Polish Thread!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[kristin07035]

Hi my "girls" are 3 weeks old today.
Does anyone think they can guess yet if they truly are girls?
Ava has more of a mohawk going on and Ana has kinda what resembles a fan.
They are Tolbunt frizzle gene but straight feathered.

 

[mrchicks]

They are adorable, but it really is too soon to tell. Keep posting them, we'll start guessing as soon as we can.

 

[kristin07035]

but Thanks and I definitely will keep posting!

They are adorable, but it really is too soon to tell.  Keep posting them, we'll start guessing as soon as we can. 

 

[Sylvester017]

I'm very active in the AZ thread here and no one I've ever found raises laced polish. I can only have 8 chickens total so I have to be super picky about the birds I get. I have 4 feed store standards for eggs and this new batch was my 4 fancies. I ordered them way back in Dec because I wanted to get exactly the breeds I wanted. I could try calling the feed store and see if they would order a special breed for me, they typically carry the production breeds and occasionally get plain colored polish or white crested black which I'm not as fond of. I will definitely wait until I know for sure. Crow or egg. I have a friend with a large property who would most likely take it if it's a roo and I could possibly beg him to order some chicks so I could get just one from him since MPC required a minimum of 3 to my area.

You're lucky MPC required a minimum of 3. My zone area required minimum 4 LF and 5 Bantam if I ordered from MPC. However California Hatchery (a broker like MPC I believe) told me a minimum of 3 was okay and all 3 breeds could be different. However like you I can only have so many birds and I'm reserving my next additions of 2 Breda juvies (not chicks) for Spring 2015 if the CA breeder can ship juvies - so far they only ship eggs and of course I can't hatch a bundle of chicks when I'm zoned for only so many birds total and no roos allowed!! Since I'm limited to the number of birds I'm picky about what I get also. I'm not interested in the production birds at the feed store and the rarer breeds get snapped up fast hence the need to special order.

Here's wishing us both luck!

 

[nate1the1great1]

Ava is a boy and the other is a girl so good job u got a breeding pair and how i tell is bc the fan means girl cause its groomed back and the boys is crazy and weird so lol

 

[Twinklin]

You're lucky MPC required a minimum of 3. My zone area required minimum 4 LF and 5 Bantam if I ordered from MPC. However California Hatchery (a broker like MPC I believe) told me a minimum of 3 was okay and all 3 breeds could be different. However like you I can only have so many birds and I'm reserving my next additions of 2 Breda juvies (not chicks) for Spring 2015 if the CA breeder can ship juvies - so far they only ship eggs and of course I can't hatch a bundle of chicks when I'm zoned for only so many birds total and no roos allowed!! Since I'm limited to the number of birds I'm picky about what I get also. I'm not interested in the production birds at the feed store and the rarer breeds get snapped up fast hence the need to special order.

Here's wishing us both luck!

our limits are 3 LF and 5 bantams for MPC here. I looked up a zipcode near my mother in PA once and it was like a 15 chicken minimum so I'm glad I live where I do. I Wanted 8 chickens total and also reeeeaallly wanted one to be a silkie so because one was a bantam I had to order 4. I'm going to keep praying that Padme is a girl and hopefully I won't have to worry about acquiring any more chicks for a long time.

 

[flufssilkies]

so noticed this one has 5 toes!!!???

Silkies have five toes.

 

[Sylvester017]

our limits are 3 LF and 5 bantams for MPC here. I looked up a zipcode near my mother in PA once and it was like a 15 chicken minimum so I'm glad I live where I do. I Wanted 8 chickens total and also reeeeaallly wanted one to be a silkie so because one was a bantam I had to order 4. I'm going to keep praying that Padme is a girl and hopefully I won't have to worry about acquiring any more chicks for a long time.

We wanted pets with benefits (eggs) so spaced our hens' ages so they don't get old all in the same year. With untimely deaths and re-homing of a couple aggressive hens we have an assortment of ages. Next year we plan adding two more egg-laying rare breeds. From all I've researched the consensus is to add to the flock every 2 years to keep a supply of eggs. Even a very old hen can still pop out a couple eggs a month and still be a good fertilizer source and forager in the backyard. The main thing for us is to keep gentle under 5-lb breeds so we can enjoy them as pets when the eggs stop coming so often.

 

[sheeshshe]

My 5 year old hens are still laying every other day! Theyre a red sex link variety.

 

[Sylvester017]

My 5 year old hens are still laying every other day! Theyre a red sex link variety.

My friend had red sexlinks that she took in from someone who got bored with chickeneering. Two were laying well but one never layed and kept getting eggbound and died. Another died from unknown causes and one went sickly and died - all 3 were gone in the same year. Not knowing their ages we can't attest to their productivity or longevity but they seemed to be sweet natured.

In any event they were large birds and would not fit my guideline for gentle under 5-lb layers. As it is I have a 5-lb Ameraucana that stands tall and statuesque but she doesn't have a mean bone in her body. She avoids conflicts and lays huge eggs 5x/week average - sometimes more sometimes less but average 5x. Apparently Ameraucanas like Leghorns have a reputation for longevity in egg production probably because of being non-broody - although I have a Buff Leghorn that just came out of being broody - what's with that?

My friend also has an Ameraucana and 3 EEs and she says her girls are very sweet, non-political, prolific egg layers, and non-combative when new birds are added to the flock. In comparing notes we agreed that they were on the noisy side as they love to vocalize with each other and with you but generally they are picked on by other LF because of being non-political.