polish

debbieo4914 · **Posted:** Sun Apr 13, 2008 5:02 pm

Houdans are similar to Polish and they have 5 toes.

greenaus · **Posted:** Sun Apr 13, 2008 10:40 pm

From my "Chat about my chickens" post...

[I did a Google search and of standardised breeds I] read..."No bird has more than four toes except chickens of the Dorking, Faverolle, Houden, Sultan, and Non-bearded Silkie Bantams, all of which have five toes"

I might have to check that, though. If true, only non-bearded Silkie bantams have five toes, not other Silkies.

joc1 · **Joined:** Sat Dec 22, 2007 5:31 pm **Posts:** 35

Silkies, both bearded and non bearded have 5 toes.

J

greenaus · **Posted:** Mon Apr 14, 2008 12:27 am

But not Polish it seems.

Speaking of Houdans, from the Crested Breeds Club of Australia
http://www.crestedbreeds.com/crested_breeds_houdan.html

"It is best not to breed with any birds that do not have good toes, aiming to only breed with birds that have a good fully separated fifth toe that is pointing up & away from the leg. We need to do this if we are to finally get away from the dreaded ‘four toe Houdan’ which has resulted from past breeding with polish."

Egglive · **Joined:** Fri Dec 14, 2007 10:58 am **Posts:** 267

I wonder if the dreaded five toed polish has resulted from breeding polish with Houdan.

Tahir · **Posted:** Mon Apr 14, 2008 5:56 am

Houdans are listed in the rare breeds of Australia. so it would be pretty cool if they were houdans :-D

Stt · **Joined:** Sun Aug 19, 2007 7:01 pm **Posts:** 3006

even if they were pure houdan the cock has 4 toes on 1 foot and five on the other and yes i would complian but it was at an auction,but the thing that annoyed me is that there was a hand written note on the cage stating that they were polish
thanks for all your help
stuart

debbieo4914 · **Posted:** Mon Apr 14, 2008 8:54 am

I have been talking to a breeder of Polish recently, and it seems they do a fair bit of outcrossing to improve the breed. Maybe the ones you bought are the result of some of that outcrossing. Which is fine, as long as they are sold as such (which it doesn't seem yours were!

).

It may be possible to breed back to type if you speak with someone experienced??????? I'm not sure, but it might be possible.

Deb

Lou · **Joined:** Mon Nov 19, 2007 11:12 am **Posts:** 387

Just spoke to a friend who bought polish a few weeks ago & he said his have 5 toes, :-?

if we had known we could have checked the ones at Gatton, they would have had the right amount :lol:

Lou · **Joined:** Mon Nov 19, 2007 11:12 am **Posts:** 387

Spoke to my friend again now his have lost toes & have 4 on each foot, I told him how clever they are, I thought he would be able to count by now :lol:

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