How can you tell which chicken lays which eggs?

[becstalls]

I frequently see people mentioning that they know which hen is laying or which hen lays which eggs. I never could tell this with my old flock. Is it that you’re catching them in the act, or is there another way to tell?

 

[TheRusticRebel]

Mine are super noisy about it. So what i have done in the past is make sure the nests are all empty when i let them out in the AM and then as i hear them crowing i see which one is making all the noise then go get its egg if its warm i know for sure it was just layed. It took a couple days but i figured out which one lays which eggs. I have some EEs and RIRs.

 

[SueT]

You have to play detective and watch them a lot….it takes time. If they are all the same breed, it would be hard.

 

[Bhubbard]

I can’t unless you go to great lengths. When I started with 10 chickens I could. Somewhere in the 20s I lost track and I have multiples of each breed that are close in age. Also, there can be 4-6 laying all at once in same open nest box.

 

[NatJ]

I frequently see people mentioning that they know which hen is laying or which hen lays which eggs. I never could tell this with my old flock. Is it that you’re catching them in the act, or is there another way to tell?

There are a number of ways, but the fewer hens you have, the more likely that you can figure it out easily.

Eggs can be different colors, different sizes, and different shapes. Hens of the same breed will often lay similar eggs but not always. Hens of different breeds can also lay matching eggs sometimes. Different colors can be white vs. brown vs. blue vs. green, but can also be shade of brown or shade of blue/green.

You can check which ones are laying and which ones are not.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/who-is-laying-and-who-is-not-butt-check.73309/

If you do that regularly when they are just starting to lay, you will often find one new layer at a time, and can match them up with their new eggs.

If you add a few new pullets to your flock each year, and know what eggs the older hens lay, you can figure out the new pullets' colors as they start laying.

If you have a hen that just recently quit laying (example: went broody), you can look at the eggs being laid at the time, and the eggs laid the week before, to see which one has quit.

If you have reason to separate a hen for any reason (like if she's recovering from an injury), you can notice what her eggs look like, or if she's not laying you can see what egg is missing from the flock output.

You can go look frequently to see who is on the nest, near the nest, making noise, and which eggs are present.

Every now and then, you might happen along at the right time to see a hen actually lay an egg, which definitely tells you what hers look like!

People occasionally put food coloring or lipstick on a hen's vent, so it will mark the egg that comes out. (Probably easiest to apply if you catch the hen off the roost at night.)

If it's really bothering you, you can split the flock into smaller groups or put hens in individual cages for long enough to sort it out. A pen that has two hens who lay eggs you know, and one you don't, will typically give the answer in just a few days. A hen in a pen by herself will give a definite answer the next time she lays an egg.

I've had a few times that I set up temporary pens on a lawn, put one or two chickens in each pen in the early morning (before they had laid eggs yet that day), and made notes on which eggs appeared during the day. The temporary pens were not properly predator-proof or weather-proof, so I did it in good weather, watched for predators, and put all the hens back in their usual secure pen for the the night. The next day, I did it again with any that hadn't laid the first day, plus the ones that had gotten skipped the first day (more hens than temporary pens.) Just a few days of messing with it was enough to sort out quite a few hens. After that, there were some eggs I could recognize easily, and some eggs that came from "one of those three" (or whatever number laid eggs of that type.) And once I knew all the current types, and one new layer was obvious.

 

[MysteryChicken]

I know by, color, shade of color, or egg shape.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I have no life so when pullets reach point of lay I'll spy on them to try and catch them laying, then I can match each bird to each egg. Helps that I don't have a huge flock and that I have a variety of breeds, so my eggs are a variety of colors, sizes and shapes, so it's much easier to match up.

 

[AusHen]

For the most part it's different colour/shade or shape. If I have multiple of the same breed/cross I'll separate one until she lays an egg. so far I can tell all mine except the polish, one lays long eggs but the others lay pretty similar