My polish pullet, Lightning, is an anomaly in my flock. The other newer chickens have integrated well into my older flock and now get along fine but Lightning, instead of getting more at ease in the flock seems to be getting less comfortable with other chickens. The two flocks have been mixed for a month and the process went rather smoothly. Aside from my bossy GLW pair (who give a sharp peck to ANY chicken in their way) there were few pecking order disputes after the first 2 days. The first 2 weeks the chickens didn't hang out together (they have 1/3 acre to themselves) and my babies seemed to want to go back 'home' to the little coop they had occupied. But now they all go to sleep in the big coop with the big chickens (some of whom are smaller than them by now!) and mix with them freely.
But then there's Lighting. She went to bed in a lower nest box the first few weeks but was frequently seen off on her own during the day. Once I thought she was gone because I had seen all the others over the span of an hour and not her, but I found her under a tree just lying there. So we trimmed her frill, thinking it would help her get along with the others if she could see better. Still she spent her days alone, only now it seemed purposeful. Some nights she spent out of the coop and once we found her, mysteriously in the back bedroom of the house.
Then one night she vanished! We looked everywhere but no lightning. We hoped she was just hiding and would return, but a week went by. Still no Lightning. Then, a rather bewildered neighbor knocked on the door and asked "Is this Yours?" holding the calm and completely unharmed lightning. They found her in their yard.
We were happy to have her back, but was she happy to be back? She runs in terror from the other chickens. Not just the bossy hens, or the older rooster, but from the calm hens and her fellow pullets. She hid behind me in a panic when the EE pullet walked by. She won't seep in the coop- I found her roosting on some scrap lumber after squeezing through a hole in the fence the separates the chicken yard from the dogs. She likes us people and will happily tolerate being held and petted. But if we aren't around, she hides. I have never seen the others pick on her, but she is calmer about contact with the dogs and children than her flockmates. We have some empty rabbit hutches in the chicken yard and have in the past used them as the chicken hospital or to break broodies who failed to hatch anything. I am thinking of making her an apartment in one of them with her own little nest box and food and water dishes.
She is quickly becoming the most spoiled chicken we have.
Anyone else have a polish who doesn't want to be a chicken?
But then there's Lighting. She went to bed in a lower nest box the first few weeks but was frequently seen off on her own during the day. Once I thought she was gone because I had seen all the others over the span of an hour and not her, but I found her under a tree just lying there. So we trimmed her frill, thinking it would help her get along with the others if she could see better. Still she spent her days alone, only now it seemed purposeful. Some nights she spent out of the coop and once we found her, mysteriously in the back bedroom of the house.
Then one night she vanished! We looked everywhere but no lightning. We hoped she was just hiding and would return, but a week went by. Still no Lightning. Then, a rather bewildered neighbor knocked on the door and asked "Is this Yours?" holding the calm and completely unharmed lightning. They found her in their yard.
We were happy to have her back, but was she happy to be back? She runs in terror from the other chickens. Not just the bossy hens, or the older rooster, but from the calm hens and her fellow pullets. She hid behind me in a panic when the EE pullet walked by. She won't seep in the coop- I found her roosting on some scrap lumber after squeezing through a hole in the fence the separates the chicken yard from the dogs. She likes us people and will happily tolerate being held and petted. But if we aren't around, she hides. I have never seen the others pick on her, but she is calmer about contact with the dogs and children than her flockmates. We have some empty rabbit hutches in the chicken yard and have in the past used them as the chicken hospital or to break broodies who failed to hatch anything. I am thinking of making her an apartment in one of them with her own little nest box and food and water dishes.
She is quickly becoming the most spoiled chicken we have.
Anyone else have a polish who doesn't want to be a chicken?
