Polish

I have one large fowl silver laced Polish rooster. The other five didn't make it past a month. While the smallest bird I own at maybe 4 pounds, he's not the bottom of the pecking order in a six rooster hierarchy. His frequent crow is nevertheless adorable, shorter than most, of a higher pitch and a more bantam quality. He likes to fluff up nesting material for the girls. He doesn't eat much but adds a lot of charm and entertainment value to the chicken yard.

Crested breeds relatively prone to getting lice and to predation generally as crests block their view. Polish chickens, while generally viewed as cold intolerant have proven to be more tolerant than I'd expected. They're not an "eating chicken" but also don't eat much, unlike several other more ornamental, pet type breeds. I've heard they're respectable layers of tiny eggs.

My Polish is enormously funny, but she does seem to suffer from some problems, may of which originate from her signature "hairdo"

PROS:
She is the funniest-looking chicken. The laughs she provokes make the troubles that her feathers cause her not quite as bad.

I expected her laying to be much worse, as she is an ornamental breed, but it is actually quite good. She lays almost as much as my BR and is one of my most consistent layers. She took the shortest off-season of all of my girls during the molt.

She is one of my friendlier birds and one of the easiest to catch. She will ride around on my arm while I am gardening by choice.

She is full of personality. Sometimes, she will have small crazy moments wherein she will run around and attack my other girls. I have no idea why she does this, but it cracks me up and the other girls just put up with it.

CONS:

She is practically blind to anything that happens above her! This causes many of her problems.

She is vulnerable when she is free-ranging. She has a tendency to get separated from the others, and cannot see predators that well.

She cannot see her roosting perch, so I installed another perch to help her get to it.

She is pretty light and can fly really well. She could scale most backyard fences pretty easily.


Consensus: She is a great bird, but she has an unfortunate list of cons. I would recommend Polish to people who want to keep chickens as pets more than layers and who are willing to supervise free-ranging.

I purchased my first Polish for $5 at a feed store. She was an accidental addition, as the brooder contained Leghorns and Cornish Cross chicks. The store owners thought she was a Leghorn who had a brain tumor and said, "You can have her, but no refunds if she dies."

Little did THEY know I knew bettter. I could tell from the start, POLIIISHHHH

And so my addiction began.

Unfortunately at 4 months old, the chick, who I had named Dori, passed away due to a head injury. She had tried to fight my top hen and very apperently took a beating.

However this did not deter me from loving the breed. They were so curious, and docile and all around beautiful.

A few months later I was given 3 roosters, Buff Laced cockerels who I named after rock stars. Benetar, Bowie, and Mercury.

About a month after that, I was contacted by another chickener who couldn't keep her birds due to an HOA, and I was given yet anoth Polish, this time a buff laced bearded female.

I seem to be hoarding them, but no shame.

These birds are beautiful, docile, curious, and a hoot to watch runn around the yard.

I have had a number of Polish over the past three years and I can definitively say I will never get another one. I have a medium sized (25) mixed flock and the Polish were constantly being picked on. I had two Polish frizzles whose heads were picked clean by the other birds. When the winter came, they were just not hardy enough to withstand the New England cold, although all of my heavier breeds (Marans, Orpingtons, EE's) have had no problem with the cold.

A very nice breed to have, they are friendly nice and smart. they are very pretty. even though they will die because they froze from the water. you can cut their top notches.there top notches are open, so a couple of pecks and they will die. they have descent sized eggs.

I have one specific polish that I have owned for over five years now and she is still my favorite bird. She (and all of the other polish) will perch on my shoulder and will literally act like a pet cat. They even will make a purring sound sometimes! My first one did get leg mites but they were taken care of pretty easily. She is so tough, she now has to deal with not only her crest to barely see with, but she also has cataracts in her left eye as well! She also survived being chased by a dog. All of mine have never been picked on by the other birds or by each other. Only my first one got bumble foot and it was tiny! In winter she got icicles hanging from her crest and she didn't even struggle as I cut off her feathers around her eye area. These are some amazing birds and I count on getting even more in the future!
Here are some pictures of mine. The first one is Fountain (my 5 yr old hen), then Fleabite who is a new addition to my flock, and last is Ebony, my first (and amazing) male polish (I don't have a picture of him other than this and his name isn't "Snowy White", I re-named him after I found out that he was a guy!)!

cool birds to look at! mine are still chicks and am hoping one is a rooster! they are very friendly and have been perched on kids shoulders and never tried to peck!

I have a Polish hen that is mottled with leakage and not a recognized color. She is a friendly bird and always come running with the rest when I go outside. She is good layer. Her eggs are white and always seem to be a little torpedo shape. She is very dramatic, screeches all day long, walks with her wings out, and because of her top hat she can't see well so she gets spoked easily.