Question about polish chickens

[GaNewChick]

I have a polish rooster that grew up with my sex links...they turned out to be much larger than him. They constantly pecked at the top of his head resulting in a bald spot, and send him squeeling in pain. I had to move him out.

 

[Nostalchic]

I also have a beautiful white crested black Polish rooster, the "free exotic" sent with my mixed group of pullets, all together since shipped out on day of hatch. At about 10 weeks the pullets started picking at his head, and really bloodied the poor boy. I cleaned him up and put some antibiotic ointment on his head, tied his crest feathers into a top knot with tiny horse-braiding rubber bands. I have had to shampoo him about 3 times (with baby shampoo) and fix his hair-do, also tried putting some "Rooster Booster" on his head (anti-picking remedy available oneline). This has worked well for me. He's starting to exert his masculine authority now at 18 weeks, and perhaps will be able to go au naturale in the future... not sure. When I first posted about this, I read lots and lots of postings about the problem with mixing Polish with others. Even when they have lots of room.

 

[muell112]

I have 3 polish roosters. The dominant one gets his head picked by someone - haven't ever seen it happen. I got "hot pick", a spicy spray and have been spraying it on the bald spot. The feathers are coming back in. Also tried tying it in a pony tail but it popped out - I think it could work if I got a tighter rubber band.

 

[Nostalchic]

Hey muell112, that EXACTLY the look my Puff is sporting at present. You know the little tiny rubber bands that are used for braiding horses' manes (you can get them at tack stores, some feed stores that have lots of horse stuff) and a couple of those in there hold his top-knot for several weeks.

 

[Chickie'sMoma]

same issue with my cockerel. some one started picking at his crest but i have a clue who it might be. a little hen who has been head bopping everyone that gets in front of her beak when she wants to feed in 'that spot'. i have yet to see her pluck anyone's feathers in front of me.

it seemed to start happening when the crest was filling out and he was really showing that he was a male. feathers are all growing back nicely now.

my little cutie 'Bon Scott' in the middle before he got plucked by the white hen 'Sweetie' off to the left.

 

[Equus5O]

I introduced 2 Polish hens to the flock in July. They were flighty, and they were harassed, but none of the flock pecked at their crests. So far, so good ...

I saw a question a few days ago about Polish flying. I've noticed mine are much better fliers than the rest of the flock (RIR and Leghorn mixes). The Polish fly further and higher than the others.

 

[Chickie'sMoma]

yep, very good flyers!

when i had my Chickie (bantam) upstairs in his cage and i had the cover off, he would fly to me every time he heard me with the plastic bag of american cheese. i had been keeping him in the house for awhile since i can't keep the loud roosters outside. i kept joking that he's just a loud parrot!

Bon flies to the rafters in my coop for the night. now everyone else likes to sit up there because he started it. he flies straight up while everyone else has to take the shelves and the nesting box to get high enough.

 

[tnchickfarm]

What is Blue-kote? I have a black polish rooster with a white head. He is with 15 hens and he seems to be at or near the top of the pecking order but he keeps getting his head feathers pecked. I have tried grease and Noxzema but just as the feathers start growing back they just get pecked out again. I think this happening when the chickens are roosting because I have not observed the behavior.
Quote:
Try some blue kote on the pecked spot. It helps them heal faster and it seems to really deter the other birds. I had one set of toes that were always getting pecked (they all hatched at the same time but everyone went after this poor guys feet, even tho they all had the same looking feet)
and then I had another who was getting his tail feathers picked at (when he just started feathering out) so they each got painted with a little Blue-kote and neither have been picked at since.

Good luck

 

[kikster]

It's been true for us. Our Polish is one of the older hens, and she still still gets picked on. She's also the second biggest (next to our Buff Orp) the only others that are her age or older are bantams.

Here you can see the damage done from the back...

My son has taken pity on her though, and takes her out of the run to give her a little extra loving and spoiling, and it seems to be bringing her out of her shell. We've noticed more that she seems to be fighting back finally.

Here she is sleeping in his lap

 

[darcy00000]

We have 5 polish along with some rhode islands, cochins and a few other breeds. They don't peck them, but they are at the bottom of the pecking order for sure. All were raised together from the same age though.
I probably would avoid introducing polish to an established flock. It is likely they will pick on them.