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

[Fizzybelle]

Well, my black/golden polish got attacked. I feared I would lose it but I treated its wound (on top of head) and guess what.... the pretty black feathers grew back solid WHITE!!!
Has anyone else had this happen???

Plus. At what age do they usually start laying???

I've had this happen with a cat before, not chicken though. The dark brown fur on his arms were shaved before we had him desexed, and the fur grew back white and stayed like that his whole life. Just one of those weird things.


General question here, temperament wise, are Polish similar to Houdans? I'm trying to decide on a new chicken to add to my flock and I like the Houdans, but I'm also wondering about Polish as well. All my other girls are very friendly/cuddly towards me, I want that to continue. Also, if their wings are trimmed, are they still much in the way of being escape artists? Thank you

 

[jenniferlamar70]

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.

X2

My little polish hen is missing!

Did you check in the trees? That's where I always find mine when they go missing..

 

[TJordan]

I've had this happen with a cat before, not chicken though. The dark brown fur on his arms were shaved before we had him desexed, and the fur grew back white and stayed like that his whole life. Just one of those weird things.


General question here, temperament wise, are Polish similar to Houdans? I'm trying to decide on a new chicken to add to my flock and I like the Houdans, but I'm also wondering about Polish as well. All my other girls are very friendly/cuddly towards me, I want that to continue. Also, if their wings are trimmed, are they still much in the way of being escape artists? Thank you

This is the first I've had them personally. I do have one girl that lets me walk right up to her, pet her. Pick her up and such. If I don't pay her attention she pecks my shoe until I do

 

[Sylvester017]

I've had this happen with a cat before, not chicken though. The dark brown fur on his arms were shaved before we had him desexed, and the fur grew back white and stayed like that his whole life. Just one of those weird things.


General question here, temperament wise, are Polish similar to Houdans? I'm trying to decide on a new chicken to add to my flock and I like the Houdans, but I'm also wondering about Polish as well. All my other girls are very friendly/cuddly towards me, I want that to continue. Also, if their wings are trimmed, are they still much in the way of being escape artists? Thank you

The Polish and Houdan are both gentle natured. Polish are smaller where Houdan are a regular sized chicken and probably a better match with other full-sized breeds. I believe Houdan have 5 toes. I considered Polish or Houdan at one time to put with my Silkies but I thought that was just too many crests to manage LOL! I decided instead to go with lighter-weight docile feather-legged Breda to add to the Silkies so not all the breeds were crested.

CUCKOO BREDA


TWO SILLY SILKIES IN MOLT


BLUE BREDA

 

[Fizzybelle]

TJordan, hehe one of my girls does that to my other family members occasionally, I think toes look like fat tasty grubs.

Sylvester017 I love your girls, all very beautiful Thanks for that, good to know both are gentle natured breeds. I like that the Polish come in a lot more colours than Houdans though, but personality is usually the clinching factor for me, so I will be now be mindful of both when selecting a new bird in the future. Size isn't too much of a concern, as long as they don't end up larger than my 2 hybrid layers (my hybrid Australorp is my largest bird). I also have a D'uccle too, so if they were on the smaller side, they'd still have someone to bond with. I don't have any crests in my flock at the moment, but I empathize as for me it's dealing with feathered feet (especially after it rains and they purposely play in the mud).

 

[Sylvester017]

TJordan, hehe one of my girls does that to my other family members occasionally, I think toes look like fat tasty grubs.

Sylvester017 I love your girls, all very beautiful Thanks for that, good to know both are gentle natured breeds. I like that the Polish come in a lot more colours than Houdans though, but personality is usually the clinching factor for me, so I will be now be mindful of both when selecting a new bird in the future. Size isn't too much of a concern, as long as they don't end up larger than my 2 hybrid layers (my hybrid Australorp is my largest bird). I also have a D'uccle too, so if they were on the smaller side, they'd still have someone to bond with. I don't have any crests in my flock at the moment, but I empathize as for me it's dealing with feathered feet (especially after it rains and they purposely play in the mud).

I like when the avatar/profile posts what location or state BYCers are from so we can appropriately recommend breeds. Because in snowy, rainy, or muddy conditions I would never have recommend feather-footed breeds. We have a hot dry drought-ridden SoCalif so the feather-footed breeds do well for us. Likewise I wouldn't recommend crested Silkies since thin no-barbicel feathered Silkies are not the best in muddy environments and can get chilled to the skin in rain/snow without the hard feathers like other regular breeds. I think Polish and Houdan are both great birds or I wouldn't have considered them -- in my case I was trying to avoid having all-crested breeds and wanted a bit more variety. The lightweight Breda for us is one weird but sweet docile breed with no comb (just a triangle tassle of feathers where a comb should be), large cavernous nostrils, long vulture hocks, and feathered feet, plus there are several colors to choose from - a perfect bird for our hot SoCal climate but would not recommend for muddy environments. Post pics of your Polish or Houdan when you get them! Don't be surprised if your hybrid 'Lorps eventually turn assertive toward your littles when the Lorps mature at 2 or 3 yrs. I had to re-home my Marans and Leghorns between 1 and 3 yrs old because they were too domineering toward our Silkies.

 

[Fizzybelle]

I like when the avatar/profile posts what location or state BYCers are from so we can appropriately recommend breeds. Because in snowy, rainy, or muddy conditions I would never have recommend feather-footed breeds. We have a hot dry drought-ridden SoCalif so the feather-footed breeds do well for us. Likewise I wouldn't recommend crested Silkies since thin no-barbicel feathered Silkies are not the best in muddy environments and can get chilled to the skin in rain/snow without the hard feathers like other regular breeds. I think Polish and Houdan are both great birds or I wouldn't have considered them -- in my case I was trying to avoid having all-crested breeds and wanted a bit more variety. The lightweight Breda for us is one weird but sweet docile breed with no comb (just a triangle tassle of feathers where a comb should be), large cavernous nostrils, long vulture hocks, and feathered feet, plus there are several colors to choose from - a perfect bird for our hot SoCal climate but would not recommend for muddy environments. Post pics of your Polish or Houdan when you get them! Don't be surprised if your hybrid 'Lorps eventually turn assertive toward your littles when the Lorps mature at 2 or 3 yrs. I had to re-home my Marans and Leghorns between 1 and 3 yrs old because they were too domineering toward our Silkies.

I'm actually in Australia, just come out of winter. Most of the time it's hot and dry, (no snow ever where I am) just we've had some unusually heavy winter rains and I don't like my girls to go to bed wet when it's cold, so all of them get dried with a hair dryer. Just the ones with foot feathers take longer as they all like to play in the muddy areas of the pen and yard. I like variety too, my flock is mixed and all get on fairly well. My Australorp hybrid is actually my alpha hen, but is a very calm natured bird who gets on well with everyone in the flock (cept when really good food is up for grabs). No signs to indicate otherwise just yet thankfully.

I will take loads of pics when I get my newest flock member! Might be a month off yet, we need to finish a coop first. But I've definitely made up my mind for sure to get either a Polish or Houdan, frizzle if I can find one. I like that there are more official colour choices with the Polish variety than Houdan, but both seem like fantastic choices.

 

[Sylvester017]

I'm actually in Australia, just come out of winter. Most of the time it's hot and dry, (no snow ever where I am) just we've had some unusually heavy winter rains and I don't like my girls to go to bed wet when it's cold, so all of them get dried with a hair dryer. Just the ones with foot feathers take longer as they all like to play in the muddy areas of the pen and yard. I like variety too, my flock is mixed and all get on fairly well. My Australorp hybrid is actually my alpha hen, but is a very calm natured bird who gets on well with everyone in the flock (cept when really good food is up for grabs). No signs to indicate otherwise just yet thankfully.

I will take loads of pics when I get my newest flock member! Might be a month off yet, we need to finish a coop first. But I've definitely made up my mind for sure to get either a Polish or Houdan, frizzle if I can find one. I like that there are more official colour choices with the Polish variety than Houdan, but both seem like fantastic choices.

Yep, I think the cold stormy muddy days are the worst for chickens. I don't like letting any of them out of the pen in that weather. Sprinkling intermittent rain with no wind or cold temps is alright but even then - like you - I'll blow dry them to not to go to roost wet. Most of the birds have the good sense to stay out of inclement weather but some are dopey enough to get chilled to the bone! I have 5 large doghouses and plank shelters around the yard so the birds have a place to hide/snooze mid-day from sun or rain when they don't want to use the coop for shelter. What surprised us is that they never layed an egg in the houses - only used the coop nestboxes.

 

[Fizzybelle]

Sylvester017 The dog houses are really good idea for shelter, I like that. Never hurts to have extra spots for them to hide around the yard in. I'd definitely end up with eggs in them if I used them though, my girls like to play musical nests.

 

[Sylvester017]

Sylvester017 The dog houses are really good idea for shelter, I like that. Never hurts to have extra spots for them to hide around the yard in. I'd definitely end up with eggs in them if I used them though, my girls like to play musical nests.

I didn't think the doghouses would work either. I thought with the first house we put in the yard that we'd start finding eggs in them. But not once in 5 years have we ever had an egg in a doghouse. We found a couple soft shells on the sidewalk and once my DH locked the chicken coop so a Silkie found some tall weeds to lay her little egg but never used any doghouse - the backyard breeds we've cycled through are Blue Wheaten Ameraucana, Blue Ameraucana, Black Silkie, Blue Breda, Buff Leghorn, Cuckoo Breda, Cuckoo Marans, Dominique, Partridge Silkie, and White Leghorn. We figured there was too much traffic in the doghouses being used daily that no hen felt secluded enough to start laying a nest in any of them. It really surprised us to never find an egg in any of them. You can try one doghouse first like we did and see if it gets used for eggs or not. You might be surprised like us! One time we had a hen that got locked out of the coop for the night and we finally found her sleeping at the far rear corner in a doghouse - glad we had some straw in it to keep her warm. DH felt bad not doing a head count before locking the coop but glad we had the doghouse as an alternative.