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

[jenniferlamar70]

That's what I was thinking would be the case. Thanks for the reply.

Welcome

 

[OneMountainAcres]

I am new to chickens and am in the process of planning my first flock for spring. Our city limits the number to 6 hens. I already plan to order a Welsummer, Australorp, Easter Egger, and Meyer Meal Maker. If I wanted to order a polish hen would it be better to order two (to prevent it from getting picked on) or would one be okay? Thanks for your help!

If you have a large run for them or plan to free range, you should be fine. Right now, I have a lone polish roo in a flock of about 40 (including about 6 other roosters) and he's been perfectly fine. I've actualy never seen him get picked on or at.

 

[maran man]

Hello I have a color question. My gold laced rooster got loss and with my blue and splash hens. I lost my blue rooster so hes the only one that's been with them. If I hatch them out any idea what colors I might get???

 

[Sylvester017]

I am new to chickens and am in the process of planning my first flock for spring. Our city limits the number to 6 hens. I already plan to order a Welsummer, Australorp, Easter Egger, and Meyer Meal Maker. If I wanted to order a polish hen would it be better to order two (to prevent it from getting picked on) or would one be okay? Thanks for your help!

Getting 2 Polish will double your problems. Polish hens are smaller than Wellies, 'Lorps, or meat birds and with a small flock the tendencies increase for the docile crested/muffed/bearded breeds to get pecked or feather-picked by the more assertive production breeds. It's never worked in my small backyard to mix dual purpose birds with docile breeds. Even if they are all chicks at the same hatch my smaller docile chicks got picked on by the large fowl chicks in the same hatch. With a small flock (I'm allowed 5 hens/no roos) it's better to keep the birds in the same classification -- all my birds are smaller (4 lbs & under) and docile breeds. If you want just eggs then stick with the larger production breeds -- they can sometimes make great pets too. We found Ameraucanas and Easter Eggers a bit too docile/timid to keep in a layer flock and found them more compatible around our docile/timid breeds -- wonderful temperaments and non-combative but I would keep two of them together rather than just one in a production flock. For one thing the two timid EEs can hang out togethr, plus they are not prolific layers so two birds would assure more blue-green eggs while the other production breeds are cranking out their eggs. JMHO

 

[Magnolia7330]

Getting 2 Polish will double your problems. Polish hens are smaller than Wellies, 'Lorps, or meat birds and with a small flock the tendencies increase for the docile crested/muffed/bearded breeds to get pecked or feather-picked by the more assertive production breeds. It's never worked in my small backyard to mix dual purpose birds with docile breeds. Even if they are all chicks at the same hatch my smaller docile chicks got picked on by the large fowl chicks in the same hatch. With a small flock (I'm allowed 5 hens/no roos) it's better to keep the birds in the same classification -- all my birds are smaller (4 lbs & under) and docile breeds. If you want just eggs then stick with the larger production breeds -- they can sometimes make great pets too. We found Ameraucanas and Easter Eggers a bit too docile/timid to keep in a layer flock and found them more compatible around our docile/timid breeds -- wonderful temperaments and non-combative but I would keep two of them together rather than just one in a production flock. For one thing the two timid EEs can hang out togethr, plus they are not prolific layers so two birds would assure more blue-green eggs while the other production breeds are cranking out their eggs. JMHO

Thank you for the feedback. This was very helpful. I'm trying to get a diverse flock, but don't want to purchase a bird who may end up getting tormented uneccessarily. Having not owned chickens before, I'm trying to learn as much as possible beforehand to minimize any issues later. I have time to plan, so I'm trying to take advantage of that. Of course I want them NOW and it's hard to shorten my list, but there are several different types I'm interested in. I will be happy to have any of them.

 

[Annika2a]

Jimi and Tina

 

[Sylvester017]

Thank you for the feedback. This was very helpful. I'm trying to get a diverse flock, but don't want to purchase a bird who may end up getting tormented uneccessarily. Having not owned chickens before, I'm trying to learn as much as possible beforehand to minimize any issues later. I have time to plan, so I'm trying to take advantage of that. Of course I want them NOW and it's hard to shorten my list, but there are several different types I'm interested in. I will be happy to have any of them.

There are so many breeds to choose from and I had over 50 breeds on my initial chicken list LOL! I grew up on a farm and missed livestock but can't have them in our current suburban yard except for 5 hens/no roos. So I decided on two Silkies as pets but against good advice from others started to add larger production breeds. Well, I cycled through 14 chickens in 5 years to get down to the compatible non-combative 4 hens we have now -- 2 Silkies and 2 Breda and our 3-yr-old Ameraucana recently died. One of my original Silkies was a roo and had to be replaced, then I had some assertive Leghorns and bully Marans that had to be re-homed, then went through some Blue Wheaten Ameraucanas and a Blue Ameraucana (all too timid and delicate and died in our humid climate), lost a Dominique to a seizure before POL, had to re-home a couple unwanted cockerels, and finally found a non-combative, good layer in the Breda breed. I had to make up my mind whether I wanted froo-froo docile breeds or the more assertive production breeds in my flock -- since DH loves his Silkies we went with docile lighter-weight breeds for the backyard. For a smaller docile bird we have been pleasantly surprised with the prolific egg production of the Breda. If you are in the research stage to narrow your chicken list, read on every breed page about the general temperament of the breeds, i.e., Leghorns are spritely and assertive, EEs are jittery, Wyans have a tendency toward domination, Faverolles are timid, etc. I always thought MyPetChicken's website had a nice synopsis of chicken breed descriptions and temperaments. You can't judge each individual chicken as always fitting the general reputation of the breed but it gives a good guideline of which breeds are better together in a flock and which breeds might be too timid to keep in a production flock. For my docile flock I've chosen 5-lb-&-under breeds only.

 

[katatonic123]

My little polish hen is missing!

 

[Sylvester017]

My little polish hen is missing!

Free-ranging? Or how?

 

[katatonic123]

Yes, let them out about 5:30. Went to close the run about 7:30 and she wasn't in the coop. Can't find her anywhere.

Free-ranging? Or how?