Pitter Patter, Scratch, Scratch

 A stormy start to summer has brought lots of rain and

 thunder storms to Western Australia. The ground was soaked,

 the grass turned green and the weather was uncomfortably humid.

Chilli's circle of footprints in the wet ground were obvious

 in the car port when Lydia returned home from work one day.

Chilli has big feet for a little chicken!

Gerard witnessed Chilli walking around in a circle,

doing a good old fashioned Aussie U-turn!

 

Chilli likes to scratch, more than Miss Giblet does!

Giblet was the digging queen until Chilli ("Big Foot") came along!

The 2 Happy Hens like to eat the little yellow flowers that fall

on the ground from our next door neighbours flowering tree.

This time Lydia witnessed Chilli's scratching spree.

 

Phantom Egg Song

TURN SOUND UP!

One day Miss Giblet went crazy and cracked a big 'egg song'

 even though she didn't even lay an egg!

The phantom egg song went on for about 15 minutes;

Giblet just wouldn't shut up!

This movie is dedicated to Lydia's old work friend Kiri.

Kiri was always fascinated by Lydia's description of 
egg songs by the 2 Happy Hens! 

Soggy Chilli

 Chilli loves water and loves rainy days.

She prefers to run around and get wet rather than

stay under cover and stay dry (like sensible Miss Giblet does!) 

Chilli loves water.

Lydia thinks she is extra waterproof as rain drops just bounce off her feathers.

 Wet on the outside, dry on the inside!

Chilli loves to eat wet grass.

Chilli is most un-lady-like as she squats to do a poo!

Goodbye Curry

 Curry passed away on 2nd November 2012 from organ failure.

She was aged 2 years and 7.5 months.

 Although Curry was the dominant hen in the pecking order,

she was still an inquisitive character who was a big sook and loved attention.
Curry was Gerard's "cuddle bunny".

Thanks for being our pet Curry and thanks for the memories.

Lydia and Gerard will miss you heaps.

Your sister Miss Giblet will also miss you.

Now Gibby will have to take over being boss and put up with Chilli instead!

Just for the record, we can assure you that Curry

was not made into a chicken curry food dish!

 

Rest in Peace Curry.

Good bye and forever be a Happy Hen.

Spring Rose

 Our friends Mick and Kat kindly gave us this beautiful pink

 rose bush before they left town and moved interstate.

It had a beautiful spring blossom.

The flower had a lovely old English rose perfume.

Curry liked to sleep under the rose.

 Giblet liked to sit in the hole Curry made underneath the rose bush.

The bad lighting in this photo makes Giblet

 look a darker red colour than she really is!

The 2 Happy Hens cuddle and snooze under the pink rose bush.

Curry tilts her head back fast asleep.

This is Curry's classic sleeping pose.

The Pecking Order

Curry and Giblet were 2 Happy Hens until.....

the "intruder" Chilli arrived!

The pecking order for the hen hierarchy had begun!

Chilli crouched down low in fear of the 2 Happy Hens.

Chilli even hid behind the air conditioning compressor to escape.

Being a small hen meant that Chilli was flexible enough to

hide under the nesting box in the coop.

 Chilli lays low in fear of being bullied by Curry and Giblet

who are drinking from a little watering can.

Chilli keeping a low profile near Miss Giblet. 

Nearly 2 weeks after Chilli arrived, Chilli retaliates and gives Curry a peck!

Introducing Chilli

On 11th October 2012, a 6 month old Isabrown hen

named "Chilli" came to join the 2 Happy Hens.

Curry and Giblet are not very impressed with the new "intruder".

Chilli is an energetic pullet and is like a mini "Road Runner" bird.

She likes to jump on the pot plants and eat the juicy

tips off the aloa vera plants and succulents!

 Chilli came from the same Perth chicken breeder as Curry and Giblet

 so they are probably distant relatives!

Chilli may be the 2 Happy Hens' great, great grand-neice?!

Chilli is having a "coop induction" and she still has to learn

that the coop is also the place where she sleeps at night.

Chilli's natural instinct is to roost in a high place like on top of the coop or in a tree!

 Chilli had already started laying eggs when we bought her.

She has laid 3 eggs in the first 3 days in her new home.

Chilli likes to make deep nests in the straw and pops the egg out quickly

(unlike Curry and Giblet who took ages to lay an egg in their younger hen days).

A Box Of Chicken

This series of photos were taken in May 2012

when the 2 Happy Hens were experiencing their first full moult.

Curry and Giblet like to play in the storage box when it is not full of straw.

Here we have a box of chicken!

Curry wants to get out of the box.

 

Curry stands on the edge of the box and opens her beak to say "hello".

Curry changes her mind and decides it is more fun being

in the box rather than being perched on the box.

You can see Giblet's tail poking out of the box as she scratches through the straw.

 Curry gets comfortable.

Curry gets clucky and starts to make a nest, leaning over for straw.

Curry is happy being in her new nest.

   

Time for Curry to have a nap.

 



Hello Miss Giblet!

Giblet Happy Again

Last Monday, Gerard took Miss Giblet to the vet which is

ironically located opposite Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC!)

Much to our relief, Giblet’s maggot infestation was gone which meant

that our “chicken first aid” efforts on the weekend were successful!

However upon closer inspection, the vet removed an

egg shell which was internally stuck inside Giblet.

The vet was overcome by the stench which Gerard

said was worse than the smell of rotten egg gas!

After a dose of liquid antibiotics, Giblet is happy again

and is a full of energy as a “spring chicken”.

The 2 Happy Hens eating breakfast on a sunny spring morning.

They have a custom seed mix consisting of wheat,

 sunflower seeds and cracked maise.

 Curry walks off after breakfast whilst Giblet continues

to peck in her favourite blue container.

Giblet is so fussy she resists eating out of any container that is not blue!

 Dora the Explorer (a.k.a. Curry) takes a peek inside the pet carrier

we bought from the pet shop to transport Giblet to the vet clinic.

 Miss Giblet takes a peek inside the pet carrier which looks familiar to her.....

Giblet's bottom is still a bit pink from the anti-bacterial spray we

 used during our "first aid procedures".

Giblet is more curious than Curry.

Note: When shopping at the pet shop, we chose the pet carrier

 colour to be blue (nicknamed "Giblet blue").

It's nice to see the 2 Happy Hens happy again.

Let's hope we don't have to use the pet carrier much more in the future!

1 Unhappy Hen

Poor Miss Giblet woke up last Thursday morning egg bound

 and virtually motionless.

 

 Just before lunch time, Giblet visited her favourite nesting box

 and laid a large yellow, deformed egg with no shell.

 

 Giblet took a while to recover from her egg laying disaster

with many annoying Australian blow flies

 taking advantage of the messy situation.

 

 With the change of season from a cold winter to spring,

and the nights quickly warming up last week,

poor Giblet suffered an attack of the flies and has

been infected with maggots under her tail.

 

 As Murphy’s law would have it, the maggot infestation

 was discovered on a Saturday afternoon when the

 vet clinics were closed for the weekend.

 

 Lydia spent the weekend playing vet nurse with the assistance of

Gerard to clean and disinfect Giblet’s affected area.

 

Curry watched on and was being a normal happy hen

whilst her sister Giblet suffered in misery.

 

 Giblet is off to the vets soon and we wish her luck.

 Get well soon Miss Giblet!

 

Chicken first aid supplies:

bucket, disposable gloves, clean cloths, scissors, cotton tips,

a small bottle of Bentadine and a can

 of Cetrigen distinfectant safe for poultry.

 

 Giblet rests in discomfort

Giblet hunched over

 

 

Giblet stands up and doesn't look very happy.

 

Get well soon Miss Giblet!

Freedom

A couple of weeks ago we had some work done in our yard so
we had to restrain the 2 Happy Hens from entering the work area. 

We erected a temporary plastic fence which upset the girls for the morning. 
 

 Giblet coped better than sooky Curry did. 

Giblet scratched around and went in the coop to sit

on the fake egg in her nesting box just for fun. 

Curry ran around in circles whimpering and

making sooky noises as if she was a jailbird! 

Curry was desperate to get out and have free rein of the yard.
 

 The clock struck 12 noon and the 2 Happy Hens were set free. 

Curry walked about 2 feet from the temporary fence,

 sat down and went to sleep in the bush for over 2 hours! 

So much for wanting to roam free!

 

Curry sitting in the bushes 2 feet from the temporary fence.



Sleeping....

Dreaming.... 



 

 Awake!

 

 



What's over there?

You can't see me!