Today's temperature = # of eggs.

[what did I do]

I turned the lights off in the coop and I'm still getting @ 40 eggs a day out of around 60 hens. Our days are still @ 30 or a little above. I think spring is on its way.

 

[bruceha2000]

Low 17 F, High 22 F
7 eggs from 11 layers and one lazy butt broodie. Clemence THERE ARE NO FERTILE EGGS HERE!!!
Colder than yesterday, one more egg.

Bruce

 

[Our Roost]

Gifa! Thats a pretty awesome log chart of whos done what and at what time! Do you have a motion camera set up or what? We have a hard enough time counting and gathering eggs let alone trying to figure out who layed them. My hat is off to you and I wish you'd share your secret.

 

[Gifa]

No, I kind of have the luxury of being home, and having a small flock of birds that lay a bunch of different colors. So, knowing who laid what is easy. For the first few weeks, I checked every 2 hours, until they each started establishing a regular and predictable pattern... Now I can forecast about what time they are going to lay and only go out at those times. I record the time roughly based off of how warm the eggs feel when I gather, how they were behaving the last time I checked, and what time they laid the day before. I record at the resolution of quarter hours, because I enter it into a spreadsheet in decimal format so it can graph it. Quarter hours are easy... .0. .25. .5. .75.

So like, if I go out there at say, 9:22am... Because I am expecting one between 8 and 10, and I find one, when I pick it up, if it feels really warm, I can pretty much say it was laid withing the last 15 minutes... So, I record 9.25. If it's just kinda warm, I record 9... Cool, 8.75... Cold, 8.5... I'm also out there between 7 and 9 to water, feed and scoop the coop bedding anyway... And I can usually tell by how they are behaving how eminent the egg is, which also helps me gauge the time. For example, Zoe's due this morning, I set out their water and cleaned the coop at 7:30, Zoe was in the nest box and shot out of the coop as soon as I opened the door to the run... But she didn't come back in while I was cleaning, so... She was just warming the nest, meaning I know she'll lay closer to 9 today... Meaning... Hurry up and get the morning chores done so I can get back to my warm bed, lol.

The easiest time to predict is the one after a bird took a day off... If they are a reliable layer, the next egg after a break is always in the first couple hours after sunrise the following morning. The next day will always be later in the day from the day before, so... If they lay at 7:30 the day after not laying, look for the next one at 9 the next day... If it's there, guess about what time it was laid by how warm it still is... If not, check back in an hour. So, if the next one was laid about 9:30, then her cycle is roughly 26 hours, and the next egg can be expected at 11:30ish the next day and so on until about an hour before sunset... Eventually sunset will cut off the cycle, she'll take that day off and begin a new block the next morning in the first couple hours after sunrise. For a while, because of the shorter days, my girls' cycles got as long as 30 hours apart... Which pretty much dictated one in the morning, one in the afternoon, and then a day off... Recently because the days are getting longer, their cycles are ratcheting down some, 28 hour cycles means one in the morning, one around noon, and one in the late afternoon before taking a day off... As the days get longer and longer, they may eventually be able to lay 5 or 6 days in a row before sunset cuts them off. The longer the cycle, the shorter the block, the more frequent the days off, the fewer eggs a week there are and visa versa... Simple as that.

But basically, anything out of the normal pattern triggers a spot exam... And I look the bird over for any problems. Sometimes I feel like I'm going too far with the tracking stuff, but, these are my first chickens, and I have learned so much about laying cycles and patterns through doing this. But since it's winter, understanding their patterns has also prevented coming out to a pile of frozen eggs.


Edit:

So... I went out at just after 9:20... Saffron, due to lay between 9 and 10 was in the nest basket I have hung up in the run, Zoe was still in the nest box in the coop... For some reason, Inara, Nandi and Bridget were pestering Zoe in the coop... you know... just by being there.... Actually, Inara (not even due to lay today, and who never lays in the nest boxes, preferring the basket out in the run) was being really annoying and entering Zoe's nest box... *draaaammmaaaaa*

Meanwhile, Saffron jumped down out of the basket, revealing her egg, and when I went to collect it, all of my girls came out of the coop, Zoe too... So I checked the box really quick, Zoe hadn't laid yet, but she's agitated, so soon. I came back in and it was 9:28 on the clock... Saffron would have laid at least 5 minutes before that, and very likely just before I went out... so, even though she laid closer to 9:20, she gets recorded as having laid at 9:15 today (9.25). Zoe's back in the nest though, so... if she hasn't already, then in the next 10-15 minutes or so I should have an egg from her... An egg song would be nice... but all of my girls are for the most part sneaky layers...

Edit 2:

Went out at 10:35...

Zoe's egg, kinda warm... So, right at 10.
Yolanda was in the adjacent nest box... as I was walking away, I heard her make a commotion. I turned around, headed back to the coop, sure enough... So, Yolanda's gets recorded for 10:30 today. I wasn't really expecting her to lay until at least 11... so, you can see how this ratcheting down and tightening of the cycle is occurring... She's laying eggs roughly 26-27 hours apart now... So, her blocks will be getting longer, and she'll be taking fewer days off in a week... She's by far my best layer this first season... even better than Zoe, my leghorn and Inara, one of my SLWs.

And that... unless Nandi decides today's the day she's gonna start... is it for today.

 

[twinzmom]

Yesterday was in the 30s and we got 9 eggs, today is 23 and we got 8. Its not only cold but the wind is fierce. I think my girls would love to have the temps stay around 40.

 

[Gifa]

Flock Age
38 weeks
​

Name:​

​

Zoe​

Nandi​

Inara​

Kaylee​

Yolanda​

Saffron​

Bridget
Breed:​

B.Leghorn​

SLW​

SLW​

EE​

EE ​

EE​

EE
Date​

​

L​

H​

Day
Length
Laying Record​

# of
Eggs
2/10​

27°F​

53°F​

10H 33M​

9:45am​

~​

11:30am​

On Hiatus​

1:30pm​

2:30pm​

day off​

4
2/11​

32°F​

47°F​

10H 35M​

3:00pm​

~​

day off​

On Hiatus​

day off​

day off​

8:45am​

2
2/12​

27°F​

41°F​

10H 37M​

day off​

~​

10:00am​

On Hiatus​

10:00am​

11:15am​

3:00pm​

4
2/13​

29°F​

54°F​

10H 40M​

9:00am​

~​

1:15pm​

On Hiatus​

12:30pm​

day off​

day off​

3
2/14​

35°F​

50°F​

10H 42M​

1:30pm​

~​

day off​

On Hiatus​

4:00pm​

9:00am​

9:00am​

4
2/15​

23°F​

37°F​

10H 45M​

5:00pm​

~​

9:15am​

8:30am​

day off​

1:30pm​

11:00am​

5
2/16​

19°F​

34°F​

10H 47M​

day off​

~​

2:00pm​

2:15pm​

8:00am​

day off​

2:45pm​

4
2/17​

26°F​

56°F​

10H 49M​

10:00am​

~​

day off​

day off​

10:30am​

9:15am​

day off​

3
2/18​

28°F​

49°F​

10H 52M​

1-2pm​

~​

8-10am​

8-10am​

1-2pm​

1-2pm​

8-10am​

6
2/19​

22°F​

35°F​

10H 54M​

4-6pm​

~​

1-3pm​

1-3pm​

4-6pm​

day off​

10-12pm​

5​

 

[lahowardjr]

The low last night was 32 and the high was 55 but the wind was brutal. The girls sure don't like it and seem to lay poorly when there is a heavy wind. We only got three eggs from fourteen hens today.

 

[bruceha2000]

Feb 17th
Low 9 F, High 15 F Gray skies and a little breezy. The girls spent the day lounging in the barn.
7 eggs

Bruce

 

[obsessedwchicks]

it was about mid 40's maybe lower, but we got 13…...

 

[Hooligans7]

02/14/13 Low: 30 High: 55 5/14 hens

02/15/13 Low: 24 High: 48 3/14 hens

Your weather has been similar to ours here, so what's the deal? Are your hens molting? Do they have supplementary light? Is it something you said? Something's definitely "up"!