how do you guys keep track of who’s laying and when?

[U_Stormcrow]

I don't. Flock in signature below. Most of my birds, unlike the Procul Harem song, lay "a browner shade of pale."

These do not lend themselves to ready identification.

I've stopped counting. I know I'll get at least a half flat each day, and if I ever let most of my flock age into adulthood, I'll be lucky if I *only* get a flat a day.

24 eggs in a day remains my record, and I've culled numerous layers since then, but have also doubled my flock size - just waiting for the new birds to start laying.

 

[Auntiejessi3]

I have a few different colored layers so that's easy, the ones that lay brown eggs I know who laid what because of the shape

 

[Loving my girls]

I have a few different colored layers so that's easy, the ones that lay brown eggs I know who laid what because of the shape

Me too, I have three brown egg layers, on is speckled, one is glossy and one is, well brown. That was pure luck though. All my others are blue, green and cream.
This year I’m getting a white and a dark brown (maybe a dark green too )

 

[CraziChknLady]

I got my flats from Amazon. Cheap, likely Chinese, plastics. The "sellers" keep disappearing, but identical products keep popping up by others. Buy in packs, 6, 8, 10, 12... Expect they will cost you $2-3 each, so a pack will run you $18-36 depending on size.

They bleach well, take hot water well, drain for air drying (reasonably) well [I had to finish cleaning the holes out on a couple], they stack, and they've held up a couple years. If a neighbor forgets to bring one back, I'm only out a couple bucks.

I store mine stacked in the fridge, 4 high on a shelf. They will fit a duck egg, so birds laying extra large aren't a problem.

and you can't see it, but I marked mine with a black sharpie to create black bars on two sides. When I stack them, it makes a "stair" of black marks - helps ensure that they stay in order, oldest to newest. Have to do two sides because one flat will lay 6 across 5 deep, the next flat gets turned 90 degrees so 5 across 6 deep. Repeat repeat, repeat.

Once stacked 8 tall in a cooler and drove them 6 hours across state, didn't lose a single egg. (plastic "ice" blocks too). Big cooler, weighed more than I could easily handle alone once loaded. Got rid of it.

Hope that helps a little?

Oh yes that helps so much! I've got 31 hens so I know I'm probably going to get anywhere from 15-30 eggs a day. Sadly have to have a closed flock, so no selling. Just means I'm going to be baking and cooking a lot this spring/summer!

 

[jreardon1918]

I had this scenario at one point....now it's like who the heck knows!
I just count daily egg numbers...I use a spread sheet to track all kinds of things.

We are currently dow to 4 laying hens. One chocolate layer, one white layer, two light brown. My spreadsheet shows date, number eggs , some days I add color. Like this.

4/6/2021	4		b,b,w,c
4/7/2021	2		b,c
4/8/2021	2		w,b
4/9/2021	1		b
4/10/2021	3		bbw

Where we only have 4 we know who the slacker is. The one that is currently broody.

 

[GracePoultry]

I have naver had more than 2 of the same breed at once so I can get a pretty good idea of who is laying what. it's not perfect and it's really only a guestimate for me

 

[Loving my girls]

Oh yes that helps so much! I've got 31 hens so I know I'm probably going to get anywhere from 15-30 eggs a day. Sadly have to have a closed flock, so no selling. Just means I'm going to be baking and cooking a lot this spring/summer!

Goodness, I have 8 hens six of which are laying.
I also have friends to give them too But 30 hens goodness I would be supplying half of the village with those

 

[gtaus]

I hope you never ever contribute to this animal abuse. No-one can keep chickens in a humane way with decent feed for such a price.

Not quite sure what you mean. I have had a backyard flock of chickens for just over 4 years now. I have not bought big box store eggs in over 4 years. I might be a little out of touch on the prices...

I can tell you that it costs me more than $1.00 per dozen for eggs. We sell our excess eggs to friends for $2.50 per dozen, which is a good price for them, and it covers my feed cost. I see WalMart is selling large brown eggs currently at about $5.00 per dozen, white eggs around $4.00 per dozen. Prices have definitely gone up.

I assure you that my chickens have a good life and are treated in a humane way. I have no idea what conditions the chickens live in that the big box stores sell eggs.

I should also mention that sometimes our stores sell eggs at a loss just to get people in the door to buy other stuff. It would not be worth my time to have a backyard flock if all I wanted was to save money on eggs. Obviously, a lot of that depends on where you live and the price of eggs in the store.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Where did you purchase your flats from and how do you store the eggs? ( Ex. Shelving unit, table, extra fridge, etc.) Asking since I will have an obnoxious number of hens laying in spring. Thanks.

I got my flats from Amazon. Cheap, likely Chinese, plastics. The "sellers" keep disappearing, but identical products keep popping up by others. Buy in packs, 6, 8, 10, 12... Expect they will cost you $2-3 each, so a pack will run you $18-36 depending on size.

They bleach well, take hot water well, drain for air drying (reasonably) well [I had to finish cleaning the holes out on a couple], they stack, and they've held up a couple years. If a neighbor forgets to bring one back, I'm only out a couple bucks.

I store mine stacked in the fridge, 4 high on a shelf. They will fit a duck egg, so birds laying extra large aren't a problem.

and you can't see it, but I marked mine with a black sharpie to create black bars on two sides. When I stack them, it makes a "stair" of black marks - helps ensure that they stay in order, oldest to newest. Have to do two sides because one flat will lay 6 across 5 deep, the next flat gets turned 90 degrees so 5 across 6 deep. Repeat repeat, repeat.

Once stacked 8 tall in a cooler and drove them 6 hours across state, didn't lose a single egg. (plastic "ice" blocks too). Big cooler, weighed more than I could easily handle alone once loaded. Got rid of it.

Hope that helps a little?

 

[BDutch]

Not quite sure what you mean. I have had a backyard flock of chickens for just over 4 years now. I have not bought big box store eggs in over 4 years. I might be a little out of touch on the prices...

I can tell you that it costs me more than $1.00 per dozen for eggs. We sell our excess eggs to friends for $2.50 per dozen, which is a good price for them, and it covers my feed cost. I see WalMart is selling large brown eggs currently at about $5.00 per dozen, white eggs around $4.00 per dozen. Prices have definitely gone up.

I assure you that my chickens have a good life and are treated in a humane way. I have no idea what conditions the chickens live in that the big box stores sell eggs.

I should also mention that sometimes our stores sell eggs at a loss just to get people in the door to buy other stuff. It would not be worth my time to have a backyard flock if all I wanted was to save money on eggs. Obviously, a lot of that depends on where you live and the price of eggs in the store.

Glad you have your chickens have a goog life. I just wanted to make a statement about the very cheap eggs in the store.
€1 a dozen is ridiculously cheap. Even 5 years ago.

In general the chickens who laid the more expensive eggs did have a better life. Personally I believe its important to value the labels for free ranging and organic eggs.

I had to buy eggs previous winters bc my chickens stopped laying in autumn. Price for organic eggs here go from €5 up to €8 euro a dozen. Organic here means better feed and more living space with an outdoor run.

Sorry for being off topic.