Saturday, September 19, 2009

Introducing...


Gabi


And Elspeth

Gabi and Elspeth are Scots Dumpies - one of the rarest breeds in the UK. Scots Dumpies originated in the Highlands and were thought to be extinct by the mid 1970s. Luckily, someone found a flock of these amazing birds in Zimbabwe and the breed is making a comeback.

They're really cute hens with short little legs. Gabi is a black variety with a beautiful green sheen to her feathers. Elspeth is a cuckoo. Both should lay a tinted cream-coloured egg.

They're already the best of friends, too!

13 comments:

Saara said...

Awww... look at those cutie pies! Fascinating to read about your hens. I never thought there are rare breeds of hens and other colors than white and brown in eggs until reading your blog!

madpiano said...

awww, this does make me wish we had less foxes here and that I could teach my cat not to chase the hens. I'd love to keep chicken in the garden. They are soo cute

Anonymous said...

I'm in love!! They're beautiful!

My exciting hen news is that one of our girls is broody. I hope she sticks with it and hatch out some chicks for us. :)

Happy weekend!

gracefruit said...

Hi Saara, Thank you! They are very sweet girls. Elspeth escaped today and was easily caught -- perhaps a benefit of short legs that can't run fast! :)

MP -- we have foxes around here, too. A good electric fence would solve your problem.

Teresa, I don't think I've ever congratulated anyone for having a broody hen, but yay! I hope you get lots of girls.

Anonymous said...

Thank you! LOL! Actually, dh is hoping for lots of boys because then we'll eat them. ;}

BTW, I forgot to tell you thanks for the little history on your hens' breed. I love reading stories of heritage breeds making a coming back!

macsoapy said...

I'm in love with them. (And a bit proud of GABI's name.)

Gabi

Michelle said...

Gorgeous! I'm loving their home too, bright and colorful!

gracefruit said...

Teresa, after learning a bit more about endangered breeds, we're going to keep them in our flock from now on. Finding them can be a challenge, though!

Gabi, they are sweet birds. Little Gabi is becoming more confident every day.

Hi Michelle! That's the little Eglu. They'll move over to the big hen house once the other hens have accepted them.

briallen said...

Must admit I'd never heard of Scots Dumpies - lovely chooks!

(you could take a look at Kintaline Poultry Farm - they're up near Oban and Jill knows a great deal about poultry breeds)

gracefruit said...

I wrote to Jill back when I first considered getting hens. She's lovely and super helpful!

Anonymous said...

May your heritage flock thrive and grow! :)

Bad news on our end: our broody hen decided not to do it this year and left the nest after 1 week...so we won't be getting little ones this time. Can't rely on nature taking its course sometimes. :}

gracefruit said...

Teresa, that's too bad. :( Do you have an incubator?

Anonymous said...

We've waffled on getting an incubator: on the one hand, it's so much more reliable; on the other hand, we like having a broody hen take care of the chicks and teach them how to forage and all that.

At this rate, though, we might just go for one. :}