Coop Capers

Nestle has an egg coming and stands in the nesting box in the coop.

Cheeky Chickadee watches on. 

The 2 Happy Hens always lay eggs in their favourite

 nesting box located on the right hand side of the coop 

(which is Chickadee's bed at night time).

Chickadee is too young to lay eggs at the moment;

 her first egg is due Easter 2015!

Chickadee eats some food whilst Nestle settles into her nest.

 Chickadee is very cute as she sleeps with her head 

under her wing whilst Nestle gets broody.

 Chickadee takes a nap whilst Nestle starts pushing out her egg.

 Chickadee wants to be close to the fresh egg and sits

 on the edge of Nestle's nesting box. Nestle is not happy!

 Chickadee makes herself comfortable and has another sleep.

Nestle is not impressed!

Nestle abandons her nesting box and egg and walks out!

Chickadee is not sure what is going on!

Chickadee Settles in

 

The 2 Happy Hens were friends on Christmas Day 2014

even though they were still going through the 

'pecking order' after Chickadee's arrival on 7th December.

Chickadee is about 10 weeks old in this photo and Nestle is 2.5 years old.

Nestle looks very orange sitting next to brown Chickadee.

Nestle's overall colour has lightened as she's got older.

Chickadee is growing fast and is now approximately 12-13 weeks old.

She loves to hide in the bushes, especially when the weather is hot.

Chickadee stands next to Lydia's favourite owl garden ornament.

Chickadee's lovely new tail feathers are growing fast.

 Chickadee strikes a pose in the coop.

  Chickadee has yellow eyes and a pointy beak.

 Young Chickadee stands on a pile of bricks in the backyard.

Chickadee looks straight at the camera.

The sun shines on Chickadee's back showing off her plumage.

Unfortunately the grass has died in the extreme summer heat. 

The 2 Happy Hens don't go hungry for greens

 though as they get fed lettuce every day.

The grape vine is fruiting and Chickadee is very fond of home grown grapes!

The Chicken Dance

Our talented friend Connie did an original drawing of

 Lydia and Gerard with the 2 Happy Hens as a Christmas gift.

Chickadee (left) and Nestle (right) do the chicken 

dance as everyone celebrates Christmas.

We love the picture so much that we got it professionally framed.

Thanks Connie!

Intoducing Chickadee

 A new baby hen came to join Nestle after
Chilli passed away on 7th December 2014.
Welcome little "Chickadee" (a slang word meaning "a female"). 

 Chickadee was bred in Western Australia and is

 an 8 week old pure bred Rhode Island Red hen.

Her first egg is due Easter 2015!

 Chickadee's feathers are growing fast.

 Chickadee quickly learnt to drink water from "Wet-a-Chook"

at the custom built poultry feeding station.

Chickadee takes a quick drink whilst Nestle is not chasing her! 

 Chickadee eats the seed fallen on the ground after Nestle's messy eating.

Chickadee is a growing girl and eats heaps more food than Nestle.

Nestle was not impressed that Chickadee stole

her bed on the left hand side of the coop!

There was lots of drama at sunset as the 2 Happy Hens went to sleep

 in their nesting boxes and little Chickadee wanted Nestle to sit on her!

Chickadee watches from a distance as Nestle takes a drink

from the watering can positioned under a down pipe.

 Nestle looks very orange compared to Chickadee standing in the background.

The 2 Happy Hens strike a pose.

Choose Quality This Christmas

Choose Quality, Choose Nestle!

 

The history of Nestle

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nestl%C3%A9

 

Gerard chose the name Nestle for our pet hen because:

 

1. She is a chocolate brown colour which

reminded us of Nestle chocolate and coffee.

2. Nestle is an international food company and

 chickens produce an egg (food) nearly every day.

3. The Nestle food company logo is birds on a nest.

4. Nestle has the word "nest" in it and chickens like to make a nest!

Goodbye Chilli

Our dear Chilli passed away in her bed in the coop 

in the early hours of Sunday 7th December 2014.

Chilli was 2 years and 9 months old which is old for an

 Isabrown hen who produced a lot of eggs. Chilli loved her bed.

Chilli's overall colour lightened up as she got older and grew new feathers.

Chilli had a blunt beak when she first joined the 2 Happy Hens.

We were surprised that her beak grew back to be normal and pointy.

 Chilli was always at the bottom of the pecking order but was a happy hen.

We used to call her "Inspector Chilli" as she was a

 curious hen who liked to have a closer look at things.

Lydia used to say "Hot Chilli Chicken" in the warm weather when

Chilli would lift her wings up slightly to cool herself down.

 "Inspector Chilli" made a habit of poking her head

 around the corner to see what was happening.

 This photo of Chilli and Nestle at the kitchen window is one of Lydia's

favourite photos of Chilli. Chilli's comb and wattle is flapping in

 motion as the 2 Happy Hens get excited at the prospect of food.

 

 A pot of chicken! Naughty Chilli jumps in a large pot plant on the verandah.

 Partners in crime! Naughty Nestle and Chilli eat the potting mix.

Not even rocks spread around the plant will stop the

 2 Happy Hens from digging and eating potting mix!

Chilli absolutely loved her pet carrier.

She enjoyed travelling in the car in her pet carrier.

 Chilli often liked to lay eggs and nest in the

 pet carrier stored in the shed just for fun.

  Chilli was an egg machine and laid the most eggs of any hen we've had so far.

 This 81 gram egg is the largest egg of Chilli's short life.

 Chilli looks comfortable sitting on the ground covered in leaf litter.

 Chilli was a super fluffy chicken and it took a while to gain her trust

for cuddles. She loved having her legs (drumsticks!) massaged.

 Chilli used to fall alseep at cuddle time.

This is the last photo taken of Chilli about 2 weeks before she left us.

Goodbye Chilli, thanks the happy memories and for all the lovely eggs.

You had a wonderful life with us. May you forever be a happy hen.

Reunited with Curry and Giblet.

 

(P.S. Just for the record, Chilli was not made into a Chilli chicken food dish!)

Big News For Hen Welfare in Australia