# How to tell if a Chicken is still laying eggs?



## ShireRidgeFarm

Our flock of chickens is starting to get old, and they've begun to drop in egg production. Around 26 buff orpington hens are managing to make 1 to 6 eggs a day... 

I've herd of farmers being able to look at the butt of a chicken and tell if they are still laying eggs or not. Does anyone know about this, or any other way to tell if a hen is still laying eggs?

Thanks!


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## toth boer goats

I'd love to know the answer myself. Wish I knew, sorry I couldn't help though.


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## NyGoatMom

1. Are they moulting?
2. How old are they?
3. Have they been deloused/dewormed?
4. Do they have 16 hours of light?


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## NyGoatMom

Lice will cause a serious drop in egg production as will worms or illnesses...I have not seen a flock of chickens yet that didn't get lice sooner or later but they can be hard to detect. Look very closely for sesame seed like bugs moving around the vent area and under the wings. Deworming is something I do along with python dusting every fall.Light and moulting are also two factors besides age.


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## nancy d

While laying the vent is somewhat moist looking.
Combs bright as well as legs. And full feathering.


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## ShireRidgeFarm

NyGoatMom said:


> 1. Are they moulting?
> 2. How old are they?
> 3. Have they been deloused/dewormed?
> 4. Do they have 16 hours of light?


 They've got a light that turns on at sunset for a couple hours, and they're not molting. I haven't seen any sign of lice or worms, but I can take a better look at that.

The flock is going on 4 years old, and from what I've read that's about the time a chicken will start to slow down in egg production.


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## pwesthuis

that sounds like a pretty old flock of chickens to me, not sure how to tell which ones are laying. maybe check the combs to see if they are red and or isolate them somehow


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## NyGoatMom

All hens at the end of the season lose pigmentation in the combs,wattles and legs. They regain it after taking a break.
I would say yes, at 4 they are going to slow down..but I would recommend using python dust and deworming with Valbazen or Ivomec


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## ShireRidgeFarm

Thanks for the advice! 

I was hoping for a quick, sure method but it seems the only way to be really sure is to isolate a couple of them at a time and see if they're laying or not. :chick:


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## toth boer goats

All great and helpful information.


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## chelsboers

I saw this on Pinterest, maybe it will help http://thehomesteadinghippy.com/how-to-tell-if-a-chicken-is-still-laying/


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## ShireRidgeFarm

chelsboers said:


> I saw this on Pinterest, maybe it will help http://thehomesteadinghippy.com/how-to-tell-if-a-chicken-is-still-laying/


 Thanks for the link! 
I tried looking at some of the hens using this method, and their abdomens were different, some soft and some hard. But, all their butts looked pretty much the same to me.  I think I'll need some more practice at this. :worried:


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## Clarebear12345

I just have a question I know this is an old thread but how much did they used to lay?


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## ShireRidgeFarm

When they first started laying, we would get 20+ eggs a day. It dropped slowly over the years to around 12-14 a day, now we're getting 2-4 a day. Our plan is new chickens in the spring.


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## Frosty

I just went thro that with my older hens and they were costing me more in grain than I was getting eggs so I gave them away and started fresh. Mine were about four years old or a little older.


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## LazyTgoatRanch

We were experiencing this same problem... I was on the other side of town a month or so ago and was needing laying pellets so I stopped at a feed store that sells a different brand of feed. The hens didn't like it very well and seemed to waste a lot. When I ran out, I bought more of what they've always ate and now my egg production is now thru the roof! I'm still trying to figure it out myself but maybe it might work for you?? Maybe the new feed gave them something they were needing even though they didn't like to eat it?


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## Karen

Yeah, light has a lot to do with it, and heat - if they are cold, the food goes to keeping them warm, not into egg production. Nutrition and parasites - everything can effect it. 

Every hen starts life with a finite number of eggs, if you do not NEED them to lay a lot now, they may pick up when spring comes again ...


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## ShireRidgeFarm

Yeah, the egg production slows some in the winter, especially on cold days, but at this point our chickens are just getting old.  Some of them I'm pretty sure aren't laying at all, and most are probably laying every 3rd or 4th day. We've fed them Dumor layer pellets all their lives - we always intended to switch them to Purina, which should be a much better quality feed, but we never did it. Our new flock will be all on Purina, so we'll see how the egg laying goes with them this summer. 

So, the old hens will be hanging around for a while longer (I can't stand store bought eggs anymore!) and then we'll be having a LOT of chicken soup.


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## Dayna

I heard you can use food coloring in the vent to see how is laying...

not tried it yet.


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## Chloe123

I have a few small cages that I can put one in at a time to check layers. If their combs are light in color, normally that hen is finished. When you keep them laying year-round, they quit laying at an earlier age. I keep mine at around 14+ hours of light and they lay year-round. By the end of year 3, they slow drastically, so if I don't want to put them up, I can always find someone interested in taking them. I only keep egg chickens, so they don't dress out as much, but your Buff's would have quite a bit of meat on them. I normally start a new batch of chicks on year 2, so I have their replacements ready to go.


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## ShireRidgeFarm

We chose buff orpingtons because of their cold hardiness and the fact we could eat them at the end; hopefully they're not too tough!  

Buying new chicks every 2 years is a good plan! We didn't properly anticipate this drop in production, so our new flock won't be laying until august... :shrug:


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## Dustilin

They will make amazing heathy bone broth if they are too tough for eating


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## ShireRidgeFarm

Dustilin said:


> They will make amazing heathy bone broth if they are too tough for eating


That's good to hear! We were also thinking about trying to can some of the meat, too, hoping that would make it more tender.


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## ksalvagno

I just put a frozen whole bird in the crockpot on "keep warm" and it cooks all day and the meat is very tender.


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## ShireRidgeFarm

We finally butchered our chickens the other day. There were many things I read on the internet on how to judge who was and who wasn't laying eggs, such as:
dull feathers and crown
pale skin on their feet and a pale beak
the size of their vent - large is laying eggs
if their vent is wet or dry - wet means laying eggs
if their abdomen is hard or soft - soft means laying eggs
and how many fingers will fit between their vent and the tip of their chest bone - 1 or 2 fingers means they are laying, 3 or 4 means they're not laying as well 

The only sign that was consistent for me was the size of their vent. Their crowns and feathers and the paleness of their feet were mostly misleading. A hard or soft abdomen was fairly accurate I think, but somewhat relative between birds. If they had a large or a medium vent, they were still laying. Turns out a lot of them were still laying! Although not as well as they used to. We butchered two hens that were still laying, and they had what I would describe as medium, dry-ish vents. One hen had a small, dry vent and was definitely not laying eggs. Several had large, moist vents and I assume they are the best layers so we did not butcher them.

So, some of our old chicken get to stick around a while longer until their replacements start laying. Our next step is finding out how good they taste!


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