brother and sister buff tinted polish do i need to separate them

[sarah2104]

hi all new here, i have a question. I found while walking down a country road two chicks which i have since learned are buff tinted polish chickens, there was no sign of mother or any other chickens or chicks and on visiting the two farms near by, which niether of them they belonged to, brought them home. unsure how old they are but am hoping to keep them, i already own 3 other hens. My question is this, they are clearly brother and sister and extremely inseparable, weather this is natural or because of what they might of went through together i dont know, but will i need to separate them for obvious reasons or is there any possibility they can remain together and maintain a brother sister relationship? any advice would be great
thanks in advance

 

[Michael OShay]

It is no problem keeping them together. Even if they breed as brothers and sisters, chickens can mate for 5 or 6 generations before seeing problems. However, if you intend to breed Buff Tinted Polish Chickens for the long term, I would purchase a some from an outside source to add to your flock and prevent long term inbreeding problems.

 

[Kelsie2290]

Hello and Welcome To BYC! Lucky for the chicks you found and saved them. If you keep them together they will mate with each other. Unless you hatch eggs it doesn't really matter, even then inbreeding/linebreeding in chickens is commonly done. If you do plan to keep a rooster with your small flock you will probably need to make arrangements to keep the roo separated some of the time, or you will need more hens probably, the general recommended ratio is around 1 roo to 10 hens so the hens don't get over-mated. Chickens are flock animals so they want company, and birds that are the same age and grew up together tend to remain attached, so that they are fond of each other has more to do with they are the only two chicks that age around. One other thing, polish are sometimes picked on by other breeds, especially their topknots, so you may wind up having to keep the polish girl away from your other hens... if they have trouble seeing because of the topknots you can trim the feathers away from around their face also.

 

[liz9910]

Welcome to BYC! You've received some great info here. Best of luck to you.

 

[TwoCrows]

Welcome to BYC!

You were definitely in the right place at the right time for these 2 chicks!! You can keep these together indefinitely. They really shouldn't be separated at this point as they need each other.

Kelsie has given you some great advice. Enjoy these two chicks and welcome to our flock!

 

[sarah2104]

hi ya everyone and thank you for the warm welcome and the great advice michael & kelsie, i couldnt believe finding them it was a miracle, really! i really dont think i could separate them seeing how they are together, there amazing and so tame had a few problems with the other hens the lower rank is giving the girl and bit of stick but the top two girls (white leghorns) are more aggressive to the boy, i have questioned several times weather the the most dominant has taken on a rooster roll within the pack, i dont know if this is a common thing or at all likely but shes very rooster like lol might explain her attacking him more tho maybe. Also i was considering getting some more to add to the flock about 4 as i live in a residential area, would i be best going specifically for the buff laced polish or would other breeds be ok? (cant find any breeders for them in the area although white polish are available) thank you very much for the welcome and advice so far, look forward to talking chickens!
sarah

 

[gander007]

 

[Michael OShay]

It's not uncommon for the dominant hen to take on the protective role of a rooster when there are no roosters in the flock. If you want to breed Buff Laced Polish, you can order them from mail order hatcheries. I have never had Buff Laced Polish but I have ordered Golden Polish from both Murray McMurray Hatchery (http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/index.html) and Ideal Poultry (http://www.idealpoultry.com/assortment.html) and was satisfied with both of them. You can even order them as pullets rather than straight run from Murray McMurray.

 

[sourland]

Welcome to BYC - you have been given great advice by many. Keep them and enjoy them and any offspring that you may choose to hatch.

 

[drumstick diva]