The "DOTS" News

The two 'flocks'...the rooster(?) is with the pullet flock on the left

For those of you new to this blog, I call my hens the DOTS. It started with my original Wyandotte hens since I didn't want to name individual hens because they are free range so there is danger of losing them to varmints. Then I painted the chicken coop with polka dots so all the hens are now known as The Dots!

Well, we either have a big boned hen with huge feet and a stately tail or a rooster keeping a low profile. No crowing, this one. S/He evidently took notice of what happened to the previous two roosters who were whisked away one day. (Traded to our friends who gave us the Rhode Island Reds, if you recall.) Both Mark and I think it is a rooster but we're waiting to see...don't want to be too judgemental if s/he just doesn't look so feminine. We're just looking for good layers no matter how they look.

This is a picture before we traded the 2 roosters

(the black & white barred birds). The third b/w barred

bird now in question is the one in the middle above.

I'm convinced it is a rooster...just waiting for the crow! 

The pullets should start to lay any day now. If there is only one chocolate brown egg then we know we have only one French Marans pullet left- and the rooster is outed. I found a source for French Marans in Lincoln so hope to add to the flock within a few weeks.

The hens are free range but before bedtime they

gather in the pen to get some last minute food, water

and scratch. They are in the Dot House by 9PM during

the summer and 8PM during the winter.