Polish chickens.

I almost hate to ask this question,laugh if you must.I bought some polish chicks in april,really like them.i have found out that they are non-setters.If chickens are non setters,how did they come about? I have never really understood this term.Are they just chickens that just raise poorly or what? Thank you in advance for your replies.

Ive heard the broodiness is bred out of them so they lay more eggs. Im guessing when they were bred people just stuck the eggs under a broody hen like a silkie.

Quote:
Makes sense.Thank you.

Polish were bred to look pretty, not to brood. Incubators and broody hens are often used to hatch them, however, every once in a blue moon, a Polish CAN go broody. It's not very likely, though.

There are many breeds of chicken that don't go broody at all. Such breeds infact didn't even exist a hundred or so years ago. This started with advent of large scale poultry industry wherein more and more eggs were desired from hens. The original purpose of an egg is strictly for breeding but the role has changes to that of food consumption. Hens used to lay few eggs and then go broody. It so happens now that even some tradition breeds like Cochin bantums have stopped getting broody (they don't go broody as frequently as they used to).

I live in Pakistan in the urban city of Karachi. My experience is that even the traditionally most reliable broody breed called Aseel doesn't get as much broody here in Karachi as it used to. But if I acquire a specimen from the rural areas where the breeds are more pure and incubators non-existent, the hens are invariable more head-strong in their broodiness. I have infact never seen or heard more reliable hens as this Aseel breed.

Coming back to the Polish breed, since I had a pair, I did some research over the internet and found that once in a while this breed does go broody but should NOT be used for setting as it has the tendency of abandoning either the eggs or the chicks too early.

My own hypothsis is that broodiness gradually reduces in those hens that were themselves bred out of incubators. But I have no proof in this regard. Maybe someone else can shed some light on this.

Kind regards,

Shahnawaz

Quote:
I don't think it is the incubator that does it directly. What is happening is that hens that are not good at brooding are able to produce young via another broody hen or an incubator. I have seen that mothering ability is handed down genetically. This allows daughters to be born that are also not going to be good mothers. If you took all the other hens away and all the incubators, only those chickens would reproduce that were fit to do so and it is more likely that their daughters would be fit to reproduce as well. This is why in the rural areas where they don't have alot of "bells and whistles" and rely on the birds to do their own hatching that the birds are so much better suited to doing so...those that are not capable just aren't given any help to produce young. If you want to revert them back before it is too late don't artificially incubate anything and make them do their own babies.

Thank you all so much for the replies.Kenny.

Actually the Polish chicken is a very old breed, created in Poland in the 1500 or 1600, I would imagine at that time they would have had to use broodies, I don't believe there were too many incubators then. It really doesn't make sense that at that time they would breed a chicken that couldn't set its own eggs, however they were developed in the Polish Royal Court so maybe they had more time to develop a chicken that was just pretty to look at.

the concept of artificial incubation is very old however. The Egyptians did it using huge clay rooms and the Chinese would have men sit in very warm coats with the eggs next to the body for warmth to incubate them.

Polish do occassionally go broody. But not that often, unless another breed has been crossed into them in the near past. Keep in mind they started off as barnyard fowl and gained popularity in the royal courts. At one point the Polish was actually considered quite a good egg-production breed (centuries ago).

Quote:
Shahnawaz,
That's some very insightful information there. I too wonder if artificial incubation eventually filters out the desire to brood in some breeds. Like you stated, many cochins do not brood as strongly or as often now, as I found to be the case with Rhode Island Reds as well. When I was very little mom's old hens would almost set themselves to death - don't see that much now.

Hate to partially high-jack the thread, but would you mind postin pics of the aseels from Pakistan in a new thread? I'd love to see what they look like in their native land