Who's Laying What?

[aghiowa]

Hi all! So out of 5 ladies I have, 4 are laying. Is there any way to tell WHO is laying what by breed/color of egg, or is it pretty much a crapshoot? (for curiosity's sake, and because the kids wonder)

I have:

2 yr old black cochin/Ameracauna mix
buff orpington pullet
light brahma pullet
splash cochin pullet
6 mo. blue Ameracauna (not laying yet-waiting eagerly for that blue egg!)

So do chickens generally lay the same shade of egg, or can it vary wildly? (Sorry if these questions are of the /slap forehead variety - we're still learning.) I can tell the 2 yr old's by size, and I know at least 4 of them are laying, because sometimes we get 4 eggs in a day, but other than that, we can't tell.

Thanks!
Angela

 

[emys]

They mostly lay the same color and size egg day to day... but they can change gradually over the course of a year such as pigmentation going from darker at the start of a laying cycle to lighter at the end of a laying cycle...and on any given day glitches can occur such as odd shapes, sizes and or odd pigmentation or even no pigmentation on rare occasions.

All the above disclaimers aside; if you observe very carefully, you can usually tell, in a small group of hens, which one is laying which egg each day. One will be more rounded than another, one may have a tendency to drop more pigmentation at one end of the egg than at the other and so on. It also helps to send the kids out one day in shifts to watch the nest boxes and gather and mark the egg that comes out with the hens name. Then the next day when you gather eggs, compare them to the marked eggs and see if you find similarities.

 

[OkChickens]

Quote:
Couldn't have said it any better! This seems like it would work great!

-Nate

 

[aghiowa]

Okay! Thanks for the info. I have noticed the brahma's are more rounded and smooth. I'm just confused between the orpington and the cochin. This should be fun.

Angela

 

[black_fx_35]

Quote:
Cochins generally lay a medium sized egg, while the BO generally lays a large egg. So if you see differences in size, you can likely figure out who is laying what.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

You'll eventually know at a glance who's egg is who's. Even my lil' 4 year old egg collector can tell me which eggs she's got. "how many this time?" "Pot Pie's and Nugget's!"

 

[jtl977]

I never could do this myself, but I have read that you can put a dab of food coloring on each birds' vent and then streaks of that color will appear on her egg. Not sure if you want to get that "personal" with your chickens...I know I don't! Ha!