how do you tell who is laying

the ones with a traumatised look on their face

sorry I have no idea but would also love to know which 2 of ours are laying

 

Well.. I think you can do 3 things.... you can watch them all day to catch them in the act.... you can use a trap nest so that when a hen goes in the nest she can't get back out until you let her out.... or you can rock them up and take a look at their vent. A hen that is laying will have a large, moist vent whereas a non-laying girl will have a smaller, dry vent. Hope this helps.....

 

I tried asking mine, but they all had that " It wasn't me" look about them.
I was thinking of smearing their butts with different color fingerpaints- then could match the egg color to the corresponding butt color. But I figured I'd get no eggs, they would be laughing at each other so hard.
"Does this green make my butt look big?"

 

hey, i like the paint idea...when i first got my girls, it took me 2 days of watching who went into the house, and running in there after one leaves, to see who laid what egg! A couple of mine make a lot of bock-bocking after they lay one

 

While I was working outside I put a peep hole in the coop door and looked in every time I saw that one was in the coop, also when I worked inside I basically did the same. My coop is close to my house so it wasn't that hard look out the window to watch them, it didn't take too long.

I got a few surprises that way, but two I could not place, to this day i don't know which one lays the big fat one or the one who lays the long skinny one.

 

in raising goats they use a CHALK bag.... tied to the chest of the buck,, so they know, the doe with the chalk on her is the one that got bred...
maybe put a chakbag in the nest??? the chickens with the chalk on their feet/butt are the ones that have been in the nest...

 

O.K. I know this sounds strange but.... I have noticed that the ones laying the eggs have a more worn fuzzyness to there rear end and the ones that were not still had pretty feathers on there rear and than the last one when she started laying her bottom got all fuzzy as well.

 

Quote:well that's a good idea but it may not work. our now-laying pullet, Cinnamon, lays eggs, and her butt is really neat and her feathers are all clean and perfect.
One way that may work to find out who's laying is by feeling their crop. If it's really hard, and not a little mushy like it would be if that was just food, then that hen is probably laying. also, i have heard taht the layers will have red faces before they start laying. hope this helps!

 

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