Hi there. I have two hens and three pullets. The hens are Black Star and a Barred Rock. The pullets are Mottled Java, Blue Andelusian and a Golden Laced Polish. The Barred Rock is the oldest and seems to have established herself as the woman in charge. No body really fights but there does seem to be minor posturing, which I feel is normal. But my Polish. I worry about her. The Barred Rock and the Black star, hang out together. The Mottled Java and Blue Andelusian hang out together and the little Polish is always trailing behind. She hangs out with the pullets but I often find her hanging out by herself. I wonder if the others don't see her as a chicken, or if she needs a Polish to be friends with? What do you think? Am I anthropomorphising? The other issue is her headdress. I've been giving them watermelon because it's been quite warm recently and I wanted to make sure they stay hydrated. While examining the polish yesterday I noticed her headdress was sticky and greasy feeling. I thought it's probably the watermelon juice. I washed her off gently, with the heat she didn't seem to mind. Just wanted to check on that as I don't have any other Polish to compare. All the other chickens appear well groomed. Thanks so much.
Mine, when young, did seem to have really awful, dirty "hair." I think I've read where others also said they really wanted to wash their polish's dirty hair. But later, when grown, they looked cleaner. As for hanging alone, they often migrate into groups depending on who they grew up with. And Polish are often the odd ones out. After seeing my poor polish be a lone chicken so long as it was the only one to hatch that time, I've resolved to always get chickens in pairs. Then at least they have one buddy the same as them.
