How can you tell if your hen is laying...

[Jen4]

I have some girls that are laying age, but I'm gettin no eggs in the coop from them. I think they maybe laying in the yard somewhere... I have this one bantam, she flew over the chicken run this morning, so I'm really thinking she went and laid her eggs somewhere... I thought I had read somewhere that they start losing the color in their earlobes when they have been laying?

 

[Judy]

Combs and wattles get redder, they will squat for you as you approach (if they think you are the roo,) and they hang around inside nests, rearranging the nesting material. You will also likely hear the egg song, though not all mine sing about an egg. A roo may hang around the hen while she is laying, evidently to guard her.

 

[ScotianChick]

I found a couple eggs in my coop a few months ago and couldn't figure out which hens had started laying so I did a little research on google. If you check their vents, the layers should have wider vents and the non-layers smaller more round ones.

 

[sharol]

If you have time to monitor them (and who is in the coop), you may be able to figure it out. My girls have been laying for about a month. I've been lucky to be able to figure out who is laying what kind of egg because I've seen them at various times in the nest boxes (from a window in the coop) and then when they came out, there was an egg there. Since I have a wide variety of breeds, it is pretty easy in most cases to identify the layer. I'm retired (substitute teacher some days), so I have some free time to just observe them. I can't tell the eggs of two of them apart yet (both Delawares and both lay about the same color and size), and my PR is still laying soft shelled eggs from the roost sometimes, so I'm not absolutely sure about her eggs, but the other 4 I have figured out.

EE - green
Campine - white
Welsumer - dark brown with speckles
GLW - light brownish pink

2 Dels - medium brown, Lucy sometimes lays double yolkers, Angel lays almost every day
PR - medium brown, but mostly shellless/softshelled from the roost (I'm worried about her).

Of course this plan isn't worth squat (no pun intended) if you have all one breed

 

[2overeasy000]

I too got different breeds that lay different colors to make it easier to tell who is laying and who isn't. They were all purchased together and are all about nine months old now. I have:

2 EE: mint green and olive eggs
1 white leghorn: white egg
RIR: darker brown
RSL: brown
BO: pinkish

My question is, I don't think the Barred Rock is laying or has ever layed. She is never in the nesting boxes and her legs and beak are still dark yellow. Any tips to find out if she is laying? Is this unusual that the BR would be the only non layer? I'm pretty sure that "she" is not a roo. Never crowed and doesn't look like a BR roo at all.