UK Member Please Say HI

[AuntieWeasel]

Hi again @CCUK. I belong to, like, six different chicken-related FB groups, including three that are for Polands. Some days I'm sorry I do that -- when my feed is full of snapshots of snotty beaks and messy vents from worried owners. Those aren't the chicken pictures I signed up for!

Many groups are for breeders who keep much larger flocks than mine who kind of have to deal with their cockerel problems by culling, but even those are full of surplus boys looking for homes. I'm way too much of a slop-bag to cull a bird that grew up in a cardboard box on my desk. I'm just hoping any roos will be so adorable (and tame) that somebody will want them.

 

[CCUK]

Hi again @CCUK. I belong to, like, six different chicken-related FB groups, including three that are for Polands. Some days I'm sorry I do that -- when my feed is full of snapshots of snotty beaks and messy vents from worried owners. Those aren't the chicken pictures I signed up for!

Many groups are for breeders who keep much larger flocks than mine who kind of have to deal with their cockerel problems by culling, but even those are full of surplus boys looking for homes. I'm way too much of a slop-bag to cull a bird that grew up in a cardboard box on my desk. I'm just hoping any roos will be so adorable (and tame) that somebody will want them.

Some of the FB groups can be a bit too harsh for my liking, that's what makes it so good on here. They are good for finding things more locally though!

 

[Bymychoice]

I've just signed up today. I'm in East Sussex (via Tennessee and Boston).

I've wanted Polands (as they call them here) for years and couldn't find a breeder, either. They're out there - I know this from the Facebook pages - but I never managed to make a connection. In the end, I bought an incubator and half a dozen eggs off the internet in May. To my astonishment, I had a 100% hatch! Now we wait to see how many boys I end up with.

If you do decide to buy fertile eggs, I'll happily recommend the guy I bought off of. I knew he was going to be okay when he had upwards of 250 positive ratings and, like, three negative ones. I don't know if you can request specific colors, but I got a mix: one gold, two chamois and various silvery/whites.

I would love to have his name! Don’t know how old yours are but Polish are easy to sex when a couple days old. The Roos have a sort of oval “hat” and the future hens are very round. Based on your profile photo yours are too old to sex now. I had a gold roo that we named Grunge, he looked like a greasy haired teenager. My favorite was a white capped hen named Gigi. My husband is not a big pet person but he loved that little hen, would let her come into the kitchen for treats! Any FB pages you can recommend would be greatly appreciated also!

 

[AuntieWeasel]

Right, @Bymychoice. I'm new, so I'll make the assumption it's okay to link to Ebay and Facebook. If it's against the rules, someone please let me know.

The specific auction I bought from (which probably means this link won't last forever) is here. Let me know if the link doesn't work for you and I'll rustle up the man's storefront. His eggs came within 24 hours and beautifully packaged, with instructions to let them stand pointy end down for 24 hours before putting them in the incubator. I got 100% and beautiful, pure-looking colors.

The Facebook groups are: Polish Chicken Fanciers, Poland Chicken Collectors, and Poland/Polish chicken supporters group. These groups aren't madly active, but they were helpful to me as a newbie with Polands.

I'd also like to plug the general UK chicken keeping groups Keeping Poultry at Home and No Bull Poultry Pages UK. I also belong to some region specific chicken groups, because I'm obviously mental.

I read that thing about newly hatched Polands and I went cross-eyed staring at the little ones trying to figure out who was round and who was oval. Honestly, they all looked alike to me. That probably means I have all cockerels!

 

[dougieee]

Hello from (rainy) Coventry Midlands.
Ive been active on BYC for a couple of months now but it didnt occur to me to introduce myself to the local members.
I currently have a roo and 6 hens that i specifically bred for colour and eggs, some 5 week old buff brahmas and some aruacana eggs in the incubator two days from hatch.
Im going to incubate some CCL eggs next (my wife has taken an interest in the blue egg layers) and then im done for a few years while i thin my too big flock down, hopefilly this time next year i will be sellinga few POLs of each of the breeds.
I will be swappinbg out roos next year if anyone has any of these breeds.

 

[CCUK]

Hello from (rainy) Coventry Midlands.
Ive been active on BYC for a couple of months now but it didnt occur to me to introduce myself to the local members.
I currently have a roo and 6 hens that i specifically bred for colour and eggs, some 5 week old buff brahmas and some aruacana eggs in the incubator two days from hatch.
Im going to incubate some CCL eggs next (my wife has taken an interest in the blue egg layers) and then im done for a few years while i thin my too big flock down, hopefilly this time next year i will be sellinga few POLs of each of the breeds.
I will be swappinbg out roos next year if anyone has any of these breeds.

Hi @dougieee. Sounds like you have a good plan to try and make them pay for there feed! I have a couple of araucanas and they are such friendly hens. I have to watch one of them as if I'm bent down she will jump on my back! I also have a ccl that I rehomed. She lays green eggs!

 

[CCUK]

Poultry vets are increasingly difficult to find in UK. I have two near me! Within 30 mins! If anybody needs one these two both see chickens.
http://www.mcphersonsvets.co.uk/
https://www.minstervet.com/

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

I’m quite lucky too as we have these near me that see chickens. Both also do horses which is handy for me plus Minster have an equine hospital. Thankfully Harry has had only had to go once when he had choke ~
https://minstervets.co.uk/
https://vermuydenvets.com/

Plus my other half has a friend who is a retired vet so he’s always quite happy to take a look at anything on his kitchen table

 

[MedicDog]

Bloody lovely weather we're having, 4 chicks hatched and I'm getting a shed put up on saturday. Do you think a caravan battery could keep an incubator at a stable temp in an insulated shed?

 

[Perris]

congratulations!
I have no idea about batteries and incubators, sorry!