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