8 week Polish babies- 🎩 or 🎀?

[CombNWattles]

I’m getting suspicious of my little Thimble. No obvious cockerel behaviors; less skittish though, and kind of clumsy for some reason. Mostly it’s the crest/beard and the saddle feathers.

I haven’t named this little one yet, but I’m pretty sure she’s a pullet (on the left):

And a front view of both, with Thimble on the right:

Bonus picture- haircuts!

“Wow, I can see!”

 

[JedJackson]

Polish take a long time to tell. My guess is they're both males, but it's only a guess at this point. After 12 weeks or so, male specific feathering should tell the tale.

 

[CombNWattles]

They are now 11 weeks old. No crowing yet; they are still peeping. Their puffs are kind of messy because we chopped them a couple weeks ago and they’re growing in again.

Thimble:

Molasses:

Molasses (L) and Thimble (R):

The Terrible Two :

 

[CombNWattles]

They are now thirteen weeks old. I have a video of them making chicken sounds, but I can’t upload it since I don’t have a YouTube account. Here are some stills from the video…

Sorry for the blurriness. Thimble:

Thimble’s saddle feathers on the right, and Molasses’ puff on the left. That iridescent puff feather is suspicious…

 

[Slothinc]

Polish really are so hard to tell! I am following to see what they end up as!

 

[JedJackson]

I think they are both pullets at this point. Neither has male specific feathering. It would be easier to tell if their crests hadn't been trimmed, but I vote girls.

 

[CombNWattles]

Dang, keeping these little guys is a rollercoaster ride! They’re a hoot though, always doing something ridiculous and funny.

If they are both pullets, then that means I’m back in the rooster market…

 

[CombNWattles]

They progress!
~14 weeks

 

[thecatumbrella]

I have no clue on gender, but these are some of the coolest birds I've ever seen! What are your Polish like? Friendly? Skittish?

 

[CombNWattles]

I have no clue on gender, but these are some of the coolest birds I've ever seen! What are your Polish like? Friendly? Skittish?

Awww, thanks! They are…. Weird. Definitely more skittish than other breeds. When we first got them, I thought it was because the feed store lady had to chase them around the bin to catch them, but as they settled in and got older, I began to think I wasn’t socializing with them enough.
All my other birds had gradually learned to climb on my hands and relax when I moved stuff in the brooder.
These guys just wouldn’t come near my hands in the brooder, and if I so much as twitched a muscle in my arm they would leap out of reach.
So I just sat stone still outside the open door and talked to them. Eventually the more skittish, athletic one flew onto my head! After that I was able to pick up the clumsy one who wanted to be with her friend.
They have never enjoyed being picked up, but they still want to be near you, on THEIR terms.

Once their crests grew in they became skittish again and we had to give them haircuts.

I haven’t seen them in several weeks since I went back to college, but I hear that they are behaving well and letting themselves be picked up at night to go back in their dog cage. (They’re in a ‘playpen’ during the day and a cage in the coop at night.) Now that they’re bigger they seem less jumpy.

So- in sum, they are not like normal chickens; they might make you feel like a bad chickenkeeper, but in reality they are a completely new species, possibly a collection of sentient algae mimicking a chicken shape.
BUT, this new species is fun, absolutely ridiculous to watch, and very personable. I am quite attached to my specimens.