Egg Counting, Tracking, Obsessing...

So, because I am who I am, I have been very interested in comparing egg production when it comes to my ladies. What age they start, comparing breeds, if one is a better producer than another and what are the differences in their personalities as well. Does all of this tie in together?

Who knows, really. But I'm having fun starting to collect data, just in case I need to know the answers to these questions. My Orpingtons started laying in November, so I'm curious to see if their production gets better with the longer days in Spring. Right now, I'm thrilled with anything I get.

Finding a way to track this information was a surprising challenge. I assumed I would be able to find an app fairly easily, but I only found one. And it was terrible. As soon as I finished entering my flock information it crashed and lost everything. Dammit.

The next step was to consider the spreadsheet. I used to be a huge fan of creating databases for folks, but truthfully, people like spreadsheets. They're easy to edit and manipulate and everyone has Microsoft Excel or a spreadsheet program of some kind. Plus, and this was key, I can use it on my smartphone and laptop without losing data if I buy another phone or change equipment. The file sits on my cloud.

I'm tracking egg production daily, weekly, and monthly right now and am curious to see what I end up caring about the most. Also, I have information on each chicken as well; name, hatch date, breed...etc. I can add any fields I would like. I love it.

So, here is where I stand right now: I have nine chickens: four hens, one cockerel and four pullets. The hens all started laying in December and have given us 71 eggs in the last five and a half weeks. Mike is the best layer even though she started producing a couple of weeks after Servo and Gypsy. Crow is my worst layer, and loud, and a general pain. She gives us tiny, speckled eggs that are almost all yolk and she refuses to lay them in the nesting box, laying them in the far corner of the coop so I have to crawl inside to retrieve them. I love her the same as the rest of them though, I can't help it.

Servo's first egg was a rubber egg (very cool and weird) and she's laid nice large eggs since. Mike has laid large, dark,  speckled eggs from day one and is going strong. Gypsy was the first chicken to give me an egg and it was pretty small and they've stayed small. Week one was only four eggs, but there were only two chickens laying. Since then, we've jumped to 18 eggs last week and 10 so far this week with three more days to go. Very exciting.

The average daily count is two eggs, but we have had one day with four eggs collected. The count has grown weekly with more chickens starting to lay.

The only time all four laid in one day. The owners of these are (clockwise from the dark speckled egg with a piece of straw on it): Mike, Servo, Gypsy and Crow gave us the little one.

Our other chicks hatched November 18th, 2015 and I already have them added to the workbook. I am anxiously awaiting their first eggs as well.

The most interesting things to learn since they started laying eggs has been: (1) it's fairly easy to tell who laid the egg by looking at the egg, (2) even though it's the dead of winter and short days, they lay well. I can't wait until the Spring when things pick up even moreso, and (3) eggs are different than when you buy them in the store, not only in quality, but the hardness of the shell and the yolks are very firm as well as deeper in color. If the egg is small, it's still a good yolk, just less egg white is produced.

All of this has been completely enjoyable to learn. I am looking forward to chickens other than Orpingtons laying, so I'll have even more interesting data to share and compare.

If you're interested in tracking your flock in the same way, take a look here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/262286707/tracking-your-flock-2016-spreadsheet