Mystery layer results in egg watch

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PhantomSlayer

PhantomSlayer

Songster
Aug 22, 2022
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Michigan
We knew our girls were bound to start soon and two days ago we got our first egg. It was smaller than expected lol. Kind of a creamish tan colored. And today we got our second egg again still smaller and same coloring. Even with being on egg watch going out nearly every hour I somehow missed the layer again and to the point the egg wasnt even warm like hoowww x.x Im wishing we had a camera to set up in there but we can't afford one. And unfortunately I believe most if not all of our breeds are a cream/brown egg layers lol Anyone else go on eggwatch? How long did it take you to discover who was laying?

We have buff orpingtons, a brahma, black australorps and gold lace wyandottes. We also have a easter egger but shes still only 13 weeks old so shes pretty much the only one off the suspect list lol Buff, australorps and wyandottes are 18 weeks old. The brahma is 15-16 weeks. I don't know whether if she should be a suspect or not? Its soo tough lol Both eggs despite being smaller had yolks.
 
You can check their combs to see who is likely to be laying (big red comb, not small pale comb.)

You can also check their butts to see who is likely to be laying (vent size/shape, and the bones just below the vent.)

Neither of those checks will tell for sure who laid the eggs. But they can help rule out the ones that are NOT close to laying, so you have fewer options left to consider.
 
Incredibly helpful! Theres been alot of noises going on considering our barred rock roosters keep trying to reproduce. Does egg song sound similiar for every hen or are they different?

As for squatting I havent noticed. Only 4 out of 10 even bother to approach at all and only 1 enjoys petting lol. Shes one of the buff orpingtons. But her comb is still fairly light so I guess if I had to knock one off the list I would say her.. The other buff however has within the past week has a quick change on her comb. But theres also the one black australorp whose comb is bigger and redder than the others. The wyandottes since they were young keep a distance from anyone Their combs are kinda red but not as much as I see in the australorps.

Its sooo hard! I might just have to camp out at the window and check everytime i see one enter and exit the coop lol. It's gonna be hot so they'll probably be released to free range so should be easier since they prefer the bushes or under our porch. The first egg was laid despite them having free range so hopefully whichever one it is doesnt dcide to just lay one in the bushes or under the porch. Thatll be no fun lol
 
I tried the squat test today on some of them as we got another egg yesterday. I couldnt get close to the brahma as she wouldnt come out of the coop. But two of the Black Australorps did somewhat of a squat but it didnt really look like they fully went down. One of the wyandottes as well. It was hard to do because I had a goose chewing on the back of my shirt and our friendliest girl rosemary whose one of the buff orpington was infront of me rubbing on me and trying to peck at my shorts lol Her comb is still pink and she didnt squat at all lol The other buff orpington completely ran from me when I reached out so maybe shes not the one either lol.
 
Still not sure whose doing it I tried setting out our old trail camera because it can do night pictures as well but it took 0 pictures. Its a piece of junk lol. But both Wyandottes have been doing the squatting action so maybe its them. We did suspect that they could be up to a week older when we first got them.
 
I forgot to give an update we are now occasionally getting 3 eggs some days and I discovered one layer who recently started is one of our buff Orpington. And the first identified layer is one of our Wyandottes Betty. We suspect our second Wyandotte Wilma may be the other layer. Its either her or one of the australorps. But I have yet to see them sit in the nesting boxes. I'm glad to know two of them though. Lemon pepper just recently started as I can tell the color difference in her eggs vs the one I got from Betty. However the other eggs are the same color as Betty's so it may be Wilma but I think I mentioned before I believe all our breeds are brown eggs layers so identifying by color to a specific hen may be tricky lol
 

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