FAQs

What is a Bantam?

"Bantam" means little chicken. It's not a breed of chicken, but a smaller version of. There are few true bantams around - birds that exist only in miniature, but the Barbu D'Uccle, Barbu D'Anver and Sablepoots are 3 of them (also my favs, hence them being here). Typically the bantam lays small eggs, and they tend to lay less than large fowl or Big chickens.
You can keep bantams with large fowl birds without any problem (exceptions - polish bantams can't see very well and tend to get picked on)

Can I keep vaccinated birds with non vaccinated birds?

I'm not 100% where this question started, but I keep being asked it.
I keep all of my birds - vaccinated, ex bats, non vaccinated, ducks, geese, guinnea fowl and quail all together - and have never had a problem!

A resounding yes! (unless you're putting one lone bantam in with a flock of angry bluebelles you wont have a problem!)

Why have my birds stopped laying?

The answer could be so varied! But some of the more common causes we've come accross are:

**Weather - very cold or wet weather puts the birds off laying. This generally will sort itself out in a couple of weeks. Try adding extra warm straw in their nest boxes, or even keep them in a shed with scratch on the floor if it's persistently wet for a long period of time. They wont mind, and they'll probably perk up!

**Food - the birds aren;t getting enough protein in their diet to make an egg. You can add oyster shell but I can't think anywhere in nature where a chickens seeks out oysters to balance it's diet! My advice - feed them hard boiled eggs, baked egg shells and a nice bag of grubs (fishing bait works wonders) and you'll pack their protein out nicely.

**Moulting - the birds will moult several times in the year, and will slow down or stop egg production whilst this happens. You can force moulting by withdrawing food and water for a day or two, but in general - I'd let them get on with it. Little bits of extra protein will hasten the return of your eggs!

**Health - if a chicken is injurred or sick it may well stop - this includes lice, mites and worms. Regularly check your birds for bugs. Worms in the poo, lice live round the vent and mites often live in the woodwork of the coop itself.
Routine cleaning and allowing your birds to dustbathe will help keep mites and live at bay - use a none-chemical (Verm-X is our preference) internal parasite solution once every couple of months to keep their guts happy.