Opinions of Polish?

[Bantimna]

Even though I won't be able to be a keeper of chickens for a few months, I'm still pondering of which breed suits me best.
I decided on the Polish though there are so many wide opinions of Polish, I'm not sure if they are really the best breed for my situations.

My questions are,

1) What has been your positive and negative experiences of Polish bantam or standard?
2) Egg laying. Have you Polish been large egg layers? Or have they performed pittyful?
3) Consumption of feed. This ranges from owner to owner, though are your Polish scoffers or suitable to eat at the Queen's table?
4) Noisiness. How have their (your Polish) noise levels?
5) Personality. Docile and gentle or skittish and aggressive? What have you experienced with your birds?
6) Health. How have your Polish handled mites, fleas, molt, or any other disease that you have experienced?
7) Confinement. Do your Polish handle confinement well?

Many Thanks!
Bantimna

 

[calicokat]

Gosh, don't get me started on Polish!

We have enjoyed our polish and that is the breed we are going to focus on for our breeding projects and showing. We have 4 bantum (1 year old), 1 standard (2.5 years old), and 10 chicks (half large fowl, half bantum.) The flock hangs out together and there have been no problems with that as far as the laying hens picking at the crests of the polish.

The polish hens lay like clockwork for me. Generally if they aren't laying, it's a sign of worms or some other thing I need to treat them for. They were even pretty good laying over winter, with no extra light in the coop. The egg isn't large, but more of a medium size, white and oblong.

I haven't noticed them to be picky eaters. I switched the feed to a 22% protein (chick feed) in the last month on the recommendation of a breeder. The higher protien should be good for their feathers, help them be in good condition for showing.

Yeah, my polish are noisy. But I love it! They are chatterers and at least in my flock, it's the blue and white that talk the most. They're not loud, but they do talk. I enjoy talking to/with them though, so this isn't a negative for me.

I find our birds to be gentle. They are skittish when first approached or picked up some times, if you startle them. But once they know it's mom, they settle down and enjoy a cuddle or rub. They do tend to be the first ones to respond to my voice and come runnning. But I really work on getting them to come to my voice - we've had some that would wander off when free ranging and calling for them as we searched was helpful. One would always keep walking, just *sure* that she was on the right track. We've had to go pretty far to find her before. Usually if I'm calling her and she hears me, she'll start calling for me too - then I can track her down. Her sister would realize she was lost and just sit down wherever she was (in the middle of the neighbor's field once, like a huge white golf ball in a field of green!) waiting on me to come find her, LOL!

Health-wise, they've been just about the same as the rest of my flock. Because one of the bantums was really small, and I didn't realize they had lice, we lost her. But the others were treated and have bounced back just fine. We've also wormed them with no problem.

I don't think they have any more problem with confinement than others. We have a nice coop and run, but we also let them free range most days. I do worry more about them free ranging since predators can sneak up on them more easily due to their restricted vision from the crests. We've lost one large fowl to a predator (racoon, or such), 2 chicks to neighbor dogs, and 2 bantums that it looked like a cat got. They are in the coop/run most of winter and do fine.

All in all, I would recommend this breed, but I'm a little partial to them as my favorties already

This is the batch of chicks for this spring on their first day outside being watched by Phyllis Diller, one of last year's chicks.

 

[chickenman98]

I had 1 Splash polish hen named Polly. When we first got her she followed me everywhere. She layed good too. But if you live somewhere where predators are a problem I wouldn't get polish. Polly died on December 30, 2010 because something got her

 

[Dar]

we love out polish... the roosters we have had crow in such a unique way.. we named our first one kazooee from the video game banjo and kazooee..

our hens are well... hens... I like the roos better...

average layers.. average size.. nothing special

my DD can handle them all but thats because she has done it since they were day old chicks

noise.. not to bad I find.. my EE roo is 10X louder

diseases, parasites: not any more then the others

hardy during the Canadian winter

handles confinement as well as my other "mutt" chickens.. no issues.

 

[RhodeRunner]

1) To be honest I really didn't like them. I will never intentionally buy one again.
2) Medium sized layers, very poor layers practically nothing was laid.
3) They didn't eat that much, compared to a RIR.
4) Pretty quite.
5) Hens wanted nothing to do with people (I got them as adults though), and the rooster was extremely aggressive (a lady dropped him off at my house for that reason)
6) Health was fine
7)Yes, in fact I suggest you do confine them. My Polish were as dumb as rocks and could not even find the way to their coop at night. The other chickens also hated them, and were really mean to them. I never saw anything like it, and I always had a peaceful free-range flock with a bit of everything.

 

[CrestedGirl]

They are high maintenence birds, if you put them with other breeds those breeds will peck at their head and draw blood. They are poor egg layers. The roosters that i have are agressive, but some of them are ok. The hens are the cutest things, very gentle. My polish roos are quite noisy. Since the polish have feathers on their heads, they can get mites up their and not be able to reach them. You would need to spray their feathers on their heads.

 

[Scoop]

I had a Polish roo and hen. The rooster was very aggressive but the hen was the most gentle and sweet chicken anywhere. She would follow me everywhere. She laid medium sized white eggs. I would highly recommend the hens at least. She was killed by a predator in 2009.

Here she is sitting on a book!

RIP Downy!

 

[josh44]

Polish are a fun breed

They come in many color varieties.

They require more care than most breeds of chickens & would not recomend them be mixed with other non crested breeds.
Polish tend to be at the bottom of the pecking order & are usually bullied in a mixed flock.

 

[Dar]

Quote:
not always true... my polish were never high maintenance ... and my other chickens could not care less about the fluff on their heads... I have silkies too so maybe thats why.

 

[Illia]

As said above, but with some differences. My Polish are in a huge mixed flock of more than 6 different breeds, huge and small, and do not get picked on. If you take care of them like you should any other breed, they'll do just fine. Although many hatchery based Polish roosters can be aggressive, my Tolbunt boys are not, they're teddy bears. The girls are very sweet, though a few hatchery girls are skittish. They're very good, dependable layers except from mid fall to early spring, they're very hardy, they're also very "tough" and won't take no for an answer. I know people complain about their Polish being picked on, but mine sure don't have that problem!

Even my latest additions, two Gold Laced hens - They're the only birds I've added to this flock as adults who aren't getting chased.

I think Polish are just great. They're my second favorite breed. They come in some gorgeous colors, they lay the increasingly rare white color of egg, they're excellent foragers, I've even had two girls lost deep in the forest for 2 weeks out there, then return alive. And they're fully crested WCB's, who get BIG crests.