The other day, I read someone refer to their chicken's seasonal time-off from egg laying as a sabbatical. This made me chuckle, because this is an excellent way to describe my White-Crested Black Polish hen, Dottie's, annual "time off". Beginning at the end of summer and running through part of the winter, she takes total egg-free sabbatical.
Since I tend to be a bit of an obsessive record keeper, I am able to look back on my calendar and see that Dottie's last egg was laid on September 9, 2009 (09/09/09 - do you think she chose this purposely?). Now it's 2010, we are well into mid February, and Dottie had yet to lay her first egg of the new year. Last year, she chose Inauguration Day, 1/20/09, to return to work. Well, finally, yesterday afternoon - after five months and one week - when I went into the coop, this is what I saw:
Good girl, Dot! Since she is the sole, white egg layer among my nine hens, I always know when Dottie lays:
1.6 ounces of Dottie joy:
She felt she deserved extra scratch last night and, of course, I complied:
Carry on, girls!
23 comments:
Haha, Sabbatical! That's great ;)
One of the two birds that we've had for 3 years now stopped laying completely after two years of laying...and then after about 8 months I cleaned the coop and she was literally so excited :P she lay again! She's the only white-egg layer, too, so I know it was her.
Good girl Dottie. And by the way your cousin Danni (Polish Lace) down here says howdy!
Dottie is an amazing looking chicken! I love her hat!
Way to go Dottie! You are such a regal lady with that beautiful headdress. Glad to learn you are back on the payroll.
Dottie has to be the most interesting, unique and gorgeous hen we've ever seen. She's amazing! Enjoy the 1.6 ounces of Dottie joy - she totally deserved that extra scratch!
What an ostentatious hat she wears!!
She looks ready for the Kentucky Derby.
She done good! Finally!!!
LOL I was going to ask how on earth you knew when Dottie layed and when she didn't since you have more than one hen LOL... white egg..got it...
Dottie is so pretty!!
we're proud of ya Dot, from way over here in North Carolina
What a perfectly beautiful white egg. Thanks, Dottie, for getting back into the swing of things around Critter Farm!
i love dottie's hat. it makes me smile.
Great work Dottie! Keep it up!
Howdy from Texas! I found your blog this evening, and since I love all things farmy, have been doing some reading. I got as far back as Herb Alpert & Tijuana Brass! They were regulars in our house, too, along with the Baja Marimba Band and Glen Campbell! How funny - I haven't heard them in years, but it all comes back! Thanks for the memory! Come by for a visit sometime!
Wishing I knew who laid what and who did'nt!
With softshells and such a drastic drop in eggs I am at my wits end with my girls.
They 14 of them are lucky to give me 3 or 4 eggs a day these days!
Your little crested gal is rather clever and back in buisness I would say:)
dottie..you are gorgeous. you should be hatching eggs and creating more beauties!!!
Yay Dotty! I do love her crest - each time I see a Polish I'm reminded of my childhood in the south, and my grandmother's Sunday morning hats. It makes me smile!
Lucky Danni!!
I'm only 15 weeks away from fresh eggs myself.
If one of my 5+ year old hens lays an egg this spring, I don't think I'll know what to do with it.
She has a certain, erm, look going on under her hat.
What a cute chicken! And so reliable.
Yay Dottie! I love finding eggs from dottie when Im there to visit. In fact, Im pretty certain that she laid that egg for me on Inauguration day....I mean I was there after all...and thats got to be just about as important as the president. :-)
Im very happy to see that she getting her feathers back. She looks so pretty with a full head of feathers.
Love the picture of Dottie, I just gave a friend of mine 2 hens just like her. They just recently bought a farm and I knew they would be going to a good home.
You go girl! Yay Dottie!
We have a little pekin hen who also takes a little time off laying during the winter months. I think of it as spring arriving when she returns to laying. Mind you, she is getting on a bit now, so I'm not sure how many eggs she will give us this year.
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