- May 16, 2014
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Hi all,
I'm from the UK and have been keeping chickens for 8 months (so just a chick) but have recently encountered an issue with egg laying.
Initially I had 2 polish 1 bantam and another hen called Mildred that turned into a David! I didn't mind having the cockerel as he was given to us by mistake with the other hens from a local garden centre. The hens were not quite at POL but soon started laying at one a day which is very good. The Polish began to get broody and egg laying was reduced and during this time the cockerel started to become very aggressive, I tried all sorts of things to help stop this behaviour but to no avail so he went back. We then got another polish type and another beautifully coloured hen as they were friends, but have just realised (crowing) that we have yet another David! If he's not aggressive I don't mind but the main problem is that the only hen now laying is the new polish hen and the original 3 hens have completely stopped. This happened as we returned the cockerel and introduced the new ones to the coop. They all get on fine, they eat the best of diets plus treats in moderation, have the run of the garden two to three days a week and live inside a 10sqm run the rest of the time. They are not moulting, all look as fit as a fiddle and are always kept clean in their coop. I use DE and have recently introduced a garlic and vinegar mix to their drink which is supposed to help (can't remember name) amongst combating many other illnesses but still just 1 egg a day from the new hen and this has gone on now for 6 weeks.
Sorry for the first post being soo long but I'm currently sat in a waiting room with nothing better to do!
Any help greatly appreciated as you can't beat the taste of our own hens eggs.
Thanks
I'm from the UK and have been keeping chickens for 8 months (so just a chick) but have recently encountered an issue with egg laying.
Initially I had 2 polish 1 bantam and another hen called Mildred that turned into a David! I didn't mind having the cockerel as he was given to us by mistake with the other hens from a local garden centre. The hens were not quite at POL but soon started laying at one a day which is very good. The Polish began to get broody and egg laying was reduced and during this time the cockerel started to become very aggressive, I tried all sorts of things to help stop this behaviour but to no avail so he went back. We then got another polish type and another beautifully coloured hen as they were friends, but have just realised (crowing) that we have yet another David! If he's not aggressive I don't mind but the main problem is that the only hen now laying is the new polish hen and the original 3 hens have completely stopped. This happened as we returned the cockerel and introduced the new ones to the coop. They all get on fine, they eat the best of diets plus treats in moderation, have the run of the garden two to three days a week and live inside a 10sqm run the rest of the time. They are not moulting, all look as fit as a fiddle and are always kept clean in their coop. I use DE and have recently introduced a garlic and vinegar mix to their drink which is supposed to help (can't remember name) amongst combating many other illnesses but still just 1 egg a day from the new hen and this has gone on now for 6 weeks.
Sorry for the first post being soo long but I'm currently sat in a waiting room with nothing better to do!
Any help greatly appreciated as you can't beat the taste of our own hens eggs.
Thanks
and Welcome To BYC! You've gotten some good suggestions and links above. Also bantams generally are not that productive and tend to be streaky layers, Polish really vary on how well they lay, if they were all going broody six weeks is not that long to get over it and get back to laying, it may take them several months to get back on track even if they have stopped trying to brood right now.
