Polish and Flock Dynamics

[MommaBison]

I just put in our order for chicks this coming spring and I want to make sure I check my preparation boxes. My daughter has been asking for a Buff Laced Polish for well over a year now, but I didn't feel prepared to get one on our first go around.

That being said, I decided to get her her Polish this year. I also ordered 16 Whiting True Blues, a Dominique (requested by another of our kids), 4 Cochins and 6 Australorps. I'm starting to feel concerned about flock dynamics....if raised together will they all be kind to each other or will the Polish end up getting picked on? Ultimately they'd end up joining the rest of the flock, which is mostly Orpingtons, 8 barnyard mixes and 2 Cream Legbars with a Cochin Roo. He is the most gentle guy ever.

 

[Iluveggers]

Honestly I would trade out a couple of your other choices (or add a few more) and get 2 more polish & 2 more dominques. Chickens tend to hang out with similar looking chickens. My Faverolles is a definite outcast in my group, and I got single breeds so no one would pair up and exclude. She’s just very different.

If you do that, and happen to lose one of either breed early, each singleton will have a buddy that looks like them to hang out with.

 

[MommaBison]

Honestly I would trade out a couple of your other choices (or add a few more) and get 2 more polish & 2 more dominques. Chickens tend to hang out with similar looking chickens. My Faverolles is a definite outcast in my group, and I got single breeds so no one would pair up and exclude. She’s just very different.

If you do that, and happen to lose one of either breed early, each singleton will have a buddy that looks like them to hang out with.

I wondered about this. I've been waffling on getting more, but at $8/Polish, it gets expensive. We considered getting less chickens and more Polish so they could even have their own space, but goals have been set to increase egg production and we run out so fast. Thank you for these suggestions! I'm definitely taking them into consideration.

 

[MommaBison]

Picture of my daughter holding our roo as proof of how sweet he is.

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

Polish are a really strange-acting breed and are enjoyable to have because of their weird personality, but they do not do good at all in a mixed-breed flock. If you are getting a Polish, it is better to at least get another one so the Polish is not alone and is the only one who can't see well. Polish tend to fall very low on the pecking order and get easily bullied, as well as they are more vulnerable to predators than your average breed. Seriously; when a hawk or other raptor flies over, my Polish will just run into a fence and sit there, or simply lay down where they were standing like they fainted or something.

 

[MommaBison]

Polish are a really strange-acting breed and are enjoyable to have because of their weird personality, but they do not do good at all in a mixed-breed flock. If you are getting a Polish, it is better to at least get another one so the Polish is not alone and is the only one who can't see well. Polish tend to fall very low on the pecking order and get easily bullied, as well as they are more vulnerable to predators than your average breed. Seriously; when a hawk or other raptor flies over, my Polish will just run into a fence and sit there, or simply lay down where they were standing like they fainted or something.

Oh dear! That's not good, we have not had a problem with sky predators, thank God. But we did recently loose a bird to something..... it's neck got ripped out, but the whole hen got left behind (maybe scared off?) it was likely during light hours. It's the first one in almost a year we've lost to a predator. I will definitely consider getting a few more Polish and possibly putting them in a separate area.

 

[The Birb King]

Maybe you will know this...? My roo is very mild and was not the alpha, who we had to cull due to extreme aggressive behavior. I'm not sure he's doing his job and I have been asked for hatching eggs. How long could the adjustment period be, before he is reliable mating the hens? I've started stimulating them when they squat, they only 8 months old and many have even stopped laying.

How old is the rooster? Have you ever seen him mate with the hens?

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

Maybe you will know this...? My roo is very mild and was not the alpha, who we had to cull due to extreme aggressive behavior. I'm not sure he's doing his job and I have been asked for hatching eggs. How long could the adjustment period be, before he is reliable mating the hens? I've started stimulating them when they squat, they only 8 months old and many have even stopped laying.

How old is the rooster? I have found that older roosters tend to not want to breed much. Also, a rooster knows when a female is not laying and he is much less likely to mate them then because there's no purpose.

 

[The Birb King]

He's 8 months. I've only seen him go after a couple of hens. Granted, I haven't gotten much time to actually watch him.

I would give it some more time. Some roosters mature slower than others

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

He's only 8 months, I got them early April. He will chase my barred rocks across the whole yard. But seems not to bother many of the others, I've only seen him on one of my 14 opringtons.

If he's only eight month sold, he is not a rooster, he is a cockerel. Give your cockerel time to get more hormones and see what happens－he may grow into a rooster who doesn't breed regularly, or he may not.