I have to talk POLISH!

[BGMatt]

Pictures 1 and 3 have what look to be some pointy crest feathers growing in already, so possibly cockerels. But it's a guess.

 

[Shalva]

I would have thought that I would have been seeing some hints of red at this point... but I don't really know

 

[BGMatt]

My non-bearded males didn't show red wattles til 10 weeks+ it could just be the photos too.

 

[Shalva]

I will try to get some better pictures... more from the front...

 

[Meredith MMH]

Unfortunately my WC Blue cockerel escaped today and I followed him round for a bit and finally managed to get close to him but missed and grabbed his tail.... and it came out in my hand...

I've checked it and it isn't bleeding so should be Ok but does anyone know how long it will take to grow it back and will it look the same?

Here is a before and after...
(Taken a few months ago)

(Taken this evening)

 

[Shalva]

Ok I am fairly certain my black with white crest is a pullet.... its these two that I am not sure about

they still have alot of pin feathers as done the black wtih white ...

I tend to think the silver is a cockeral
and the gold I could go either way ...

they are just seven weeks old
thoughts
taking these pictures was a major challenge... talk about perpetual motion







silver

 

[4Hgirl]

Hardinpoultry and 4Hgirl, I had one doing that to me and what I found is that the food was not going thru.  It was further than the crop.  I tried vitamins , corrid and vits.  She died.

Chicks die, I've heard so many stories of the ones 3-4 weeks.  That must be when their compatibility with life runs out.  Do the best you can, cover all the bases you can think of and hope for the best .  It's sad. 

Thank you for the emotional support. It sucked waking up to my little girl crying this morning. And I'm just hoping I do t have the same result as you have had Hardinpoultry. Wow all but one died that is horrible. I'm so sorry. I'm scared to go to bed. Just keep checking on them.

 

[4Hgirl]

Unfortunately my WC Blue cockerel escaped today and I followed him round for a bit and finally managed to get close to him but missed and grabbed his tail.... and it came out in my hand...

I've checked it and it isn't bleeding so should be Ok but does anyone know how long it will take to grow it back and will it look the same?

Here is a before and after...

It should grow fully back in a month. We learned at 4h to actually pull out the old damaged feathers a month before the show so new ones are fresh for show time. Worked like a charm for my daughters Japanese. And boy was her tail gorgeous!

 

[trsturself]

We had the same problem with the polish chicks we tried. We got 3 and a friend of ours got 1. The first didn't last the night. Seemed fine until that night then just didn't seem right. It perked up for a bit but then got slowly worse. The next day we went back (1 1/2 hour one way) to get a replacement because it was obvious it wasn't going to make it. The next one seemed much better. More alert, eating and drinking. It was dead in the morning. So now we were down to 1 and our friend had 1. We both had many other chicks in other brooders with no problems. Our last one seemed fine. Growing, eating, drinking. I put it in with our other chicks because it was now alone and I was afraid something was in the other brooder (threw the box away, cleaned and disinfected the dishes and let them sit out in the sun for a few days). It looked great for a few more days then wouldn't stand up. It was dead by morning. Our friend's lasted a few more weeks but it didn't seem to be growing well and it too died. None of our other chicks had a problem. It made me so paranoid every time a chick slept after that my heart would drop and I had to check if it was ok. Our poor silkie chick we got after this never got a good rest. lol

I really want a polish and couldn't find a local source for anything but wcb and I really want a silver. So I just had to put in an order for 18 (my friend is taking 3 so it's really 15). They should be arriving next week. Can't wait! I hope these fair better than the last ones. It was really tough on my daughter. She felt she was to blame and that she had done something wrong. The chickens are hers and the brooder box is in her room.

 

[Shalva]

I dont know that this is scientific or not but I have heard that polish chicks are hard to keep alive... that they are just more fragile... I had a parrot for many years and when he was not well we would keep him warm. I know that i bought four polish chicks, one died the first night not surprising to lose a wee baby... but then I kept them pretty warm for a long time... I think they were four or five weeks old before I really lowered the temp on them any substantial amount... wiht other chicks i did the five degrees a week but honestly with these guys I kept them pretty warm, warmer than I kept my orpingtons. The three remaining all survived and have done well and are now 7.5 weeks old and I still don't expose them to temperatures at all... I really do coddle them a bit.