I want to know which eggs are laid by a certain hen

[Penpal]

The duck plan sounds good, as long as they all get along.

 

[StinkyAcres]

The duck plan sounds good, as long as they all get along.

I put her in with the ducks today. They get along fine, but all she wanted was to be with the chickens. I even put another hen in with her (who lays a different colored egg), but they both didn't like it. Oh well. I guess I'll keep her in the crate for the most part and put her with the rest of the chickens on days when she lays an egg.

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

Thank you all for the suggestions. It sounds too difficult to reliably mark her eggs. She doesn't lay every day so if I kept her in a cage until she laid she wouldn't come out some days. I might try letting her outside in the duck pen which is separate from the chicken pen, at least on days with good weather.

I wouldn't stress her out by putting her in a pen with another species. Make sure to not allow any drakes by her—a drake mating a chicken hen ends with death for the female.

 

[talkinboutchickens]

I once had a hen named Vicky who was on antibiotics and we couldn't eat her eggs...
We separated her in a separate coop and that worked perfectly. You can also put her in a crate with some bedding.
Hopefully she feels better soon

 

[StinkyAcres]

I wouldn't stress her out by putting her in a pen with another species. Make sure to not allow any drakes by her—a drake mating a chicken hen ends with death for the female.

I let the chickens and ducks forage together occasionally so she's been with them before. And I don't have a drake so no worries there. She certainly prefers to be with her own kind though.

I once had a hen named Vicky who was on antibiotics and we couldn't eat her eggs...
We separated her in a separate coop and that worked perfectly. You can also put her in a crate with some bedding.
Hopefully she feels better soon

She's in an XL dog crate with food, water, bedding, and a roosting bar. I'll be letting her out with the rest of the chickens on days she lays an egg in the crate.

 

[Cluckminster Fuller]

I read somewhere on this site that you could apply lipstick to her vent. Should last longer than food dye, anyway.

I

 

[Cluckminster Fuller]

I doubt lipstick would last that long. Would love to know. On humans the kind that would share color usually only lasts a few hours. A dog cage is great for isolating when needed. I just have a few chicks now so I try to buy 2 of each of different egg color. Ameraunas can be 2 blue and 2 green, then I have a couple dark brown, light brown and almost white. You could then isolate 2 together and just sacrifice all the eggs (I throw them out for wild critters, but I have a cliff they go over). Obviously if you have a large flock, that won't work. But I quit selling and just do for us and friends.