We also have two Polish in with a rainbow flock, they were introduced at a young age and never really had problems-they're very fast. Now they're about at laying age and still don't get picked on very much, they avoid the more dominant flock members. Now that they're closer to laying one of the pullets is beginning to get an attitude and wants to challenge some of the other birds, I don't think ours are going to stay at the bottom of the pecking order, they'll probably be closer to middle.
@Magnolia7330 My Polish are the regular size ones and they are smaller than my other chickens. They get along well with my easter eggers and true Ameraucanas. I find that if they live with very docile breeds they do well. If you look at my pictures a few posts before this one you can see the black Ameraucana with my golden rooster. There is also a game bantam hen in that pen who gets along just fine too.
She's looking good!This is my Polish girl!
I've been trying the go-it-slow method too. Chicks were raised inside (no broody hens available
) up until 6wks old and too big for my office. Then they got moved to a segregated portion of the main coop, with visibility to the Big Girls, but no physical contact. One of the chicks got out a few days into this phase and was pretty badly mauled by the older hens, but I don't know which ones as i didn't see it happen. (She survived and is now back in with the other chicks after some recovery time back in my office) After almost 2 wks of the visible stage, we have started introductions outside with the little ones in a wire dog pen. Most of my flock is content to peck at the scratch alongside the chicks, but the Polish is more fixated on pecking the chicks through the wire than eating the scratch. I'm hoping that now that the Polish is FINALLY laying her own eggs, she will settle down. Mostly likely we will stretch the dog pen phase out a bit longer than a week before letting them all free range together.
