Lexi's First Egg

Lexi's first egg laid on 12th October 2021 was a massive 101 grams,

as seen on the far left of the photo!

Lexi's huge 101 gram egg in comparison to Bianco's

small white eggs which average about 42 grams each.

Lexi laid her first big egg in the A-frame coop, and she has

since discovered the nesting boxes in the Taj Mahal coop.

Lexi is such a friendly, relaxed, happy hen.

Lexi has a big, floppy comb.

Lexi looks inside the Taj Mahal coop. She's so big and tall,

she can see inside the coop without climbing up the ramp!

Hello Lexi and Coco

 

On 11th October 2021, we welcomed our new

re-homed hens from Perth, Western Australia. 

Hello Lexi the white leghorn and Coco the lavender Araucuna.

We are thankful for our friends Tracey and Phil who transported our new pets

in a long car trip from Perth. Lexi and Coco lived in the A-frame coop for

five days whilst they adjusted to their new environment and the three other hens.

Lexi was hand reared in the Goldfields before she moved to Perth with her

previous owner Kat. Kat was downsizing and was looking to re-home her hens,

which was good timing as we wanted to add to our flock after Buffy died.

Several years ago, we bought our beautiful Rhode Island Red hen named

Chickadee off Kat. Kat knew that we would give Lexi and Coco a good home.

Coco used to be named 'Orphan Annie' as she was a solo hen adopted by Kat, 

and now re-homed with us. Coco and Lexi were 'buddies' who lived together

with Kat for over a year. We are glad that they have stayed together

and didn't get split up. They are a friendly, mature pair of hens.

Coco is a cute little chatty hen who's a bit flighty.

She lays pale green shelled eggs typical of the Araucana breed.

The flock of five! Lexi is a very calm, chilled big leghorn.

Coco and Speckles fight face-to-face through the wire at the rear

of the A-frame coop as they go for top spot in the pecking order.

 Bianco the bantam white leghorn is a miniature version of Lexi!

Frenchy the French Wheaten Maran hen has her head in the feed

bowl as she's a big eater and constantly obsessed with food!

Frenchy and Speckles check out 'the intruders' living in the

A-frame coop whilst Bianco walks away in the background.

On Saturday 16th October, Gerard let Lexi and Coco out of the

A-frame coop so they could meet the other hens and have a big

fight to sort out the pecking order. It was a close call who was going

to be top hen, with the results being: Speckles (boss), Coco (2IC),

Lexi, Frenchy and Bianco.

We are pleased that they have all settled in quickly.

Bye Bye Buffy

Buffy (pictured left) came to live with us in early March 2020,

just before the COVID pandemic really started to affect Australia.

Buffy was a bantam buff leghorn bred on a farm in

Salmon Gums in Esperance, Western Australia.

Buffy and Bianco were bantam hens who

looked so cute sitting in the nesting box together.

Bianco (the bantam white leghorn) was Buffy's little

buddy who came to live with us at the same time.

Buffy was known for her 'secret stashes' of eggs.

Lydia sometimes found a 'Buffy egg' laid in

the garden or a random location in the yard.

Buffy was on the bottom of the pecking order.

She was a little hen weighing about 950 grams.

Gerard's favourite memory is Buffy being blown over sideways on the

ground on an extremely windy day. Buffy had a very surprised look on her face. 

Hello Buffy.

Like all our happy hens, Buffy liked to have a dust bath and lay in the sun.

She only had quick dirt baths as the other hens often bullied her

out of the way or stole her dirt bath hole. Bianco liked to peck

and eat the dirt off Buffy's back when Buffy was dust bathing.

In late 2020, Buffy went broody which is uncharacteristic for a leghorn hen.

Broody Buffy made a nest in the straw outside the coop.

She was broody for over 50 days which is unusual!

We didn't put fertile eggs under Buffy so she was never a mum.

Buffy had a very big comb for a little hen.

Buffy the Christmas chicken!

She looks surreal sitting in a basket under the Christmas tree!

This is one of our favourite photos of Buffy.

Buffy died suddenly on 5th October 2021 from unknown causes.

The 23 month old hen had a happy life and she showed no signs

of illness before Lydia found her dead under a tree at home.

We miss our cute little Buffy.

May you be a happy hen forever.