hen/pullet laid which egg if you have a bird which you think should be laying but you are not finding a correspondingly coloured egg..... like having an EE in the flock that looks like she should be laying but you are not getting a blue or green egg. Painting her vent with food colouring on a night whilst she is on the roost and then checking the eggs that are laid the following day, for traces of the dye would identify if she is in fact laying a brown egg instead of a blue or green one.
 

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