I have said before that I can tell my girls eggs apart. The girls all have the same diet available to them but Dotty is always pecking at grit in the garden or taking it from the dispenser and her eggs usually have little calcium deposits on the pointed end of the egg.
Pepper’s eggs are completely smooth as well as being paler so even though they are the same breed their eggs look quite different. Bluebells eggs have a small amount of calcium but it’s more of a slightly grainy effect than the obvious bits on Dotty’s egg.
Honey’s eggs are also smooth and pale just like Pepper’s but smaller and Ambers eggs are slightly smaller still.
Bluebell’s egg is on the left then Dotty’s egg, then Pepper’s egg then Honey’s egg on the right
Dotty’s eggs often have these little calcium deposits whereas Pepper’s are so silky smooth and pale.
Honey’s egg is in the middle and Amber’s slightly smaller egg is on the right.
Amber only lays about once a week and her eggs are still a bit smaller than Honey’s. Honey lays usually every other day and occasionally two days in a row.
Pepper had dropped to one egg a week but recently she has started laying every three or four days then yesterday she laid for the second day in a row for the first time since mid July. I wonder if the winter molt is over, they were so ragged from feather pulling that it was difficult to tell if they were molting at all. They look ragged around their tails but have some new feathers and no obvious loss of feathers so I’m not really sure what is going on. It will be a case of wait and see how they progress.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
Ha! Even though we have over a dozen layers in production right now, I can usually tell who laid about 1/2 the eggs. It’s a individual thing, and comes from knowing your birds 🙂 Helps we have several different breeds that lay different colors though 😉 Great blog, thanks for sharing!
It;s fun to be able to tell which eggs belong to which girl even those of the same breed, you are right it’s individual and it’s about knowing your girls. Bluebells blue eggs are a give away!
Oh, and I have to say, the decrease in production may be a result of the dwindling daylight hours. If you’re concerned about it, put a red light on in the hen house for a few hours in the early morning, before you let the birds out, so that their “light” hours amounts to 14-16 hrs. I’m sure you’ll notice the egg production increase. Unless they are moulting, then just wait till they are done. But in my experience, if you just leave them alone, they will have a much longer laying life than if you mess with their natural light cycles. Cheers!
I’m not concerned and I know it’s partly less daylight and partly molting. What surprised me though is that after a couple months of less eggs Peppers have increased again. It’s so difficult to see if my girls are molting though because they are already missing feathers.
I agree that it’s best left to nature and wouldn’t tamper with the light. We get plenty of eggs for us even when they lay less and their health and happiness are more important to me. I do find it interesting though.
I know my girls eggs apart . Clover the Miss Pepperpot and the oldest lays the largest ,Rosies are always thin shelled and pale , Bonnie is next with nice brown eggs and little Annies are slightly smaller but always shiny with no freckles or blemishes. I usually have 3 eggs a day and sometimes 4 as Clover is really slowing down but I don’t mind at all if they slow down as it is natures way and it is good for them to have a rest as like you I don’t like to think of them as machines . 🙂
I love it that we know our girls well enough to know their eggs and at the end of the day their eggs are a wonderful bonus. We love our girls and if they are happy and healthy that is what matters to us and any eggs are an extra special gift. I know we are on the same wavelength with this and that is the lovely thing about people that love keeping chickens.
Found your blog on the down the lane forum .
What a great read and lovely chooks !
Thank you, welcome to my blog. I have loads more posts following the moult at the moment. I hope to catch you again.