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Polish

The Polish or Poland breed is best known for its elaborate crest of feathers that nearly cover the entirety of the head.
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General Information

Breed Purpose
Ornamental
Comb
V-Shaped
Broodiness
Seldom
Climate Tolerance
All Climates
Egg Productivity
Medium
Egg Size
Medium
Egg Color
White
Breed Temperament
Flighty,Noisy,Shy
Breed Colors/Varieties
White Crested : Black, Blue, Cuckoo, Choc. Solid : Black, Blue, White, Cuckoo. Laced : Silver, Golden, Buff Other : Tolbunt, Crele
Breed Size
Large Fowl
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The Polish or Poland breed is best known for its elaborate crest of feathers that nearly cover the entirety of the head. This crest limits their vision and as a result can affect their temperament. Thus, though normally tame, they may be timid and easily frightened.

The oldest accounts of this breed come from The Netherlands, but their exact origins are unknown. One theory suggests that their ancestors were brought by Asian Mongols to Eastern Europe during medieval times, and thus, could have originated in Poland. It is also believed that immigrants brought the breed's predecessors from Spain or Italy in the late 16th century. The Polish was standardised in the Netherlands and declared a thoroughbred in the 16th century already. The American Poultry Association states that the breed was introduced to the USA between 1830 and 1840. The breed was, during a certain period of time, much favoured by American farmers and chicken fanciers.

Polish chickens are bred primarily for ornamental purposes and exhibition, but were originally productive egg layers. Polish hens rarely go broody and are noted for their white eggs.

The American Poultry Association accepted three Polish varieties into the American Poultry Association’s Standard of Perfection in 1874; additional varieties were accepted in 1883, 1938 and 1963. There are bearded, non-bearded and frizzle varieties of this breed.

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Polish eggs

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Polish chicks

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Polish juvenile

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Polish hen

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Polish rooster

For more about the Polish breed and their owners' and breeders' experiences with them, see our breed discussion here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/chicken-breed-focus-polish.1098899/
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Latest reviews

Addicted To Chickens
Pros: Extremely sweet
Friendly
Pleasing to the Eye
Very good target flying
Cons: Runs very fast
DON'T GET ME STARTED ON THIS!!!! There are way to many things about them to love!! Mine are very sweet and easy to socialize with.
PippinTheChicken
Love Polish!
Pros: They can jump\fly very high (not sure if pro or con but I like it)
friendly
beautiful
funny
Cons: They can jump\fly very high (not sure if pro or con but I like it)
My hen hatched some polish chicks in June 2021. I have fallen in love with them. They have such funny little personalities.
They are very friendly with other chickens AND humans, they are always up for a cuddle.
They jump\fly very high, it's very entertaining to watch
Purchase Price
£15 for 6 hatching eggs
Purchase Date
May 2021
J
Jumpyrules
agreed
Addicted To Chickens
Addicted To Chickens
Correct!
lily7grace92
Pros: The absolute cutest
Good egg laying ability
Friendly
Endless entertainment
A great way to add diversity to a flock
Cons: Flighty
Can't see well
Have a tendency to lay anywhere but the nesting box
They bother the other hens (no personal space)
Extremely LOUD
My personal experience with Polish hens:

The good- They have a great temperament when played with as baby chicks. We have one that loves to be picked up and will fall asleep in your arms. They are surprisingly good layers. We have had ours lay almost every day for close to 6 months through the winter even! (we do not use supplemental lighting at all either) They are so funny to watch and we have the greatest time just watching them around the yard. In all they are a good chicken to have especially if your looking for some fun poof heads to laugh at.
The bad- They DESTROY nesting boxes (kick ALL the hay, shavings whatever right out) and then they don't even lay in them! They can also be extremely flighty because they really can't see that good. It can be a pain the trim and keep their head feathers clean and keep them from icing up in the wintertime. One of our hens is probably louder than the rooster and voices her opinion a lot.
I really like my polish hens, but 3 is plenty and I probably wouldn't get more unless something happened to them.
Below is my buff laced bearded polish hen- Mrs. Santa Claus
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Purchase Price
Free
Purchase Date
3/8/18
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Comments

smithnan
I got my first polish chickens a month or 2 ago, and they are so friendly! Does that poof really impair their vision? I feel like a bad mom for not considering that before :( Seems like it would, but... The one with the biggest poof will run clear across the yard (~300 feet) when he (she?) sees me and wait for me to pick him up and carry him around. I never thought of clipping their hair, but i want them to be safe- and not blind...
 
beckym1619
We love our three sliver laced polish. Grey , Dori and Black
They each have their own personality. Love watching them run the yard. We live in town so free range is only when we are home. They hear our car and run to the door. They follow me around the yard and all I have to do is call chick chick and they come running !
 
Anthonyfalante
I have a black with white crest and a golden buff,love them so much. Lots of personality and so different ,chicky(the black one) is a love bug kenny( the golden buff) is flighty and nervous and faster than a roadrunner when she here's me open the food locker.ps,chicky and kenny,chicken,get it?
 
DIGGIN CHICKEN
See what a diet of borscht does to you !!! Visually with a quiff like that anything that is vertical becomes lethal at high speed ...
 
Tarboxhollowpoultry.com
We have had standards and bantam polish. The can be the friendliest chickens, we had one once that would follow us everywhere in the yard, even in the house, she did not care, she liked being with people. She would hang out with me in the garden or wherever I was in the yard, they wonderful birds to have in your flock. We also had fun crossing them with other breeds and showing them in 4H as exotic birds, a silkie and polish cross produce adorable chickens.
 
R1V3R20NG
I absolutely love polish. Mine (Whitney Henston) loves me. when she is angry with another hen in the nest she will jump on the food bin, but as soon as i come outside whitney will hop down and run to my feet talking. she used to jump on my head at 7-12 weeks old. Nowadays she will play with my feet! Its so cute.
 
R1V3R20NG
PoultryAddict 1 said:
aww lucky you.
I've always wanted these birds, however I fear within the hour their beautiful creasts would be ripped off by my mean old bantam girls.
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Guess what! They are also pretty mean to other chickens, not to people, at least from my experience. My little polish is in charge of two chickens, one of them is double to triple her size and the other is about 1 1/2 times bigger than her. She also likes to rub it in their faces that she is in charge.
 
Nashonii
Tarboxhollowpoultry.com said:
We have had standards and bantam polish. The can be the friendliest chickens, we had one once that would follow us everywhere in the yard, even in the house, she did not care, she liked being with people. She would hang out with me in the garden or wherever I was in the yard, they wonderful birds to have in your flock. We also had fun crossing them with other breeds and showing them in 4H as exotic birds, a silkie and polish cross produce adorable chickens.
Click to expand...
My gorgeous sizzle /silkie roo got killed doing a great job of protecting his girls from a hawk, just 2 days ago. I'm in search of Eather a silkie or a polish for them. Is a polish to big for the silkie girls?
 
BDutch
Both the crested fowl and the bearded crested fowl are 'Breed of the year' of the SZH in 2007. In this issue of Rare Pets, special attention is paid to the Dutch bearded crested fowl. Until the beginning of the last century the Dutch bearded crested fowl in the Netherlands were called Padua's. Incidentally, as in several neighboring countries. This name would tell the origin of the bearded crested fowl; from the area of Padua, Italy.

This naming goes back to around 1600, when the well-known Aldrovandi wrote his Ornithologias, which also included images of crested fowl. He spoke of Patavinische hens. This does not prove the origin of the crested crested birds, because the story wants about 1400 one marquis De Dondi, crested and bearded fowl had taken with him to his villa near Padua after a diplomatic stay at the court in Poland.

For Polish breeders is this evidence that beard-crested fowl are of Polish origin, it is embedded in the English names: Polands.

But then, beard canoe are already many years in the Netherlands, as is shown on the skin-paintings of Dutch masters from the seventh century . Sufficient reason to consider this as a Dutch breed.

Real ornamental fowl
Dutch bearded crested fowl are real ornamental fowl, which used to be kept in noble fowl-courts. Ornamental fowl, because of their colorful and special appearance, with large round crest and full beard. It is also hardened land fowl with good quality properties. Yet they are rare. In the Netherlands, roughly ten breeders keep the large bearded crested fowl. The number of breeding animals is estimated at about 100 animals. The situation is a little better with the bantams.
 
kirkyanne
Tarboxhollowpoultry.com said:
We have had standards and bantam polish. The can be the friendliest chickens, we had one once that would follow us everywhere in the yard, even in the house, she did not care, she liked being with people. She would hang out with me in the garden or wherever I was in the yard, they wonderful birds to have in your flock. We also had fun crossing them with other breeds and showing them in 4H as exotic birds, a silkie and polish cross produce adorable chickens.
Click to expand...
My polish are the same.. follow me everywhere I go.. it's so adorable! Wish my other chickens liked me that much :)
 
Dean Wood
I really like this breed, I only have 1 but I am planning on getting more. Her name is popcorn
 
M
I have a male and some hen Moptops/polish chickens. Some of them had come from Elvis, some white hens, stuff like that. Wanna know why I named my rooster Elvis? He had kind of Elvis (the person)’s hairdo. Elvis is a mean but pretty looking rooster! Right now I have a male with fluffy cheeks, legs, and a nice lil hairdo! He was in a water bucket w/ water so my Grandpa took him in and put him with lil miss Penny... She didn’t like it. We moved him into another cage. Good luck, others! Happy chicken birthdays out there! EDIT: I forgot Elvis wasn’t like others.. He has Orange and Black feathers. So does one of his chicks.
 
Valair
Here in Spain there are many breeds like this, apparently a lot of people here keep this fancy type chickens, I want to eventually get them. First I must learn about keeping chickens. If anyone is interested I will take photos of the breeds I come across
 
V
Do Polish crested ever have feathered feet? When we bought ours they were supposedly Polish crested, but everything about my chicks has me thinking they may be Sultans? Any help would be great!
 
M
I have a Polish (Or what we call: Moptops) rooster named Elvis. The poor thing was almost killed by a bigger rooster..HE IS THE MEANEST THING ON THE PLANET.His 1st 3 babies were 1 hen and 2 roosters. Ocean, the first chick he hatched off with a hen, was white with blue legs. None of them had blue legs. sorry I rambled about it XD
 
T
I have two five week old polish chickens and their names are Wiggy and Wacky. This breed is not like my others as I can not see anyway to tell the genders apart. The only thing I notice is that their tail feathers just today are starting to grow a few longer thinner feathers out the back. They have no crest yet or waddles like the other breeds. Can anyone familiar with this breed offer any advice?
 
GreatGranny
Love me some Polish chickens! I have a rooster, Poli, identical to the one in the last picture in this article, and he is a delight! He is not skittish and manages a flock of 23 hens with great care. Now I have some aggressive brown leghorn hens and he always protects me from their attacks when I enter their run! We love this breed so much that my hubby and I are raising 8 more Polish! 4-white crested blues and 4-golden lace bearded! 4 hens and 4 roos! From these 8 and Poli, we hope to raise more!
 

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Chicken Breeds
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