Who laid the egg?

[codechicken1]

I read allot on BYC about people tracking their production. I am new at this, so maybe this is a dumb question, but how do you know which hen laid which egg? I open the nest box, there's an egg, but I don't know which hen laid it, unless I catch her in the act.

 

[HEChicken]

You know how mothers of identical twins can always tell them apart. Well, "good" chicken owners always know exactly which hen laid the egg. Haha - NOT. Don't worry, you're not alone.

Over time, I have come to recognize the eggs of some of my hens by size, shape, spots, hue/color etc, but by no means all of them. I spend a lot of time at the coop and if I see a hen in the nest box and check back an hour later and there is an egg there, then I think "Aha, now I know which one lays that roundish egg". I do have one that lays a roundish egg, one that lays an egg with pale purplish speckles on it, a BSL in her third year of laying who lays a ginormous egg, a white egg layer, a green egg layer and a marans. So I can tell those eggs apart. But the rest.....to some extent, still a mystery.

 

[mmjisawesome]

different breeds and colors of hens lay different colors of eggs.