Keeping Track Of Eggs

[newbie32]

My girls are still too young to lay but I just had an epiphany. How will I know which hen lays an egg? How will I keep track of egg production and such?

Ideas from the experts please! Innovations to make life easier are always a good thing-no I am not putting a camera in my coop but will welcome problem solving solutions.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

You won't know unless you're sitting there, all the birds lay different eggs, use trapnests or put food color on their vents.
With trap nests you still need to be around to release them regularly.

 

[Kelsie2290]

Good question, wish there was a way to make the hens id the eggs as they lay them. Do you have many different breeds or one breed? A friend of mine has about a dozen chickens of different breeds, and she pretty much knows who laid what egg by size and color. If you have the same breed, the only thing I have really seen that might work is putting some color on the vent so the egg gets colored on the way out. Not really practical in the long term though. Trap nests work (nesting box with a door that closes when a hen enters it), but are darn labor intensive if you actually wanted to keep track for any length of time. If I want to see if certain hens are laying i usually put them in a small coop for a week or two and see what they do, if I put in breeds that lay different colors I can keep track of a couple at once, or put them in a crate in the morning until they lay then let them out.

 

[DaveMorey]

My chickens all lay during the day while I am at work so I have no way of knowing who is laying and who isn't. I did put a small calendar on the door of my coop and started recording the total number of eggs laid daily. I recently found an app for my smart phone that does the same thing. It also calculates the cost per egg and per dozen as well as showing a graph of laying trends. It was pretty neat so see the total number of eggs collected to date (794 from 27 hens since July 17. 8 of the hens just started laying this month). It helped me come up with a reasonable price for eggs.

 

[newbie32]

Will the coloring on the vent cause irritation? What kind of coloring-food coloring?

 

[Kelsie2290]

Will the coloring on the vent cause irritation? What kind of coloring-food coloring?

Just regular food-safe food coloring diluted a little, put it in a spray bottle and give the vent and feathers right around the vent a few good sprays, usually lasts for a few days. Doesn't seem to bother them. You do have to check pretty often because it will transfer to other eggs if she sits on them, and you can not get it off of eggs, especially if they are white, you wind up with very sad looking easter eggs.

 

[braden38351]

My chickens all lay during the day while I am at work so I have no way of knowing who is laying and who isn't. I did put a small calendar on the door of my coop and started recording the total number of eggs laid daily. I recently found an app for my smart phone that does the same thing. It also calculates the cost per egg and per dozen as well as showing a graph of laying trends. It was pretty neat so see the total number of eggs collected to date (794 from 27 hens since July 17. 8 of the hens just started laying this month). It helped me come up with a reasonable price for eggs.

What app is it that you use?

 

[DaveMorey]

What app is it that you use?

I have been using the app called eggspense. It is an android app. I am not sure if they make one for iPhone also or not.

 

[newbie32]

Just regular food-safe food coloring diluted a little, put it in a spray bottle and give the vent and feathers right around the vent a few good sprays, usually lasts for a few days. Doesn't seem to bother them. You do have to check pretty often because it will transfer to other eggs if she sits on them, and you can not get it off of eggs, especially if they are white, you wind up with very sad looking easter eggs.

LMAO

my kids would love Easter eggs before Easter!