Fluff and Warmth... welcoming our Polish chicks

I don't remember a lot during my childhood, but I know that it was a happy one. I remember the time I portrayed the Little Red Hen during our pre-school play when I studied at the St. Therese Little Flower Pre-school.

Another fond childhood memory was when we vacationed at our Marinduque farm and I found a little chick being pecked at by a hen, perhaps not recognizing it to be its own. I rescued the chick and nursed it to life, painstakingly feeding it with grains of rice and insulating it to revive it. I was ecstatic to realize that it was actually becoming better after several days...

..... Until my baby sister came and stepped on it! My beloved pet chick was beyond saving. I could not forgive her for squishing my chick and cried about it for a long time.

But yesterday, we celebrated with the arrival of our two Polish chicks, which hatched yesterday, February 12, 2014. Just imagine how these were two tiny eggs back in January 20 when I got them at the World Gamefowl Expo at the World Trade Center. It was nothing short of a miracle and my 4-year old son was simply so thrilled to have two pet chicks to care for. I cannot say that chickens are my most favorite animals, but they surely hold a special place in my heart.

Above shows my son and I looking thrilled with the Baby Polish chickens! One was pure yellow, which will grow up to be pure white, while the bigger one was black and white. We chose to name the white one SNOW, while the bigger one will be called POLY.   

The name POLY didn't come from it being a Polish Chicken, but from the fact that it was a POLYDACTYLY. This was derived from Greek words πολύς (polys), meaning "many" and δάκτυλος (daktylos), meaning "finger) . 

If you see the photo above, POLY has 5 fingers on each leg, instead of just 4. This was just another miracle for us! Having a polydactyly is considered to be a lucky omen. 

These Polish chickens seem to be related to the Silkies, a breed of chicken with very soft feathers, likened to fur. They look very fluffy all over, whereas the Polish chickens only have fluffy crests. Below is a photo of my son, Godric Matthew, carrying a Polish Chicken for the very first time. This Polish rooster is the father of our yellow chick... 

To end this post, I would like to share a funny comment my friend and colleague told me when she learned how my son and I are into chickens, much to the delight of my dad, an aspiring game fowl breeder: 

"Why can't you be a normal mom and just get your son a puppy?!??!" 

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