Chilli's Car Inspection

The photos in this blog post were taken in late 2012

when old Giblet was still with us (miss you Gibby).

A few months ago, Chilli was in a curious mood and inspected Lydia's car.

Chilli inspects the rear wheel whilst Giblet takes a little nap standing up.

Hmm, the tread on this tyre looks OK....

 Chilli looks at the top of the rear wheel.

Giblet doesn't take any  notice.

 Chilli inspects the rear of the car.

 

 Inspector Chilli walks to Gerard's 4WD car. 

Chilli has a curious personality like Curry had.

Introducing Nestle

Nestle came to live with us on New Year's Eve 2012

(the day after Giblet passed away).

Nestle came from a flock of young hens on a rural

property about half an hour's drive away.

 Nestle is a 6 month old pullet hen, a hybrid between a

Rhode Island Red rooster and a White Leghorn hen.

Nestle has her father's dominant red gene's!

We love her big black beady eyes.

Nestle looks like a rooster but is really a nice girl with a stunning tail.

This photo was taken 2 hours after Nestle arrived in her new home. 

She settled in quick and loved the grass and green vegetation in the yard.

Chilli got cranky as soon as Nestle arrived. 

Nestle soon taught Chilli who was the new boss in the pecking order.

Nestle having her first "coop induction". 

Lydia put the rectangle container of laying pellets inside the
 centre of the coop door to teach Nestle to feed in the coop. 

"Chilli Express" ran up to the coop and didn't want to miss out on any food!

(There is a race horse in Australia with the name "Chilli Express").

Chilli always eats like a guts so Nestle had to teach her

 to be fair with a few pecks to get her into line during feeding time.

The new hen Nestle took over being boss of Chilli after Giblet died.

Nestle enjoys eating patches of grass after being bred
 on a dry and dusty property in Western Australia.

Good Bye Giblet

Giblet died suddenly on Sunday night 30th December 2012

aged 2 years and 9.5 months. We didn't expect to lose Giblet less

than 8 weeks after her sister Curry. 

Giblet will be remembered as a regal and majestic hen.  

Giblet was a sensible hen who was always on the look out. 

Giblet was a sensible bird and liked to 'chicken chatter'.

Giblet loved the greenery, especially the daisy bushes. 

 She was the protector of the yard and of her sister Curry.

 Giblet was renowned as being the "Preen Queen" and spent

many hours each day preening and making herself look beautiful.

 Miss Giblet loved to sunbake.

 Giblet was always so clean with shiny feathers.

Giblet slept more during the day as she got older. 

Fast asleep....head right down...

Good bye Miss Giblet. We will miss you and Curry.

May you be a happy hen forever.

Thanks to our good friend Laurie for his assistance

 during Giblet's last day with us.

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.