Christmas Cuddles

The 2 Happy Hens like to have cuddles in

the morning before Lydia goes to work.

Lydia takes a selfie with Nestle and Chickadee.

Double Christmas cuddles!

Chickadee ducks for cover in this photo as Nestle steals the show.

A close up of Nestlé's face.

Season's Greetings

 The 2 Happy Hens have their photo taken for Christmas.

Lydia finds it difficult to take a good photo of both hens together.

 Nestle will have her 5th Christmas with us after she recovered

from an illness in October-November. We're grateful that vet

treatment and two courses of antibiotics had a positive affect.

 Nestle is back to her normal self after a suspected respiratory

infection and complications from producing deformed eggs.

Nestle is past her egg laying days.

Nestle "the boss" stands confident at Christmas time.

 There's a big size difference between the 2 Happy Hens!

Chickadee is a large Rhode Island Red pure breed hen.

Nestle looks sleepy as many people do this time of year!

Funny Selfies

After work one Friday, Lydia was at home sitting on the veranda and the

2 Happy Hens came and sat with her for some pats and attention.

Lydia took her iPhone out of her top shirt pocket and took some selfies.

Lydia's clever friend Brad had fun editing the photos using Photoshop.

This photo of 'the girls' and 'The Muppets' characters by Jim Henderson

is hilarious - Lydia reckons it is the best photo of the year!

 Nestle stands in front, with taller Chickadee

behind and Lydia in the background.

Donald Trump pays a visit and joins in the selfie fun!

 Girls just want to have fun on a Friday afternoon.

The 2 Happy Hens have their identity hidden by oranges!

Pet of the Year Competition

The 2 Happy Hens were the only 2 bird entries in the 2017 'Pet of the Year'

competition coordinated by the local newspaper and council

as part of the 'Pets Day Out' annual community event.

We were surprised to see that birds outnumbered cat entries

in the local pet competition held every spring.

There was only one cat in a total of 19 pet photo competition entries!

Unfortunately Nestle or Chickadee didn't win enough votes to 

win the 2017 'Pet of the Year' competition but it was good fun anyway!

With Chickadee's long life expectancy being a pure heritage breed hen, she'll

have plenty more chances to enter the competition and win in the coming years!

1, 2, 3, Chickadee Turns 3!

Chickadee has gone broody again.

Here you see 3 year old Chickadee fluffed up and

broody sitting in her nesting box in the coop.

Chickadee looks like she's having a 'bad hair day'!

Chickadee turns 3 years old on 13th October 2017. 

It seems like Chickadee is looking at her shadow

on the ground, but she's really searching for food!

 Broody Chickadee is locked out of the coop in an
effort to prevent her from sitting in the nesting box.

Chickadee does not look impressed that the coop is closed!

Chickadee decides to sit in the dirt outside the rear of the coop.

Nestle "the boss" watches over the 3 year old Rhode Island Red broody hen.

Chickadee sits in her dirt hole fluffed up.

 Nestle looks so small compared to Chickadee!

The 2 Happy Hens have a rest. It's a hard life.

 Broody Chickadee chills out.

Her red comb has gone a bit floppy.

 Three year old Chickadee is not impressed that she's locked

out of the coop to prevent her from sitting on the nest.

Chickadee's got that glaring look.....

The Eyes Have It

The 2 Happy Hens have a rest under the tree.

Chickadee looks enormous sitting on the dirt fluffed up and broody.

Her nickname 'BFC' currently stands for:

Broody Fluffy Chickadee!

 The hens have a nap.
Chickadee is a lot larger hen compared to Nestle.

Nestle squints and keeps on eye on things as she's the 'boss'.

Nestle closes her eyes standing up whilst it's

Chickadee's turn to doze off and squint at the camera.

Where's My Snacks?

The 2 Happy Hens ran to Lydia in the morning to 

see if she's got any food. Chickadee and Nestle look

at Lydia as if to say, "Where's my snacks?"

The 2 Happy Hens start walking to the patch of

ground where the morning feed is freshly spread.

Chickadee picks up a piece of lettuce.

Chickadee loves eating fresh lettuce scraps.

Nestle eats long green grass.

The 2 Happy Hens love eating anything that's green.

Nestle looks satisfied.

Dirt Bath Joy

Chickadee and Nestle prepare to have a dirt bath.

They love to spend an hour or more snoozing and dirt bathing.

In summer, the 2 Happy Hens can have two dirt baths a day.

Nestle rolls her head in the dirt.

Chickadee kicks dirt in the air, creating a brown dust cloud!

Now it's Nestle's turn to kick dirt everywhere!

Nestle fluffs herself up in the dirt bath.

The 2 Happy Hens love dirt baths.

Nestle Turns 5

Nestle turns 5 years old this month (June 2017).

We are very happy that Nestle is our oldest surviving

pet hen whom we've owned for 4.5 years. 

Nestle looks like a healthy 5 year old hen with her new feathers and tail.

She is very soft and fluffy with a strong personality (sooky and dominant).

Nestle went to the vet recently and had her

long toe nails trimmed by the vet nurse.

Nestle may be the smallest hen, but she's certainly

the boss of Chickadee and the 2 Happy Hens!

Hide and Seek

Chickadee hides in her favourite bush.

Nestle camouflages with the leaf litter and

feathers on the ground left over from moulting.

 Nestle hides behind the bush.

Nestle pokes her head through the bush.

I can see you!

Chickadee sits under the bush and pecks a hole in the dirt

whilst Nestle has a nap on a pile of autumn leaves.

 The 2 Happy Hens feel safe in the garden and have a rest.

Nestle hides her face behind a leafy bush branch.
We can still see you Nestle!