8 week Polish babies- 🎩 or 🎀?

[CombNWattles]

I wanted to add that since they are so silly, I have had an intuitive fear that they will fall in the large water bucket in the big girl coop when we integrate them. Well, the other day, they were hanging out (supervised) in the big coop while the grownups foraged outside, and Maggie came in to lay an egg. The babies annoyed her by sticking their silly puffy heads into Maggie’s box, until Maggie came out and pecked at one of them. The poor victim was so startled that she fell into the water bucket and had to be lifted out. Prophetic vision fulfilled.

Another way they’re weird is that they don’t get excited about possible treats. they eat crumble and they eat grass, but if you offer them bread, their first reaction is “styrofoam!!” Apparently they ate some tomato they were offered, consuming a decent amount before slowly realizing that they were eating something besides the aforementioned crumble and grass, upon which they lost their appetites.

 

[thecatumbrella]

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.

This is all really good to know! We’ve considered Polish ourselves, so I appreciate the insight into what we might expect from them. Hopefully they continue to settle a bit as they age.