I have to talk POLISH!

[BGMatt]

I'm always careful of my words, and I stand by them and am correct. As a breed as a whole it is irresponsible to say that they're fragile. Now could the particular line you had been fragile? Sure. But that's that line or supplier, not the breed's fault. Inbreeding can causes weak chicks, flocks that get overly vaccinated, or medicated for their illnesses rather than culled will over time produce weaker stock, but that is NOT a breed thing, that is that genetic strain thing. People love to have excuses is all I'm saying. I'm pretty sure that over all my years in poultry I've heard almost every breed that exists referred to as fragile at one time or another.

 

[Shalva]

I view it very differently .. while I agree with you that there are causes etc that could render a particular set of chicks more fragile than others. If the breed is more fragile (which I don't know if it is or is not, my three remaining are doing fine at almost 8 weeks) then I don't view it as irresponsible at all to discuss a potential problem that may exist. I breed Champion dogs and one of my biggest gripes about one of my breeds (we have two breeds here) is that breeders won't discuss problems that may exist in the breed. They are worried about their lines or that people will think their dogs are unhealthy or whatever and thus these issues never get discussed and without discussing them they can't be remedied.

Now I don't know if polish chickens as a whole are more fragile. I do know several people who have successfully raised other breeds and have had a heck of a time with these little guys. I personally expected a problem after hearing all of this but did not have any issues at all, I did lose one chick within a day but honestly when I got her she seemed a bit wobbly on her feet to start so I was not surprised. I did keep them a bit warmer than I normally would have and have taken longer to get them outside and they still aren't fully outside residing most evenings in my guest bedroom.

My personal experience with them is not the point.... the point for me is not even whether they are or are not more fragile in your mind or anyones mind. The point is that discussing potential issues is anything but irresponsible, discussion of potential issues is what keeps the breed healthy, makes people alert and aware of what may or may not be going on, but not discussing in my mind is what id damaging to the breed.

just my two cents
s

 

[juststruttin]

I agree with both points, but I think people are often to quick to generalize. I hatch 300 chicks a month, including Polish, and find the Polish just as hardy as all the other breeds.

I agree that issues should be discussed openly. It would be helpful to know what the circumstances are surrounding the chicks that are dying. Are they from a hatchery? Which one? Were they shipped? How far? Did they arrive healthy, and then get weak? There are sooo many variables to take into account before we blame the "breed" for being fragile.

 

[BGMatt]

 I agree with both points, but I think people are often to quick to generalize.   I hatch 300 chicks a month, including Polish,  and find the Polish just as hardy as all the other breeds.  

I agree that issues should be discussed openly.  It would be helpful to know what the circumstances are surrounding the chicks that are dying.  Are they from a hatchery?  Which one?  Were they shipped?  How far?  Did they arrive healthy, and then get weak?  There are sooo many variables to take into account before we blame the "breed" for being fragile.  

Thanks for making my point clearer than I did apparently. There's so many other factors that I thought it would be irresponsible to just assume that the breed was fragile before taking other factors into account.

Variance from the same source is also one, I remember about 7 years back I ordered 50 chicks from a breeder, same breed, different variety 25 of each, same brooder, same food, same everything, all but two of one variety keeled over. Later found that that variety was very inbred and was very weak genetically from that source, but that does mean that all sources of that breed and variety are weak and fragile.

 

[Maligator]

All good points!

If they were shipped, I could see that as a huge cause for stress or dehydrated/sick chickies. I often wondered if hatchery stock HAD to be hardy in order to survive the cramped conditions or shipping stress. Very interesting to know! It would be good to start collecting who has weaker birds, where they came from and find similarities. See if it's location issue, poor husbandry, or just poor luck.

I think my Polish chicks came from Ideal? I'm not 100% sure as I get a new person each time I go to my feed store (it's huge, they have a lot of 4H part timers) but I suspect it's so due to the red crested reds I got. When I arrived first thing in the morning, they had told me that 50 polish chicks had been ordered on the phone so I was thrilled with a huge selection, but when I looked into the brooder there were just 7. D:

I suppose they purchased hatching eggs and the Polish did not have a good hatch at all. A lot of that, I suspect, is that nobody has time there to really check the bator but who knows. I never knew they even had room for a large bator for the amount of chicks they sell.

The 7 I got are all healthy, happy little chickens with no problems thus far. One had pasty bum as a chick, but everyone thrived. No issues at all and no special treatment. I had to baby my silkies a lot more than my Polish.

 

[trsturself]

I think it's just people being bad at raising chickens and blaming it on the breed most the time.

I think this statement is just as irresponsible as saying that the breed is fragile. I agree that discussion needs to happen about people's experiences to see where the problem lies. With so many people having problems, a discussion really needs happen to see what is going on.

I'm wondering if there is a trend between the polish with other chicks or by themselves and their survival rate. I had mine by themselves to start but their brooder was right next to a brooder with some mixed chicks. But when I was down to 1, I put her in with the mixed chicks. It seemed healthy (eating/drinking/active) at that point but a few days later it went downhill fast and died within a few hours.
I got mine from a feed store, not sure which hatchery they purchased them from. They were 2 days old when I got the first 2 and 3 days old for the replacement. They seemed healthy at the store but one didn't seem right as soon as we got it home. We had everything setup the way we do for other chicks... cage inside a cardboard box (to keep the cat from getting to them), water nipple, feed trough, shavings (with paper towel covering for the newbies), and a heat lamp. My friend had hers in with other chicks of similar ages/size in a cage with a heat lamp, wire mesh floor, water bottle, and feed trough. Her's seemed good for a couple weeks longer than ours but then went downhill.

The first 2 I lost I could understand stress since they were shipped then we had to drive them 1 1/2 hours home (my daughter held them against her body to keep them warm). But it doesn't make sense for the 2 that lasted a few weeks.

It's interesting to hear the details of other people's experiences.

 

[Maligator]

Hmn, weird. I wonder how much sitting at the feed store does to their little systems too, though. My store keeps them in some nice outside brooders, but I feel they keep them a bit too warm and definitely too crowded for some breeds (like the heavy layers). Who knows how long they are there before I get there. When I picked up my last set of silkies their water was not in good shape.

To add to how I raise mine:
Brooder box is a sterlite container with shavings. I feed out of a very shallow dish and then upgrade to a bottle feeder. I feel they can access the food easier in a very shallow dish to start. It's messy but I clean often. I soak my dishes and bowls in dish soap and hot water, then give a small scrub. I use a water bottle waterer, usually elevated on another dish so it is out of the shavings. Right now I use a small cat food dish that brings it up to level. I keep it very clean, having it elevated a hair over the shavings helps with that a lot, though. I don't have a set temp, nor do I use a thermometer. I place my lamp on the very extreme of one side and judge their comfort based on how they act. Huddled is too cold, sitting away from the lamp is too hot and just adjust based on that alone. Other than that, nothing else special. My brooder box is topless (oo, la la!) with wire dividers on top to keep the dogs from poking their noses in, and I drilled 3 rows of vent holes at the top of the brooder to help with air flow. I moved my babies outside when they were 4 weeks, too, with larger silkie crosses who were already outside and older. No problems. I even took them out frequently as soon as a few days old to see the sunshine and peck in the grass. I kept them mixed with silkies chicks. Everyone did fine.

 

[BGMatt]

Chicks from feed stores are often triple stressed because of people and kids messing around with them. And of course they're frequently hatchery stock which I always think is more fragile regardless of breed due to health/living conditions of adult stock. As far as mixing, if they're all same relative size it usually goes ok. When other birds are taller they may pick on crests. Heck my bantam polish crests get pecked at by the large fowl polish.

 

[seminolewind]

My oldest chickens are my Polish (5 1/2) and still laying. I have all my Polish separate from the big girls, and they like being with their own. My best Polish hatchers are my Silkies. And on occasion a few of my Polish go to visit "the folks".

There are so many variables on if a breed is poor at surviving or not. One being poor breeding practices.

BTW, I love those little Polish babies in the pics.

 

[heirloomorps]

 I agree with both points, but I think people are often to quick to generalize.   I hatch 300 chicks a month, including Polish,  and find the Polish just as hardy as all the other breeds.  

I agree that issues should be discussed openly.  It would be helpful to know what the circumstances are surrounding the chicks that are dying.  Are they from a hatchery?  Which one?  Were they shipped?  How far?  Did they arrive healthy, and then get weak?  There are sooo many variables to take into account before we blame the "breed" for being fragile.  

We had our 10 chicks shipped from Dick Horstman in PA. We are in West TN - and have had healthy chicks shipped from 2 Silkie breeders in PA with no issue. 10 chicks all looked fine when we took them out of the box. They were in a brooder next to other chicks at first. We lost one the first night. Fine, shipping stress. It happens. We fed and watered exactly the same as all our other chicks but every 3-4 days after that we would just find one dead until we were down to 4 chicks. Then we went maybe 10 days with no issue until the same thing started happening again. We hatch about 150 chicks a week and we have very few losses (not counting assisted hatches). The chicks in the brooder next to them did not have one death.