Bathing Beauties

 Chilli and Nestle like to have dust baths, especially on sunny days.

 Chilli fluffs up and gets ready to kick some dirt.

 Nestle fluffs herself and looks like a turkey as she kicks dirt everywhere.

 Chilli loves having dust baths.

 The 2 Happy Hens take a break.

 Peck, peck, peck.

 More dust bathing in the sun.

Nestle is covered in dirt and is very relaxed in the sun.

Dirty, fluffy Chilli sun bathes.

 Chilli's feathers are covered in heaps of dirt!

The 2 Happy Hens look content sitting

in their dust bath in the sunshine. 

 Chilli is a little bit sleepy whilst Nestle remains alert.

Chilli takes a nap whilst Nestle rolls her head in the dirt. 

 Chilli wakes up whilst Nestle has a little rest.

 Chilli 'plays dead' and lays on her side with her feet in the air.

Chilli is leaning on Nestle in the sun.

 Nestle stands up....

 ...and Chilli falls over! Very funny!

 

Bathing Beauties.

Chilli and Nestle are certainly 2 Happy Hens!



Shadows

The 2 Happy Hens wake up at the crack of dawn

at 4.30am in the warmer Australian months.

Lydia captured some photos of the hen's

shadows as they roam free on sunny days.

Nestle's shadow is cast on the corrugated iron shed wall.

This photo of Nestle was taken when she walked in front of the

back door of the house on Halloween morning, 31st October 2013. 

Here comes the "Nestle ghost".

Nestle's shadow looks spooky as she walks in the opposite direction.

 Chilli is easy to identify from her shadow as she has a very short tail.

 The Chilli ghost!

Spring Chicken

The 2 Happy Hens enjoy roaming in the garden during the sunny spring season.

Spring is a wonderful time for fast growing flowers, grass and weeds!

The "red headed girls" camoflague with the red geranium flowers.

Chilli pauses for a moment in the sunshine.

The single petal white climbing rose bush ('Macartney's Rose') flowers

every September and is about three metres high and three metres wide.

Chilli dodges the thorny drapping rose branches and pecks the ground.

Can you see Nestle's beak in the left hand corner of the photo? 

 Nestle ducks under the climbing rose bush.

Nestle pecks a sunny spot on the ground whilst Chilli looks on.

The bees love the pollen in the clusters of

tiny white flowers on this particular shrub.

Chilli Goes to Church

 Lydia took Chilli to church on Sunday 29th September 2013

for the annual "Blessing of the Animals"

in the season of the Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi.

Chilli loves her pet carrier and enjoyed travelling in the car to church.

Nestle is not so experienced at travelling and 

stayed home whilst Chilli was at church.

All things bright and beautiful,

all creatures great and small,

all things wise and wonderful -

the Lord God made them all.

Blessed are you, O Lord, who for the sake of our comfort

give us domestic animals as companions.

Let us bless the Lord: Blessed be God forever.

Blessed are you, O Lord, who show us a sign of your providence,

as your Son told us, by caring for the birds of the air.

Let us bless the Lord: Blessed be God forever.

 The Venerable Peter Stanley and Lydia at "Blessing of the Animals".

Dirt Bath

Nestle and Chilli like to have a dust bath under the trees.

 Chilli looks happy and cute sleeping in her dust bath.
Nestle is lying low so you can't see her head.

 Chilli  fluffs herself up so that she can coat herself in a cloud of dirt.

Nestle camoflagues well with the brown dirt! 

 Nestle's tail fluffs up ready for some dirt bath action whilst Chilli sleeps.

 The 2 Happy Hens are sleeping beauties.

 Nestle looking very relaxed in her dirt bath.

Chilli is ready for some post-dust-bath preening whilst

Nestle is still sitting in the dirt bath in the background.

 Chilli preens her tail first.

Chilli sits down. 

  Chilli preens her shoulder.

More preening... it's amazing how flexible a chicken's neck is!

Esperance Poultry Show 2013

Gerard promised fans of the 2 Happy Hens blog that we

would show some photos of poultry exhibited at the Esperance

Poultry Show held in Western Australia in July 2013. 

Lydia took dozens of chicken photos at the show and has

 chosen just a few of her favourites to post on her blog.  

 

The 2 Happy Hens (Nestle and Chilli) were home alone for

a few days whilst Lydia and Gerard escaped to Esperance for

 the poultry show and to relax by the sea for a few days.

We returned home to 2 Sooky Hens and a destroyed yard 

with holes and dirt dug everywhere! Many thanks to our good

friend Laurie for "Chick Sitting" whilst we were away!

 A pair of large white birds.

The hen had a floppy comb which flopped from

 side to side as she moved her head.

 Big birds!

 The White Sussex breed was a feature of this year's poultry show.

This hen just laid an egg!

Strange to see the hen sitting next to the egg and not ON the egg...?

 A pair of black and white beauties separated in different cages.

A stunning little rooster.

His feathers would be great for Lydia's millinery work! 

 A pair of fancy bantams.

 A naked neck frizzle. 

 Another naked neck.

Wow, that is the fattest chicken neck I have ever seen!

A black naked neck hen.