Pet of the Month!
May:
Polish Crested Frizzle Flock!
This is my Polish Crested “Frizzle” flock. Polish Crested are one of the fancy breeds that I enjoy breeding, hatching and raising just for fun. Polish Crested hens do lay eggs, but not of the size/quantity that a “laying hen” does. I prefer to let my good Mama chickens hatch the chicks themselves in the spring and raise the chicks on their own. You can usually swap out the eggs you want to hatch once a hen goes broody. She will sit (incubate) on the fertilized eggs till they hatch and raise them up as her won. A lot less work for me. I have hatched and raised chicks without a mama in charge, but I’m not a chicken, and I think chickens raise chickens better than people. Adding the “Frizzle” is a new endeavor. What makes a chicken a Frizzle? Well, Frizzle chickens have a unique genetic component. Frizzle is not a breed but rather a feather type. They have an incomplete dominant gene (F) which causes the shaft of the feather to curl upward and outward rather than grow straight like normal chickens. A chicken only needs one copy of this gene to have frizzled feathers. Only about 25% of a hatch will turn out be a Frizzle, the others will have smooth feathers. You should never breed Frizzle to Frizzle or you could end up with a Frazzle (I did NOT make that up) which results in a chick with extremely fragile and likely painful feather breakage.
They usually do not survive. Not good. Don’t do it. You can breed a Frizzle rooster to a smooth feathered hen or a smooth feathered rooster to a Frizzle hen. You can breed a Frizzle with a smooth feather of any breed and end up various breeds and colors of Frizzles.
Names are: Tico, he’s the Rooster. Cza-Cza, Hen. Bougie, Hen. I bought Tico, Bougie and Cza-Cza from a fellow crazy chicken lady in Vancouver. Mizz Frizzle is my first mama hen hatched Frizzle. Amy is my smooth feather sliver laced Crested Polish, I hand raised her without a mama chicken.
