WELCOME TO AN ENTERTAINMENT SITE FOR SCOTTISH COUNTRY DANCERS!
Enjoy this curated selection of theme-related dances for celebrations and holidays, or find a dance associated with a special calendar day, or EVEN your own birthday!
Chickens and Ducks in the Barnyard, Edgar Hunt (1876-1953)
Mar 20
the first day of Spring
Spring Chicken
Other Scottish Country Dances for this Day
Today's Musings, History & Folklore
"I used to be a spring chicken—
Fair quick upon my feet,
Could dance a reel till midnight
And still be up to eat!
Now I’m a touch more measured—
(That’s wisdom, so they say),
I’ll still attempt a jig or two…
Then sit the next three away.
I’ve traded speed for strategy,
And leaps for something planned,
But I can still turn out quite smart
When there’s good music in the band!
So dinnae fash about the years,
Or creaky bits that cluck—
A spring chicken’s just a state of mind…
With slightly better luck."
~ The Dancing Spring Chicken
It's Spring! And if it doesn't look like it yet, it should be. It's the Vernal Equinox, the time to cast your dancing thoughts to spring flowers, warmer weather, and less chilly dance halls.
Channel your Young Rooster and Spring Chicken Days with this 40 bar jig which thoughtfully contains no setting nor poussettes but is still challenging enough for chickens of all ages! And speaking of chickens (and eggs) ... urban and suburban homesteading on the rise, and the popularity of keeping backyard chickens for fresh eggs is more popular now than ever! Native to Scotland, there are two traditional chicken breeds: the Scots Dumpy and the Scots Grey. Assert your chicken-owning rights whenever possible. Your omelet-loving ancestors demand it!
The colours of eggs laid by chickens are dependent on both the breed and the sunlight, chicken feed etc ... Breeds that naturally produce blue and brown tinged eggs can result in eggs of all shades!
And there are also "Easter Egger "chickens, a variant of Araucanas and Ameraucanas breeds can naturally produce a variety of egg colors such as blue, green, brown, sage, olive, cream, and rose to fill your upcoming Easter Baskets! 🐣 🐣 🐣 🐓 🐓 🐓 💙 💚 🤎 💗 🥚 🥚 🥚
Spring Chicken
The Vernal Equinox, may put one in mind of spring chickens, both the feathered kind and those amongst our acquaintance!
The term "spring chicken" has origins in its literal meaning. In the early 1700s, Farmers found that chickens born in the spring brought better prices than older ones that had gone through the winter.
Impress your friends with chicken terms:
Bantam: A diminutive breed of domestic fowl.
Boiler: A chicken 6 to 9 months old.
Broiler: A cockerel of 2 or 3 pounds, at 8 to 12 weeks old.
Cock: A male chicken, also called a rooster.
Cockerel: A young rooster, under 1 year old.
Fryer: A chicken of 3 to 4 pounds, at 12 to 14 weeks old.
Hen: A female chicken.
Nest Egg: Literally, a china or wooden egg placed into the nest to encourage laying; figuratively, something set aside as security.
Point-of-lay Pullet: A young female, just about to lay, near 5 months old.
Pullet: A young female chicken, under 1 year old.
Roaster: A chicken of 4 to 6 pounds, over 12 to 14 weeks old.
Rooster: A male chicken; also called a cock.
Sexed Chicks: Separated into pullets only or only cockerels
Straight Run: Pullets and cockerels, mixed (unsexed or “as hatched.”)
The Scots Grey, also known as Chick Marley or Shepherd's Plaid, is a breed of domestic chicken originating in Scotland, where it has been bred for more than two hundred years. It was formerly known as the Scotch Grey and until about 1930 was popular in Scotland for both white eggs and meat.
For more on native Scottish breeds, click the Scots Grey rooster!
Click the dance cribs or description below to link to a printable version of the dance!
