All of my eggs are light brown. How to tell who is laying what eggs????🤔🥚

[talkinboutchickens]

Hi guys,
well I'm back with another question.
So all of my eggs are the same exact shade of brown, which is a light tan. Apparently there are 10 possibilities of who laid them. I don't want to accidentally incubate some of my new chickens' eggs because their father could have mated with them and I don't want them to have deformities. Even though it takes several generations until the offspring have deformities from when the father mates with his daughter, then his granddaughter, and so-on, I still don't want to take the chance.

So my question is, how do I tell whose egg is whose? I've heard of the food-coloring-on-the-vent trick but I'm not sure if that will work because you would think that the food coloring would rub off onto the other eggs. Plus, are you even supposed to incubate eggs with food coloring on them because can't it cause harm to the embryo in the egg and wouldn't it block the oxygen flow that they are getting from the egg pores? Have any of you found that it works (if you've tried it?????) Is there any easier way to tell whose egg is whose?
And a question about collecting eggs, where I live it gets to be like in the 40s and 30s at night, so will the "embryos" survive the night? (I know they are not embryos yet at this point but I don't know how else to phrase it.)

Thank you so much!

 

[Starrponies]

I'm not sure on who is laying what. freezing weather is not good. But if for a few hours in 40s should be ok. Not

 

[16 and me]

Plus, are you even supposed to incubate eggs with food coloring on them

I've never tried this, but if you were to try this method, I would just do it once per hen's egg and use that egg as your guide, not incubate it. So 1 egg from each hen would not get incubated.

Is there any easier way to tell whose egg is whose?

Often you'll see varying shapes, sizes & weights to each hen's egg. You can't always go by the shade of brown, because that can change throughout their cycle, with stress, or change in diet. The best way I have found is to wait for the hen to sit in the nest box and grab the egg the minute she lays it. This can take some time. I've had hens go in & out all morning and not lay until I have to leave. Once you grab the fresh laid egg, mark it with a pencil, weigh it, measure it and take note of it's overall shape and characteristics. I have one who always has a small cluster of little calcium deposits on the wide end. One that has a pointier tip than the other, one that is more oval etc. combined with shading these markers can help.

where I live it gets to be like in the 40s and 30s at night, so will the "embryos" survive the night?

As long as they don't freeze, the eggs should still be viable assuming they're fertile to begin with. It might decrease your hatch rate, but not necessarily. If you plan on hatching them, I would recommend collecting before nightfall to keep them from getting too cold.

 

[talkinboutchickens]

I have one who always has a small cluster of little calcium deposits on the wide end. One that has a pointier tip than the other, one that is more oval etc. combined with shading these markers can help.

Only one of my hen's eggs are identifiable. They are big and round and have a few little brown spots. Thank you for all your suggestions!