We Love Snails

The summer storms have brought lots of rain

this week, which means snails of course!

Our friend collected lots of snails from her garden to give to 

Chickadee, Speckles and Frenchy for the perfect snail feast.

Chickadee is about the eat a live snail.

Frenchy loves snails more than Chickadee and Speckles.

Frenchy thinks it's fun to chase Chickadee when Chickadee has a snail in

her mouth, even though there's a whole container full of snails to choose from!

We expect the happy hens to consume all the snails in about 5 days.

The day after the first snail feast, Frenchy laid a tiny 13 gram dark brown egg.
This is very unusual as Frenchy normally lays large eggs in excess of 60 grams.
It's about the same size as a quail egg.
Speckles laid a speckled egg!

The 'Sleep Eat' Bush

Speckles (on the left) sits under a branch of her favourite bush.

We call it the 'sleep eat' bush as funny little Speckles

likes to sit there and snooze, waking up briefly to chomp

on the nice green leaves before going back to sleep again!

We have also seen Frenchy (in the front) do the same thing

as she sleeps close to the nice green leaves at the base of the bush,

waking up for a quick snack on the foliage, before falling asleep again.

Chickadee (in the background) is a much bigger and taller chicken

who likes to munch on the green leaves of overhanging branches.

Oh, what a life of luxury the girls have!

Speckles and Frenchy Turn 2

Speckles and Frenchy turned 2 years old in early January 2020.

They are French Wheaten Maran half-sisters.

Speckles is second-in-charge (2IC) to Chickadee.

We love Speckles' fluffy little face which gives her lots of character.

Speckles is a curious and intelligent hen who's always on the lookout

and on guard, especially when Chickadee and Frenchy are taking a nap.

For these reasons, we like to call her 'Inspector Speckles'.

Speckles has a huge appetite, especially when she's laying eggs.

She eats a lot of food for a small hen and gobbles lots of lettuce.

Frenchy is at the bottom of the pecking order and tries to suck up to the 'boss'

Chickadee, which doesn't work as Chickadee is a big, old, cranky hen!

Frenchy is a timid, pretty little hen who also has a big appetite.

She loves fresh tomato, lettuce and fruit. She's not really a fussy eater,

except when we go to administer her quarterly worming tablets.

Frenchy won't tolerate the worming medication crushed up and hidden in food,

so we have to manually shove the worming tablets down her throat,

much to everyone's distress! Frenchy doesn't like to be handed much. 

A couple of times, we've seen her do a funny sideways step

(like a crab) to avoid being touched!

Frenchy lays very large brown eggs when she's not moulting.

Festive Fruity Fun

The hens were treated to scraps of fresh mango before Christmas.

Speckles (left) rolled her piece of mango in the dirt.

Chickadee (right) started moulting in December.

Frenchy and Speckles stand amongst the sprawling grape vine.

The hens enjoy eating the fresh grapes as a snack.

The hens huddle on a hot and humid Christmas day.
Chickadee (left) has lost her black tail feathers and a lot of brown fluff.

Speckles looks very fat after eating her Christmas Day lunch (lettuce leaves!)

Frenchy started moulting before Christmas which makes her look old and tired.

The hens have gone off the lay during the moulting season.

Lovely new feathers will grow in the new year.

Pet of the Year Competition

The local newspaper is holding it annual 'Pet of the Year' competition.

As always, Lydia and Gerard entered photos of their pet hens just for fun!

Chickadee, Speckles and Frenchy were the only 3 birds entered in the competition.

Chickadee and Speckles were published on the first

page of the double spread in the newspaper.

Frenchy's pet competition entry was published

on page 2 in the bottom right hand corner.

This is the competition photo of five year old Chickadee

(aka "Boof Chook").

 

This photo of Speckles with her cute fluffy face was submitted to the newspaper.

"I am Inspector Speckles".

This is the photo of Frenchy "The Diva" that was entered in the

'Pet of the Year' competition.

The public has to buy the newspaper and collect competition

entry form coupons to vote for their favourite pet.

Voting closes on 19th December 2019.

Who would you vote for?

Locked Out Of The Coop

Five year old Chickadee has gone broody again for the 14th time!

A recent 5 day heatwave has taken its toll on the Rhode 

Island Red hen who's overheated and gone broody!

Chickadee (left) was cranky this morning that Lydia removed

her from sitting in the nesting box in the coop.

Chickadee likes to go broody around the time

when the local 'pet of the year' competition is on!

Speckles (right) pecks the ground and stays close to Chickadee.

Broody Chickadee decides to sit in the dirt in front

of the hens' "Dine-a-Chook" feeding station.

Chickadee stands up and gets ready to make a move.

Chickadee walks into the ground floor of the Taj Mahal coop.

Chickadee is not impressed that the entry to the nesting boxes is closed!

Chickadee looks at the closed door at the top of the ramp.

The broody hen walks up the ramp.

Let me in! Let me in! Open the door!

I want to sit in my nesting box!

Chickadee is not impressed that she's been locked out of the coop.

Chickadee gives up and turns around to walk down the ramp.

Crazy Chicken Lady

'The girls' are waiting for their morning feed.

Big Chickadee (right) looks like she's in a hurry

for breakfast after waking up at the crack of dawn.

Lydia received a custom-made storage container as a birthday gift

from her friend Stephanie. Lydia thinks the wonderful gift is very

thoughtful and useful. The container fits perfectly in the fridge to store fresh

food scraps for the hens. Speckles inspects the new box placed on the ground.

Chickadee and Frenchy can be seen approaching from the right

to check out the strange box they have never seen before.

Speckles wants to know what's in the 'Crazy Chicken Lady' box!

Speckles is such a curious little hen.

The opened box reveals lots of fresh lettuce leaves inside.

The girls love lettuce and they eat heaps of it every day.

Frenchy takes the first bite.

Speckles sticks her head in the container to pick out the lettuce leaves.

The girls are happily feeding.

Frenchy and Chickadee have their fluffy butts

facing the camera during the feeding frenzy.

Three 'lettuce monsters'.

Nom, nom, nom.

Stephanie handmade this appropriately themed birthday card for Lydia.

Pretty cool, hey?!