4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[bexbex]

Day 3 in the Big Chicken House...

 

All is going well. I have 3 Red Warrens which all look the same!

I can't tell them apart at all. So if one lays an egg I'll not know who's egg it is hehe

 

Do any of you have any tips on marking them or some other way so I can tell who is who?

 

One of them has been in the nest box for the last hour.. I'm hoping first ever egg but I have a feeling she's just having a snooze! lol I'll keep an eye out

 

Becki

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Edited July 13, 2009 by Guest

[jomaxsmith]

Leg rings would help identify the hens but I don't know if that's a job for an amateur.

 

No idea on the eggs - mine all lay different coloured eggs which is really helpful!

 

Jo

[bexbex]

I've seen some plastic rings off ebay where you just clip them on. I might give them ago.

 

Well I said one was in the nesting box and not coming out and at 11:35am today I have my first egg!!!

Yey!!!!!

 

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=3084137&l=e9b2fdc5df&id=785429851

 

Becki

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[Redwing]

Thats brilliant, congratulations

 

The leg rings are easy to fit but its best if there are two of you, one to hold and one to fit

[alet_chicken]

Hi, we had a similar problem with our newest ex-batt arrivals, and we used spiral type poultry rings with great success. They are at the bottom of the page here. It's a one-minute job to attach these by hand (it depends how wriggly the chicken is!) and the chickens seem to ignore them. I think my OH bought ours on ebay in a pack of 10.

 

Telling the eggs apart is a different matter altogether! We found that eventually we did learn how to tell the eggs apart, based on pointiness, time of day laid etc. (apparently egg shape is an inherited trait). However, just as we got to grips with this we added more chickens to the flock so now we are back to square one with our brown layers!

 

EDIT: I see you had your first egg since I started typing this! Congratulations!

[ClaireG]

Congratulations on your first egg

[freckles]

Wow, am so glad you posted this. We have 6 new brown hens and apart from 2 of them they are all virtually identical! Off to get some rings

 

Congrats on the first egg

[bexbex]

Thanks for the link aletroux.

Have you tried the clip on ones they have at the top too? they look easy to put on too.

I like the look of the curly ones though so might get them.

Thanks again!

Becki

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[alet_chicken]

No bexbex, the first I heard of the leg rings was when they arrived in the post after my OH bought them, so I haven't even thought about the clip on ones. They look easy to put on though.

[mostin]

I use the spiral leg rings for any of my girls who look similar.

 

When it comes to who lays what I am very sad. I tend to camp out when I get new chickens and watch them go in and out of the nestbox so I can grab the egg as soon as they are finished so I know who's it is .

 

Try explaining that one to your work mates when they ask you what you've done on your day off

[WarrensWorld]

We can recognise our 4 Warrens by their feathers.

Violet:- White feathers around the outside of her bum, head and neck plain ginger.

Fern:- Same as Vi but with white flecks on her head and neck.

Heather:- Same as Fern but the feathers on and around her bum are the colour of Milky Coffee. (I call her Coffee bum).

Alice:- She has red tinged white feathers all along the length her tail.

 

Violet lays first. Alice lays last. Fern and Heather lay in between, but Ferns eggs are lighter.

 

[Jeez, that sounds like Robert Robinson, setting up a question on 'Ask The Family'.]

 

It's only taken a few weeks to work it all out.

[Lewis]

I used the spiral leg rings, but the day old chick ones only come in the flat spiral, so I'll be hopefully using a few of those my the end of this week

[Chickvic]

Congratulations on your first egg Love the egg cup too

[chocchick]

I found you can distinguish them eventually. They will have different personalities and feathers if you observe them for long enough. My 2 Amber stars were strikingly different with time, one was nearly white while the other was a lot more amber, they had different body shapes, one had a chipped beak, they had different personalities. They did look like 2 white birds at first.