Coco on the Christmas Tree

In late 2019, Lydia's friend Jen went on a holiday to Canada. Jen kindly gifted

Lydia a chicken decoration bought from a market to hang on the Christmas tree.

Little did we know that the hanging Christmas tree decoration looks like Coco! 

Coco came to live with us about two years after

Lydia received the decoration as a gift.

Merry Christmas from Coco and the 4 other happy hens.

Egg Peak Hour

Coco stands at the top of the ramp and looks inside the Taj Mahal Coop.

Lexi looks from ground level. Both hens have an egg coming. 

Coco stands on the perch inside the coop in front of Speckles

who's sitting in the nesting box. Lexi looks through the coop door.

Coco says, "Hello Speckles!" as she peeps over the nesting box dividing wall.

Lexi comes closer as all 3 hens are preparing to nest and lay an egg.

Four fresh eggs. Lexi's large white egg is pictured on the left;

the brown egg is from Speckles and the very pale green egg

(on the right) was laid by Coco. Bianco laid a small white egg later that day.

Have a Look Chook

Lydia was packing the car with handmade goods

to sell on a Christmas market stall the next day.

Lydia left the car door open and Lexi decides to jump in!

I think Lexi wants to go for a ride in the Holden Commodore?!

Have a look chook.

('chook' means 'chicken' in Australian slang language).

Bianco Turns 2

Bianco, our little bantam white leghorn, turns two years old this month.

Bianco was bred on a farm in Salmon Gums in Western Australia.

Bianco has a bald patch under her neck from

where Buffy used to peck her feathers.

Bianco goes for a walk with Lexi who's huge in comparison to Bianco.

Bianco prepares to jump off the gas meter box.

Bianco is a timid and very noisy little hen.

She lays small white eggs and loves eating lettuce. 

Sleeping Lexi

 Lexi sleeps with her head under her wing under a flowering bush.

Close up of Lexi peacefully sleeping.

Lexi wakes up. Her big red floppy comb covers her eye.

Sleeping beauty.

Lexi's First Egg

Lexi's first egg laid on 12th October 2021 was a massive 101 grams,

as seen on the far left of the photo!

Lexi's huge 101 gram egg in comparison to Bianco's

small white eggs which average about 42 grams each.

Lexi laid her first big egg in the A-frame coop, and she has

since discovered the nesting boxes in the Taj Mahal coop.

Lexi is such a friendly, relaxed, happy hen.

Lexi has a big, floppy comb.

Lexi looks inside the Taj Mahal coop. She's so big and tall,

she can see inside the coop without climbing up the ramp!

Hello Lexi and Coco

 

On 11th October 2021, we welcomed our new

re-homed hens from Perth, Western Australia. 

Hello Lexi the white leghorn and Coco the lavender Araucuna.

We are thankful for our friends Tracey and Phil who transported our new pets

in a long car trip from Perth. Lexi and Coco lived in the A-frame coop for

five days whilst they adjusted to their new environment and the three other hens.

Lexi was hand reared in the Goldfields before she moved to Perth with her

previous owner Kat. Kat was downsizing and was looking to re-home her hens,

which was good timing as we wanted to add to our flock after Buffy died.

Several years ago, we bought our beautiful Rhode Island Red hen named

Chickadee off Kat. Kat knew that we would give Lexi and Coco a good home.

Coco used to be named 'Orphan Annie' as she was a solo hen adopted by Kat, 

and now re-homed with us. Coco and Lexi were 'buddies' who lived together

with Kat for over a year. We are glad that they have stayed together

and didn't get split up. They are a friendly, mature pair of hens.

Coco is a cute little chatty hen who's a bit flighty.

She lays pale green shelled eggs typical of the Araucana breed.

The flock of five! Lexi is a very calm, chilled big leghorn.

Coco and Speckles fight face-to-face through the wire at the rear

of the A-frame coop as they go for top spot in the pecking order.

 Bianco the bantam white leghorn is a miniature version of Lexi!

Frenchy the French Wheaten Maran hen has her head in the feed

bowl as she's a big eater and constantly obsessed with food!

Frenchy and Speckles check out 'the intruders' living in the

A-frame coop whilst Bianco walks away in the background.

On Saturday 16th October, Gerard let Lexi and Coco out of the

A-frame coop so they could meet the other hens and have a big

fight to sort out the pecking order. It was a close call who was going

to be top hen, with the results being: Speckles (boss), Coco (2IC),

Lexi, Frenchy and Bianco.

We are pleased that they have all settled in quickly.

Bye Bye Buffy

Buffy (pictured left) came to live with us in early March 2020,

just before the COVID pandemic really started to affect Australia.

Buffy was a bantam buff leghorn bred on a farm in

Salmon Gums in Esperance, Western Australia.

Buffy and Bianco were bantam hens who

looked so cute sitting in the nesting box together.

Bianco (the bantam white leghorn) was Buffy's little

buddy who came to live with us at the same time.

Buffy was known for her 'secret stashes' of eggs.

Lydia sometimes found a 'Buffy egg' laid in

the garden or a random location in the yard.

Buffy was on the bottom of the pecking order.

She was a little hen weighing about 950 grams.

Gerard's favourite memory is Buffy being blown over sideways on the

ground on an extremely windy day. Buffy had a very surprised look on her face. 

Hello Buffy.

Like all our happy hens, Buffy liked to have a dust bath and lay in the sun.

She only had quick dirt baths as the other hens often bullied her

out of the way or stole her dirt bath hole. Bianco liked to peck

and eat the dirt off Buffy's back when Buffy was dust bathing.

In late 2020, Buffy went broody which is uncharacteristic for a leghorn hen.

Broody Buffy made a nest in the straw outside the coop.

She was broody for over 50 days which is unusual!

We didn't put fertile eggs under Buffy so she was never a mum.

Buffy had a very big comb for a little hen.

Buffy the Christmas chicken!

She looks surreal sitting in a basket under the Christmas tree!

This is one of our favourite photos of Buffy.

Buffy died suddenly on 5th October 2021 from unknown causes.

The 23 month old hen had a happy life and she showed no signs

of illness before Lydia found her dead under a tree at home.

We miss our cute little Buffy.

May you be a happy hen forever.

Dust Storm

Frenchy and Speckles relax near the opening of the A-frame coop.

Frenchy and Speckles raise their heads up and are more alert.

Speckles begins to stand up.

Shake off the dust!

What a dust storm after Speckles' dirt bath!

I Can Jump

Buffy, Bianco and Frenchy stand on top of the A-frame coop.

Speckles preens on the ground in front of the coop.

Bianco gets ready to jump.

Is it a bird, is it a plane? Yes, it's Bianco!

Buffy stands on the edge of the chair looking very cute and innocent.

Buffy jumps off the chair.

Speckles looks on whilst Frenchy continues to preen.