I guess it will take Austra a while to settle in totally.
It seems to vary as to when they start laying, and when they get to their normal routine, taking a day off every 5 or so days?
At any rate, i get more than enough now
far better than the old hens did.
It seems to me that, if all the girls are laying, ( which is difficult to find out ), at least one day a month they should lay 100% or 24 eggs? Am I expecting too much? The birds are 40 weeks old. Any ideas on marking or telling who is laying or not?
Cousin Dave
I think you need a statistician to figure out the odds, and then the chickens are in charge so it may not come out that way
Going to be hard without sitting out there watching them lay to see what color each lays - and of course that shade and shininess (or lack thereof) can change for a given bird. Plus you have several of the same breeds which all lay brown. That is one reason I got 2 white layers, 2 EEs (plus I wanted the "not white OR brown" eggs). All the rest lay some shade of light to medium brown but the Cubalayas are small and so are their eggs (actually Peewee). The Australorps lay bigger eggs than the Chanteclers and Faverolles so I can tell what they laid (one is the darkest brown of my layers and runs just shy of Large. The other a medium brown but she has never laid anything smaller than Large and is mostly laying XL). But I can still have trouble figuring out the Chantecler and Faverolles eggs. The eggs are about the same size (44 to 48 grams) and pale to light brown. Sometimes one of the Chanteclers lays a shiny, sometimes matte. When shiny, they are tan, like one of the Favs. When matte they are lighter, about the same color as the other Chantecler. They don't make it easy!
The only way I've read about to KNOW which laid a specific egg is to put food coloring in their vents, it will stick to the egg as it is laid. Search for it here on BYC, I've never done it.
Maybe you can start with all of one breed and see what "easter eggs" you get. Then move to the next.
Believe me I have told the husband not to wash the eggs. But he does not listen!
Yesterday we got 9 eggs. A very cold and snowy day, my daughter came over and went out to get the eggs and they were laid in the shape of a candy cane! I said with the weather the way it is they probably think its Christmas
Well, maybe if he does a little research. But, if you are going to refrigerate them (REQUIRED if they have been washed since they no longer have any natural protection, not required if unwashed and kept at room temp) - they will be fine. He's just wasting time and effort. But it IS his time and HIS effort. I doubt the eggs will be in the fridge long enough to go bad.
"[1] Unwashed, fertile homestead eggs seem to store much better than washed, unfertile agribiz eggs. Why? Probably for the simple reason that they're unwashed ... and not because they're fertile. Hen fruit, as it comes from the chicken, is coated with a light layer of a natural sealing agent called "bloom". And, while a good wash may make a batch of eggs look more attractive, it also removes this natural protective coating ... leaving the eggs more subject to aging and attack by the air and bacteria in the air."
Q: What is the best way to wash and store my eggs?
A: It's counter-intuitive but true: Your eggs will stay fresher if you don't wash them at all. When your hens lay eggs, there is a natural coating that is laid on top called the "bloom" that helps keep out bacteria. When you wash eggs, you drive some bacteria in through the pores of the shell, so it's a bad idea to do so as a general practice. If your nests are clean, your eggs should be clean. In fact, fresh eggs don't really even need to be refrigerated if they're going to be used soon. They can be kept at room temperature, although refrigeration will keep them fresher longer. (We always refrigerate our eggs--it just makes sense to keep them as fresh as possible!) Store them large end up.
A hen lays an egg a day, and after 10 or 12 days or so, she has gathered a clutch together and will begin sitting on them to hatch them. The first egg she laid has been sitting in the nest for two weeks or so, but is still good enough to turn into a baby chick!
If your eggs are very soiled for some reason, some people recommend you use sand, sanding sponges or sandpaper to carefully buff off the dirt, but it's really best not to wash them in water as that can get the bacteria inside the eggshell. Commercial eggs must be sanitized because they are often laid on top of feces or even worse.
Mine are all over the place. Sometimes a given bird will lay many days in a row then take a day or two off (especially after laying a whopper egg) but might just go 2 or 3 days the next time and then take a day off.
"Pattern" starting 3/1:
My blue laying EE:
3 on, 1 off, 5 on, 2 off, 2 on, 2 off, 2 on, 2 off and she laid yesterday.
The green layer's pattern:
last day of 4 on, 1 off, 2 on, 2 off, 6 on, 1 off, 3 on, 1 off, 1 on, 1 off, 1 on (yesterday).
My Australorps:
The smaller: 1 off, 1 on, 1 off, 9 on, 2 off, 6 on including yesterday
The larger: 3rd day of 3 off, 1 on, 2 off, 1 on MASSIVE, 2 off, 5 on, 1 off, 2 on, 1 off, 4 on including yesterday
Absolutely, mine are great birds and good layers. They have each averaged about 5 a week since they started laying (one on 11/25 and the other on 12/12) and didn't take time off in the winter. One lays a blue egg usually just under USDA Large. The other a green egg, usually the lower end of USDA Large.
