Who is laying the eggs?? Ideas to find out??

[ChxLadyCass]

I have 5 grown hens and a youngster in my flock. Someone has been laying non-stop all winter long (except stressful days of introducing new girls to the flock and such). I want to know who!! Do you recommend splitting chickens off for a few days to see who is laying? There has also been a new delivery of teeny little eggs (2 this weekend) and I think it is the youngster starting her production! Yippee!! I am afraid separating my social girls will stress them out of laying. Any other ideas? Thanks!

Sidenote: My boyfriend thinks we should get rid of hens that aren't laying

So even if I find out who it is or isn't, I might not tell him....

 

[laircy]

The only way to know for sure is to see it happen or isolate. If you have a camera that can do time lapse, that's really useful, and it's what I did to find out whether one of my pullets was laying.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Generally hens that are laying have bright red shiny combs.

 

[ChxLadyCass]

Ohhh I will look for that! I need a weekend day just spent with my girls to watch and learn more! I love watching them all get used to their new roosts at night. I learn so much about them in those moments.

 

[silverback]

Also, if they exhibit squatting behavior: reach out to pet them on the back - the ones that squat are either laying or ready to lay. Not foolproof but a very good indicator. Good luck! Once you identify who is laying it is actually possible to identify eggs by color and shape since hens tend to lay with their own signature. Of course if you have a lot of hens it is not so easy to isolate and identify.

 

[aart]

This is my 'go to'.......
Vent Appearance:
Dry, tight, and smaller - usually not laying.
Moist, wide, and larger - usually laying.

Pelvic Points, feel for the 2 bony points(pelvic bones) on either side of vent:
Less than 2 fingertip widths apart usually means not laying.
More than 2 fingertip widths apart usually means laying.

But I also have an easily split coop,
when the temp wire wall is up tossing a couple birds in there for a day or two hasn't caused any pecking order issues.
Have done it several times to ID who is laying what.

 

[ChxLadyCass]

These are great tips! I saw a picture yesterday with an illustration of the pelvic bone spacing. I will catch some gals and see if any of those signs exist! I stared at them for about 20 minutes yesterday for any clues. It's still a mystery, but these tips will help! Thank you so much!

 

[aart]

These are great tips! I saw a picture yesterday with an illustration of the pelvic bone spacing. I will catch some gals and see if any of those signs exist! I stared at them for about 20 minutes yesterday for any clues. It's still a mystery, but these tips will help! Thank you so much!

Did you save it or remember where?

 

[VioletRed]

I have five pullets, two have recently started laying, but I don't know which two. I've been tempted to put food coloring on the girls' vents (a different color for each hen), and see which color the eggs come out with.

 

[ChxLadyCass]

Did you save it or remember where?

I saw it on Pinterest. The link to it was about clipping chickens wings though