Scots Dumpy facts for kids
The Scots Dumpy is a special type of Chicken that comes from Scotland. What makes it super unique are its very short legs! They are so short that the chicken's body is only a few centimeters off the ground. Because of these short legs, the Scots Dumpy is sometimes called a "creeper chicken." This special leg length is caused by a natural genetic trait.
Dumpies at the Metropolitan Poultry Show in Baker Street, London, Christmas 1852; wood engraving from: William Wingfield, The Poultry Book, 1853
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| Conservation status |
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|---|---|
| Other names |
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| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Standard | PCGB |
| Use |
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| Traits | |
| Weight |
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| Egg colour | white or cream-coloured |
| Classification | |
| EE | not recognised |
| PCGB | soft feather: light |
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This breed has been known by several other names too, like Bakie, Corlaigh, Crawler, Creeper, and Stumpy. You can find Scots Dumpies in two sizes: a regular, standard size and a smaller "bantam" size. It is one of only two chicken breeds that originally came from Scotland.
History of the Scots Dumpy
The Scots Dumpy is a very old breed from Scotland. Chickens with short legs have been living there for over 200 years! In the mid-1800s, some of these unique chickens were brought to England. They were first shown to the public at a big poultry exhibition in London in 1852.
Later, the Scots Dumpy became one of the rarest chicken breeds in Britain. By 1975, it was very hard to find any left in Scotland. Luckily, two years later, about a dozen Scots Dumpies were brought back from Kenya. These chickens were descendants of a small group taken to Kenya way back in 1902. These few chickens helped to bring the breed back from the edge of disappearing!
In 2009, a group called the Rare Breeds Survival Trust listed the Scots Dumpy as "at risk." This means there were still concerns about how many of them were left.
What Scots Dumpies Look Like
Scots Dumpies don't have just one set color. They are often cuckoo (a mix of grey and white), black, or white. The rules for the breed allow them to be any color that is common in other chicken breeds.
They have a single, bright red comb on top of their head. Their ear-lobes are small, and their wattles (the fleshy parts under their beak) are medium-sized. These, along with their face, are also bright red. The color of their eyes can vary: they are red if the chicken is white or cuckoo, but dark if the chicken is black.
The most noticeable thing about them is their super short legs. The lower part of their legs is only about 3.75 centimeters long! Because of this, they walk with a funny waddling or "swimming" kind of movement. Other than their legs, they look like normal chickens. They have a long, heavy body that sits low to the ground, a deep chest, a wide back, and a nicely curved tail. They also have four toes on each foot.
What Scots Dumpies Are Used For
Scots Dumpy hens are good egg layers. They can lay about 180 white or cream-colored eggs each year. They are also known for being excellent "sitters." This means they are very good at sitting on their eggs to keep them warm until they hatch. Because of this, they have sometimes been used to hatch the eggs of other types of game birds.
