Polish chickens: Should you raise them?

When I started raising chickens one of the first breeds I picked was the Polish chicken. I had decided to hatch the eggs myself and found a breeder online that shipped eggs. I hatched a few pure Polish and a few mixed with something else. I had those chickens for about a year before I completely gave up on that breed! Not gonna lie, they were kinda crazy!

I personally found this whole breed to be very flighty. I spend a lot of time socializing chicks when they're little and take time to visit them everyday and bring treats...I just never could get the polish to warm up to me! If you have a different experience I'd love to hear it down below in comments! 

Polish chickens and their crazy hair

I wanted to raise Polish chickens because they are so cool looking! The boys look crazy with their wild crests that flop around as they run and the girls just look so fancy to me! 

Polish chickens have one of the best head crests of all the chicken breeds! Once they start to grow out it's fairly easy to tell them apart as the males have pointed head feathers and the females head feathers tend to be rounded on the ends and form a sort of 'ball' on their heads.  

The polish chicken breed

Here are some interesting facts about Polish chickens:

• The Polish is a European breed of chickens known for their head crests.
• Their head crest can grow so large it impedes their vision.
• Nobody is real clear as to where they originated but it's believed that they came to America between 1830 & 1840.
• There is both standard and bantam size Polish chickens.
• There is both bearded variety and no beard.
• They have white earlobes.
• The rooster has a small V shaped comb and the hens have very small to no wattles.
• They do not have feathered legs or feet.
• The weight of a standard hen is 4 lb. and the rooster is 6lb.The weight of a bantam hen is 1.6 lb. and the rooster is 1.9 lb.
• Hens lay a medium to large sized white egg.
• The hens are rarely broody.
• The first colors of polish entered into the APA standards of perfection was the non-bearded white crested black, golden, silver & white followed by the bearded golden, bearded silver, bearded white, bearded buff laced, non-bearded buff laced & non-bearded white crested blue in future years.
• The hens lay about 150 eggs per year and back in the 1700s was used for egg production, but are now mainly an exhibition breed.
• They're supposed to have a mild temperament and be somewhat docile.

Some people refer to ornamental chickens such as these as 'lawn ornaments' and looking at the Polish breed I can certainly see why!

Now don't let the fact that I think they're flighty and a bit high strung deter you if you have your heart set on this breed! I know of several people who have raised very tame hens, so why not give them a chance? 

Related reading: Another fun ornamental breed you might want to raise is a Belgium booted bantam called the d'Uccle!

~L

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