Polish Chickens Getting Top Hats Picked Out by Other Chickens

[strawberryfields]

I am so frustrated with my polish chickens. Some of them cannot maintain their "top hats" due to the fact that the other chickens pick the tops of their heads clear of all feathers, so my polish chickens are left with a featherless "cap".

I am so tired of this!!! I have kept the polish birds separate from the others... But I really prefer to keep them altogether.

Right now, I have one that has finally grown her "hat" back, but now it is taking forever (over four weeks) for the feathers to lose their shaft so that the skin is still showing and is more likely to be picked at, especially, for some reason when it rains.

What in the HADES is the problem here?

Does anyone else have this very frustrating problem? Do I really have to spend time to pick the shafts of all those feathers off myself? And if so, in the long run will it do any good?

Why are my birds picking the feathers off my polish birds heads but not my other birds?

Has anyone else experienced this?

 

[Salman]

Hello,

I have same problem. These kinds are cowardly scared of other chicken kinds and do not fight back if attacked by the other kinds. The reason why males attack females is the desire for sex. In chicken sex the males grab female from her head, its only natural. In the exercise, they almost pull off all the feathers off the heads of the Polish feather heads. And yes, they do look ugly.

The best way to avoid it is to separate them all with respect to their species. We must face it. They are different and they can not be kept together even if we so desire.

 

[LindaCT]

I prefer to keep my Polishes separate because they get bullied by the others. My rooster had absolutely no crest at all until I separated them. Now he has a lovely Rod Stewart hairstyle. I have noticed that even Polishes will peck other Polishes on their heads

I don't know if pulling the shafts off is a good idea, as the shaft falls off when the feather is mature.

 

[Sgtfirstwife]

I posted about this yesterday. My beautiful polish had all of her head feathers pulled out. It was so sad, there was even blood on her head. It looked so painful. So last night I put her in the chicken hospital and coated her head with Blucoat. This morning she looked so lonely I decided to put her back in with my main flock and the immediately started attacking her!!! So I pulled her out again and put her in with the baby chicks in the brooder. At least she is safe there. I guess I am going to have to get rid of her and one of my baby polish chickens. I have no way of separating them.