How Many Eggs Did You Get Today?

[twinzmom]

7 today! Things are looking up. The weather has been mild in the upper 30s and low 40s. And we are to have more of the same this week, how long this will last , I can't say but ill take what the girls give!
I keep track of how many and which size they are. Might sound ridiculous but I enjoy it. I mark each egg with a S,M,L,XL, or J and date them too. The date helps me to know when they are ready to hard boil.

 

[wyan5]

My hens are Wyandottes. They lay nice large brown eggs and going by y'all's calculations I guess they're doing better than I thought. Still not sure if all 4 are laying but they may be. They never make noise when they lay so I hardly ever see which ones are laying.
My mom has an EE, barred rock, another "fancy" chicken (think it starts with an "a".) and 2 Wyandottes and she gets more eggs than I do. But most if them lay small eggs.

 

[Gifa]

Me too, except that other than weekends, I have no idea when they lay. 15 minute intervals?? Do you have the girls write on a paper copy of the spreadsheet Gifa or do you live in the coop with them? Or maybe they live in the house with you!

I got a scale this week so besides noting who laid, I can also note how big the egg was. It was a bit of an eye opener that scale. I had been guessing a full size larger than they actually weigh based initially on comparison to store Large eggs I still had. Today's total of 8 barely squeaked Medium on average. The Australorps and EEs compensated for the Cubalayas's two eggs which don't even approach Small. At least they are bigger than Peewee now. They were REALLY small quite a while. But they are small birds. I think even a Medium would probably do them in. The smallest Medium would be a gram over 25% heavier then their 40 g eggs.

Given both my Australorps and both my EEs laid before 9/9:15 yesterday and today, I think they must be on a shorter cycle than yours or they laid early yesterday (they do have a small amount of artificial light starting at 4:30 AM) and late today. Which is possible since all 6 of the eggs laid before I let them out (especially the Cubalaya egg that a Faverolles was sitting on) were warm and one of the Australorps hopped out of the nest when I got to the coop. Must have laid just in time to not miss morning treats!

Bruce

LOL... No, they're not filling out a quota sheet and I'm not spending an inordinate amount of time out there. The automatic chicken door opens at 7am... I am out to clean by 8 am... So, I check when I clean their coop first thing in the morning, and every couple of hours after that so that they don't have a chance to freeze. Because I don't have a job at the moment, I have the luxury to be able to check on them regularly throughout the day... I can guess approximately when the eggs were laid between when they laid the day before, how the girls were behaving the last time I was out, and how warm their egg is when I collect it. If the egg is cold, it is at least 45 minutes old...

But because I have this record, I kind of have an idea of when I expect them to have laid... if it's not there, yet, but they're in the nest, I go out again in an hour... it's usually there by then, and by judging how warm it is, I can tell how long it's been out of the chicken.

I've been wanting a couple of web cams to install, one in the coop aimed at the nest boxes, one in the run aimed at the hanging basket (auxiliary nest), mostly so I can invite my friends into my experience... but also so I don't have to disturb them in the nest if I don't have to. But I don't want to run power out to the coop, so I'm researching solar powered options only. But it's not a priority.

So far all of my girls lay a different colored egg, so it's easy... The real fun will start after my remaining EE starts (soon, she's started scouting the boxes) and my remaining SLW starts (no signs yet)... Will have to go by weights for a while if I get any repeat colors until I get their patterns on record... I'm hoping for a slightly darker brown from my SLW and a beige from my EE. We'll see soon enough. P.S. the last one to start laying last fall, an EE started when there was a minimum of 9 hours and 45 minutes between sunrise, sunset... We're almost back up to 9 hours and 45 minutes again... (Jan 15th). My other SLW started laying when there was 10 hours and 15 minutes between sunrise and sunset... which we'll be up to again on Jan 30... So... I hypothesized that both of the slackers should be firing up their egg makers sometime in the next two or three weeks here. We'll see.

Their first fall molt and first post-molt winter ought to be enlightening as well...

 

[choptank330]

3out of 5

 

[PeepinChicken]

6/10

 

[bruceha2000]

Because I don't have a job at the moment, I have the luxury to be able to check on them regularly throughout the day...

If that isn't voluntary, I hope you find one soon. Too many people involuntarily out of work. But if it IS voluntary - ENJOY!

But because I have this record, I kind of have an idea of when I expect them to have laid... if it's not there, yet, but they're in the nest, I go out again in an hour... it's usually there by then, and by judging how warm it is, I can tell how long it's been out of the chicken.

Unless you have a stupid broody Faverolles that will sit on anything and NOTHING

I'm REAL sure she doesn't lay a 62 g green egg

But all the girls rushed out of the coop at 9 today. They had such fun yesterday eating all the grass exposed when the snow melted, most of them didn't even stop at the barn door where I usually toss them some BOSS or scratch, oatmeal with fat and BOSS on the really cold mornings. Enjoy it girls, it will be winter again after today.

I've been wanting a couple of web cams to install, one in the coop aimed at the nest boxes, one in the run aimed at the hanging basket (auxiliary nest), mostly so I can invite my friends into my experience... but also so I don't have to disturb them in the nest if I don't have to.

Or tromp out through 2' of snow at -10F for NOTHING!

So far all of my girls lay a different colored egg, so it's easy...

Mine do (generally) as well. The Anconas' eggs are the same color but one lays a pointer egg. And I'm 99% sure the 2nd Partridge Chantecler has finally started laying. We've found 2 eggs that are almost exactly the same matte medium brown color as the larger Black Australorp's but instead of 62 g it is 48 g. The other PC lays a very shiny brown egg a few shades lighter than the other BA.

P.S. the last one to start laying last fall, an EE started when there was a minimum of 9 hours and 45 minutes between sunrise, sunset... We're almost back up to 9 hours and 45 minutes again... (Jan 15th). My other SLW started laying when there was 10 hours and 15 minutes between sunrise and sunset... which we'll be up to again on Jan 30... So... I hypothesized that both of the slackers should be firing up their egg makers sometime in the next two or three weeks here. We'll see.

That would be an interesting correlation. Not only might a given breed be affected by the amount of light differently than another breed, but it could even be down to the individual bird. I'll be watching for your report.

Their first fall molt and first post-molt winter ought to be enlightening as well...

Yep, but we get to wait all summer for that.

No eggs when I let them out at 9 today so following your data, I should find some starting between 11 and 12. Of course some are currently laying so sporadically that they could pop one out at any time.

Bruce

 

[Cox28358]

Not all chickens lay every single day. So they might all be laying, just not on the same days.

Somebody's laying everyday.... 7 RIR's, 2 BSL's.... 8 eggs yesterday.... Somebody must have gotten the memo.... Spent the evening yesterday with the DW and kids learning how to make Chicken Saddles.... I asked the wife if she would rather sew them or buy them.... Needless to say we ended up at the local fabric ship, bought some fabric, elastic bands and spent what was supposed to be a date night sewing.... I think the wife is enjoying these chickens more than me... Maybe she says the same thing when we buy some meat birds...

 

[bruceha2000]

Somebody's laying everyday.... 7 RIR's, 2 BSL's.... 8 eggs yesterday.... Somebody must have gotten the memo....

Just because they lay every day for some number of days doesn't mean they will lay EVERY day.

Three of my girls have had fairly long streaks, one EE had a 10 day run (matched today by the bigger Australorp) later beat by the other EE with 11. Maybe Zorra is going to lay again tomorrow and tie Persephone's record

Bruce

 

[Gifa]

7 girls, 5 laying, 2 eggs today.

As I predicted, I got a green egg today from Kaylee just before 1 (logged as 13) and Inara's in the basket as I write this, so, I'll have a brown one within the next half hour or so... which is precisely in the 14-15ish time slot I predicted yesterday. Tomorrow I should get 3 eggs, one from everyone who took today off. And I should get them all first thing in the morning.

a whole buncha stuff that didn't populate when I clicked to quote it.

The unemployment thing is partially voluntary, I voluntarily left my corporate art career in 2008 to put myself through a teaching certification program and become an art educator (art is my first passion)... As high school art teacher positions are somewhat niche, I'm just waiting for a position to open up... which is a cyclical process, annual contracts and all. In the mean time, I am totally enjoying my time off... I regularly refer to it as my midlife retirement.


In regard to your scale... I also track egg weights... actually, here's a compilation of screenshots from my spreadsheets. I'll pop it in here real small so it's not obnoxious in this thread, but you can click on it to see a bigger version. But I track how many, from who, egg weight, time of day, and also total weekly average and sunrise/sunset/hours per day. For the time laid, I turned on the dot symbol for Bridget so you can see her cycle more clearly...

 

[roostersandhens]

11 hens 4 eggs. but some are to old to lay!