Your opinion on mix of breeds

[adstowe]

I have only had one polish. He was a bantam roo. While he didn't get picked on, the hens would pluck feathers from his head. His little 80's rocker hairdo was just too interesting for them to ignore. I ended up having to give him to a friend for his own well being. I'd recommend trying to talk her into something else. Having option B is better then letting her get option A and then having to try and convince her to get rid of it.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

I don't think you'll have many problems, as long as it's not a flock of all one kind with only one loner. If you're really concerned, what about a second Polish? That way there is another unusual chicken to take some of the pestering if the other chickens do get particular.

Polish hens and roos have a feather crest on top of their heads that partly obscures their eyesight and this lack of peripheral vision often results in Polish chickens blundering into the personal space of stronger or larger chickens or else not seeing the higher ranking birds approaching until it is to late to avoid a savage attack. It is much easier to prevent the first attack than it is to stop attacks once they begin.

Just remember that these chickens will belong to you so do with them as you or your family sees fit but do make an honest effort to understand chickens and remember that chickens are in no way pretty feathered butterflies or else 2 legged unicorns. There is a potentially vicious meat eating dinosaur hiding under those pretty feathers.

Hen only flocks are much more prone to fighting and squabbling than flocks with a mature rooster because the rooster sees any aggression among the hens as a potential direct attack on his place in the pecking order and a mature rooster will be quick to put squabbling hens in their place because of this. It's like a mature rooster reserves the right to be the only flock member who is allowed to fight.