Merry Christmas 2018

Chickadee stands tall on Christmas morning.

This is Speckles and Frenchy’s first

Christmas as 11 month old pullet half-sisters.

Frenchy sits under the shade of a leafy tree to

beat the hot summer weather on Christmas day.

Chickadee spends another Christmas broody.

Frenchy stands and preens whilst

Speckles and Chickadee sit and rest.

Speckles looks cute leaning to one side very relaxed.

Merry Christmas from 'the girls'!

Summer Time Christmas

The weather is warming up in Australia as summer is here.

Frenchy walks across the ground creeper vine.

Speckles likes to play in the greenery too.

Frenchy takes a big bite of watermelon whilst Speckles waits for her turn to eat.

The girls like to eat nice, juicy watermelon.

Chickadee pants on a hot summer's day.

There's lots of fresh water for her to drink.

Chickadee has gone broody again.

Oh no! We'll have a broody hen for Christmas!

Chickadee has been locked out of her nesting box in the

coop whilst she's broody. She sits in the dirt instead.

BFC = Broody Fluffy Chickadee!

This is about the 13th time Chickadee has gone

broody in her four year life span so far.

Hanging Out

Left to right: Frenchy, Chickadee and Speckles sit together.

Frenchy's sits with her tail up high.

The girls relax and hang out.

Speckles and Frenchy hear a noise and look around.

 Chickadee looks enormous sitting on the porch

whilst the other 2 little hens sit in the garden.

Speckles and Frenchy hang out and relax.

Speckles

 Speckles 'mug shot'!

We love her cute fluffy face!

 Speckles is a cross between a French Wheaten Maran and Pekin hen.

Frenchy is her half-sister.

Lydia loves this photo of Speckles with a piece of dried leaf stuck on her beak.

You can see dark brown Chickadee with her red comb

sitting under the bush in the background (right hand side).

Speckles perches on a low lying tree branch.

Chickadee Turns 4

Chickadee turns 4 years old on 13th October 2018.

She's been our pet since she was 7 weeks old.

Chickadee weighs over 3 kilograms and is classified as a

'heavy' chicken breed being a pure Rhode Island Red hen.

We didn't know that Chickadee would grow this big!

Her nickname is 'BFC'= Big Fat Chickadee.

We hope that Chickadee's frequent 'broody phase' has

passed as she was often broody in her first 3 years of life!

Chickadee loves eating grass, lettuce, fresh tomato,

sunflower seeds, moths, bugs and live meal worms.

Laying pallets and shell grit are an essential part of her diet.

Even though she's 4 years old, Chickadee still lays about 5 eggs a week.

Chickadee eats grass next to second in charge (2IC) Speckles 

with Frenchy in the background. Bossy Chickadee

tolerates little Frenchy but they are not best friends.

3 Happy Hens

Chickadee on the left looks huge compared to little Speckles (centre)

and Frenchy (on the right)! Yes Chickadee really is that big!

 Lydia finds it difficult to take photos of the 3 hens together.

Quite often, Chickadee is so big that she doesn't fit in the photo frame!

Or the girls are spaced too far apart to fit in a close up photo. 

Speckles has a habit of preening during photo shoots!

Speckles, Frenchy and Chickadee come to see

if Lydia has brought food on a sunny day.

Dirt Bath Duo

Frenchy and Speckles line up for a dirt bath.

They camouflage well with the environment.

 The two girls sit in the holes they dug. Frenchy (on left)

stretches her leg. Speckles (on right) looks a bit sleepy.

The 2 Happy Hens relax in their much loved dirt baths.

Frenchy is very dirty!

Speckles is happy and asleep with her beak resting in the dirt.

Frenchy's First Egg

Frenchy laid her first egg on 26th July 2018 (left hand side of photo),

one month after Speckles' first egg. Frenchy's eggs are turning a darker

brown colour which is typical of her breed (French Wheaten Maran hen). 

Frenchy (front of photo) is settling in as the hen at the bottom of the

pecking order. Big boss Chickadee is slowing down her egg

production as she ages; Chickadee will turn 4 in October.

7 Weeks Together

 Speckles and Frenchy have lived in their new home with Chickadee for 7 weeks.

Speckles has settled in quickly but Frenchy is still a timid

little hen who gets pecked by Chickadee occasionally.

Speckles and Frenchy are about 6 months old and have grown a lot.

Lettuce is their favourite food, along with small amounts of bread and tomato.

Speckles stands on top of the custom feeding station like Nestle used to.

The hens love 'Dine-a-chook' and 'Wet-a-chook'.

Frenchy copies her half-sister Speckles and stands on top of the feeding station.

Chickadee and Speckles both have an egg coming

and sit in their nesting boxes ready to lay.

Frenchy stands in front, watching....

Frenchy has grown too big to sit under Chickadee's nesting box;

she can only half fit underneath!

Poor little Frenchy is at the bottom of the pecking

order and hasn't started laying eggs yet.

Speckles' First Egg

Much to our surprise, Speckles laid her first egg on 26/06/2018.

We weren't expecting her to start laying for another 4-5 months!

Speckles' first egg weighed 46 grams and is on the left of the photo.

She laid another egg the next day.

It's nice to collect two fresh eggs a day (from both Speckles and Chickadee).

We were surprised that Speckles started laying in the

middle of winter at the young age of 5.5 months.

We wonder how long it'll be until Frenchy starts laying?

Speckles has fluffy cheeks!

3 Weeks Together

Speckles and Frenchy came to live with Chickadee 3 weeks ago

after Nestle died. The girls are still going through the pecking order.

Frenchy is on the left of the photo has lost most of her black tail due to moulting.

Speckles (in the middle) pecks for shell grit next to big Chickadee.

Speckles has taken the position as second in charge (2IC) to Chickadee.

Speckles and Chickadee drink from the water bowl.

Chickadee likes to peck the tap to see if water will fall.

The 2 new hens are aged about 5.5 months and they are

flighty birds, especially in the early mornings and at dusk.

Speckles stands on top of the coop as Frenchy looks from ground level.

Speckles likes to stand on the upside down bucket.

Timid Frenchy is a loner at the bottom of the pecking order.

She is often seen by herself in the yard, away from the other two hens.

Frenchy stands solo looking curious.

She has lightly feathered feet, typical of the French Wheaten Maran breed.

Little fluff and big fluff!

There's a big size comparison between Speckles and Chickadee!

Speckles and Frenchy shouldn't grow to be as big as Chickadee, but we'll see!