So, everyone talk about your Polish...

[warmfuzzies]

I jumped the gun, and just brought home six polish chicks. I never liked them before, but now I am SO excited!

We got them from my cousin who ordered an assortment. When my 4 yr old DD heard me talking about what kind they are, she said, "Oh! I saw them in a book! I remember that, huh Mama! They are the ones with all those feathers on their faces! They are like (strange face here), and they cant see where they are going!"

She just HAD to have some, so we ended up with golden, buff and black.

So I would LOVE to hear about the breed and see pictures, since for the first time I did NO research before picking them!

 

[tackyrama]

We had two polish chicks last year. One got killed by a dog but the other hen is still a part of our flock. She is a friendly bird and a very good egg layer. We have hatched quite a few of her chicks. She has kept all her feathers where all the other hens are more or less naked on the back from the roosters attentions. This year my wife ordered 25 golden laced polish. They are about 12 weeks old now. We call them the bobble heads. They are beautiful birds with a huge head of feathers. They tend to be nervous and scared most of the time. This is probably cuz they can't see much. They have to have their face about two inches from what they are eating.

I wouldn't have em but the DW just had to order them. Now she don't know what to do with them. Also I'm afraid they will freeze to death this winter.

 

[Emzyyy]

Their feathers limit their vision so they are easy to spook. They lay about 1 egg a day smallish and white but they are not reliable egg layers. Mine loves to sit on my lap and be petted. Their usually the birds to be at the bottom of the pecking order and picked on. The other chickens like to peck out their top hat.

 

[Sugar Sand Farm]

My daughter has several polish. She has white crested black,white crested blue,gold laced.she also has one white pullet and one black pullet. Then there are the 12 2 week olds in the brooder. She fell in love with the gold laced when she saw a picture of one on McMurray catalog. So we ordered some. Ours are in their own breeding pens so we do not worry about them being picked on. I find them alittle skittish. At least the golden girls.The roosters are very sweet. Here are a few of her pics.
goldilocks (7 month)

Ozzie her golden roo

Speckles

Lola

these were taken when they were between 7-8 months old they are 13 months now.

 

[ThePolishPrincess]

I love the breed.

I started out with one hen in my flock and she is just the sweetest thing. Her crest become huge in a very short amount of time, so we named her Patty Pom Pom. She is such a love.

Polish have to be exposed to the outdoor world very young so they can begin to see and interact in their environment. They do better in tight, dry coops but they are able to do well also in somewhat wet weather. You just have to keep an eye on them.

Hand-feeding is also VERY important. Because of the vision imparment, Polish need to get used to the hand that feeds them.

If they are kept with other breeds, they could lose quite a bit of crest feathering to peckers. Roosters submit more willingly to hens which is why more Polish roosters are more bald than hens in large groups. Patty only lost feathers when we had some very large RSL males who would grab onto her crest when mating. When we got rid of them, the feather-loss stopped and she grew them back.

Polish have a lot of personality. I trained my Patty to follow basic commands like 'come' and 'jump'. I don't care what they say, food is the way to a chicken's heart.

This year, I ordered 3 more Polish chicks. All were supposed to be hens but I'm pretty sure one was mis-sexed.

The chicks are more blind than Mrs. Pom Pom was and they'll need a bit TLC. It's a more skittish bunch, but I really love them.

Pics!

Patty:

Bridget: (pics taken today in rainy weather)

Polish can be very in-your-face chickens.

Edgar Allen Polish: (sexed as hen, we think otherwise)

Zuchinni: (she got the wettest of all)

Good luck with them!

 

[redhen]

Well.. hes very handsome. Dark hair and dreamy eyes. He's 38 years old. He can cook very well. Wait.. you meant chickens didnt ya?..woops.

 

[Ghostchick]

We have a 9 week old roo WC Black Polish. We LOVE him, his name is Elvis. He is totally at the bottom of the pecking order. The girls even scare him! He has been picked on and his top hat plucked. But he is so sweet. I usually have to spray Blu-Kote on his head and his top hat is purple, so he looks kind of cool. I have 19 chickens and a couple males and he developed his wattles first. We weren't supposed to get males from McMurray, but they can't be perfect I guess. Elvis was our free exotic. I think they are great!

I have a Polish husband also, he is great too! LOL

 

[Ghostchick]

Oh I forgot, here is a newer pic of Elvis. I had brought him in to show my son's 1st grade class, and they kind of adopted him as their mascot! He is with my 11 year old in this pic.

 

[becky3086]

I am working on getting some of each color, lol. I just love them. I have buff laced, splash, one blue, and in the brooder more buff laced and silver laced. I also have several mixed Polish chicks, just because I wanted to see what they would look like. I don't treat them any different from my other chickens.
I don't think I have any pictures of them as adults except the splash.

 

[lorrir]

I have 6 ordered for August when my peacocks are due. I can't wait, they are so cute.