Polish Chicken

Polish Chicken is a European breed of crested chicken of uncertain precise origin, though birds of similar appearance appear in seventeenth century Italian and Dutch artwork, and one theory traces its crested ancestors to Central and Eastern Europe by way of medieval Mongol contact. Its defining feature is an abundant crest of feathers on the crown of the head, combined with a small v-shaped comb, and the breed is further divided into bearded, non-bearded and frizzled feather varieties. Three color varieties were included in the first edition of the American Poultry Association Standard of Perfection in 1874, with further varieties recognized through 1963, and in France the breed was historically valued as an egg layer, though today Polish Chicken is kept almost entirely as an ornamental and exhibition bird rather than for production.