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Egg
The eggs are a white colour, but some can produce a slightly pale brown colour as well,
usually from the black feathered birds.
Example to the right, the top three eggs are slightly different colour.
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The Polish generally do not go broody, therefore if you wish to breed, you will have to either
purchase or make an incubator or use a breed of chicken that is broody.
To find a good breed that will go broody & make good mums, click here to go to the
Australian A-Z of Poultry
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Chick
0 - 2 months are classified as chicks.
In this period the chicks grow their first lot of feathers.
Females tend to feather
up quicker than males.
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You can easily distinguish a frizzle or a straight from approximately 2-3 weeks of
age when their wing feathers are really starting to grow, example is the picture, above right,
with a straight (in background) & frizzled chick (in foreground).
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Pullet & Cockerel
2 - 6 months
Generally this is where you start to get an idea on how many are boys & how many are girls.
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They tend to start to grow quite fast & once fully feathered, are ready to be
moved out of the brooders to warm outside pens.
Males will start to develop larger wattles
& their wattles & face will begin to darken up and become brighter red, whilst the
girls will stay pale until they are beginning to mature.
By 5 months of age the males saddle & neck hackles will be quite prominent, very
shiny & will be more obvious as they will have pointed ends, whereas the pullets feathers at
their saddle are rounded on the ends
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Hen & Rooster
To be called a hen or rooster, generally a hen is over one year old. A rooster at ?? age.
The hen in their second year of laying will be their best breeding
year in terms of quantity and quality of the eggs they produce.
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By now, they are fully grown, the males & females have their adult plumage & you can now
really select which ones to put into your breeding program. This is particularly the case for
the Laced varieties.
Polish can live for many years, some have been know to live past 10 years, with still
the odd egg being laid.
The males can be known for becoming aggressive towards people
once put into the breeding pens, this is another way I can select which ones to breed with
& which ones not to. It is believed that the male will play a significant part in the
temperament of their offspring & with this in mind, I never breed with nasty or
aggressive males.
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