Last Sunday, Pete and I sat in the backyard and communed with the chooks. It was a gorgeous Sydney winter’s day, and the girls had just been let out onto a new patch of the garden. They were scrambling about excitedly, scratching for grubs and slugs.
Here is our beloved Rosemary, who continues to be completely bonkers. She’s the baby of the group…
She stared me down as I tried to take a photo of her laying…
Francesca, our Italian princess (who is actually not the least bit Italian), has always been quite different to the others. She is dark, petite and the most curiously adventurous of the flock…
We made jokes about her being a grassfed chicken, as she chomped away at the weeds we held out to her. She will try to eat almost anything…
Frannie has always been our noisiest chicken, and today I filmed her carrying on. She’s the only one who does this, and she does it regularly. We’re not really sure why – she isn’t a dominant member of the flock, but she’s certainly opinionated. I think if she had arms, she’d wave them around…
Bertie, Maggie and Harriet were far too busy to pose for a photo!
All five ladies are doing well, although they’ve now got a little grey in their feathers and their egg production has dropped off substantially. Watching them in action left us in no doubt that they’re all still full of life!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Your ladies are just lovely.
Thanks Glenda! x
I love the last shot with the chooks ‘concentrating’ so hard! And I can see and feel your winter sunshine in the photos :) Lovely
Thanks Claire. It was very therapeutic to sit outside with them!
Grey and reduced egg production; I empathise completely.
Misky, one day a couple of weeks ago, we didn’t get a single egg. I went out to chastise the girls, waving my finger at them, telling them to lift their game. They all looked at me so forlornly that I found myself saying…”oh never mind..I haven’t laid an egg myself for a while now..” ;-)
We girls have to stick together, Celia. :D
You are amazing… and they are so lovely. Thank you dear Celia, love, nia
Thanks Nia! They do make us very happy!
Wonderful, Celia!
I must say that in the light of what goes on with my life, I read your title as “Commuting with Chickens” and I said to myself doing the back and forth from OK to KS with chickens would be the closest thing to a nightmare! ;-)
communing is much, much better!
Sally, could you imagine? Herding them is hard enough, commuting with them would be a nightmare! :)
Celia,I am curious… what do you do if you have to travel? Do you put someone in charge to take care of them? How much work do they involve?
I love the lay of the sun on your little chook’s backs! This is how I imagine my eggs to be sourced. Beloved and named and so well cared for. They really are so sweet, I had no idea! So.. feathers turn grey as well?? How many years do they usually live and when do they stop laying eggs?? xx Smidge
Smidge, I don’t know if they actually go grey, but they’re less golden/orangey brown than they used to be. I don’t know how long they live for after they stop laying, and I’m trying not to think about it. We still get more than enough eggs for our needs.
The girls not only have names, but their personalities are really distinct as well. Rosemary is mad and will do completely daft things – she’s quite fearless. Frannie is petite and brave and inquisitive – she will try anything and is usually the first to peck at something new. Harriet is bossy now that Queenie is gone. Maggie is timid and won’t be caught or held, and quite the loner in the pack. And Bertha – she is a crooked, mean, gun-toting hillbilly. ;-)
Our neighbours have chickens and Himself keeps muttering about getting some, I’m not so keen although it must be lovely to have fresh eggs.
Sue, they’re so much fun! The fresh eggs are wonderful, especially for the first couple of years. We’ve noticed that the quality is just starting to drop off now.
I too had no idea chicken feathers turn grey. Is it very obvious? Cool how you name all you chooks.
Norma, they’re a lot less brown than they used to be – here’s a photo of one of them when they were very young. As you can see if you compare to the top pic of Rosemary, the feathers on their lower backs have gone a bit lighter…
Great shots of your chickens. I like the one of Francesca. She knows how to work the camera :) Oh, how I envy your fresh egg supply!
Emilie, she’s quite the princess, our Frannie. I have a videoclip of her bathing here..
https://figjamandlimecordial.com/2010/09/07/dustbaths/
Well their egg production may be down but it looks like their weeding and fertilising abilities are in full swing!
Yep, they’re still working like troopers! :)
Your ladies are great. I have chicken envy :)
I don’t mean to give you chicken envy. I’ll take lots of photos and keep sharing mine with all of you. :)
I’d like that :) It’s great that you share the photos & anecdotes. Many people don’t realise how personable & clever chickens are. Keeping chooks is on my to do list when we go to live in our house in the country.
Oooh, that sounds very exciting. I didn’t realise you’d planned a permanent move!
I was driving past a chicken farm- free range chickens – maybe 100 of them all over the yard and pasture and it started raining. It was so hilarious to watch all the biddies run for the barn and shelter. Honestly I laughed so hard there were tears in my eyes. We haven’t had much rain lately, and I walked rather calmly through the storm- it felt so beautiful- but not to those chickens.
I was thinking of your little flock and their happy little clucking. These ladies were squawking loud enough for me to hear them from the road! LOL!
That is too funny! The way they respond to thinks always makes me laugh – I opened my black pocket umbrella in the yard once, and they all went bonkers, thinking it was a bird of prey. Another time I threw in fish bones, complete with head, for them to eat. They thought it was a snake, with the shiny head and eyes, and no-one would go near it until it was covered in a bit of dirt. ;-)
How cute. Your chickens have the best life. I think Frannie is trying to be a rooster. It really does look like a lovely winter’s day. xx
Charlie, I have no idea what she’s doing. When she was little, she’d make that noise every time she’d lay an egg, and the more dominant hens would get sick of it and go over and peck her on the head. :)
You know how I love your chooks. That is some voice Frannie has. Wouldn’t you love to know what goes on in their little chook heads?
Small Man accuses me of anthropomorphizing, but truly, they behave like humans sometimes…
I wonder if chickens think they are communing with you? Or are you just staff?
Oh yes, we live to serve. I took out red bor kale recently and they decided it was too tough for their poor little beaks and just looked at me in disdain.. :)
I can understand that.
oh..i love everything about chooks celia..the way they look and the sounds they make..and the eggs are a bonus..x
Jane, the eggs really are a bonus – it’s just nice to have them in the yard!
Lovely pics thanks Celia. My chooks have failed to acknowledge the wintry weather here and are all laying like crazy. When they’re not doing that they seem to enjoy picking on our very handsome, but not very assertive rooster. I was in hysterics the other day watching him being chased around the yard for a full 10 minutes while he tried to protect a particularly good looking piece of bacon rind that one lady was determined to take from him. She won.
Amanda, he is very handsome indeed, I was admiring his photo just the other day!
Haha I read it as ‘commuting’ with chickens. I was picturing a rather chaotic car ride.
Communing is much more peaceful. They’re such beautiful girls!
Oh Claire, could you imagine it? The car would be covered in chicken poop.. ;-)
I would LOVE to have backyard chooks – you are so very lucky. I’m sure you already know this (being a chook wrangler) but egg laying dies off in winter due to less daylight hours (which is why those horrible big egg producers leave the lights on 24/7). If only all chooks were lucky enough to live happy lives like yours too…it breaks my heart to think about what’s going on at those egg farms.
They actually didn’t slow down at all last winter – a product of being ISA browns, I suspect. They’re bred to lay continuously for a couple of years and then stop. We’re still getting plenty of eggs. I doubt our girls will have a long life – the hybrid ones usually don’t – but I hope that by the end of it they would have had really happy ones…
I love all things chookie! I dont think they do go grey – my eldest is over 6 years old and looks more boney, i.e. less feathery, than the others but still lays the weekly egg. It seems the older the chookie, the bigger the egg, sometimes with wrinkles in the shell. Joy
How nice that your old chook still lays, Joy! I think our girls are definitely fading a bit in colour – maybe a product of being ISA browns.
Dear Celia,
Your chooks look so healthy! Do you eventually eat them? I remember when I was a kid in Malaysia, some friends would bring our family life chickens during Chinese New year and after seeing them slaughtered by our maid, my sister and I would refuse to eat the chicken LOL!
No, we won’t be eating these, Chopinand, they’ve become pets. Doesn’t mean we don’t eat chicken though! :)
I love your chicken updates. I can’t wait to share the pictures and video with the littles in the morning! xo
Abby, it makes me happy to think of your littlies watching our chook videos from the other side of the world! :)
The most comforting time for me was sitting on a log watching the chooks or taking them for a walk to find the best bugs. They wouldn’t stray too far but they’d follow me anywhere. They loved getting into the orchard and digging under the trees. I could almost feel my blood pressure go down. :)
Anyone who’s ever owned chickens could never buy cage eggs or chicken that wasn’t free range.
Maureen, I decided last year that, for as long as I can, I only want to eat eggs laid by chickens I know. It’s probably not always going to be possible, but it’s nice to imagine it will be. And I find them very zen – they don’t give a rats about anything else in the world except what they’re scratching for. Ultimate live in the moment animals. :)
I needed a chicken update and fix – great photos:)
Glad you enjoyed them, Renee, thanks!
You’ve pretty well summed up the climate differences between you and I in your opening, “Last Sunday, Pete and I sat in the backyard …” In a Chicago winter, there’s very little back yard sitting — unless one happens to fall on a patch of ice. How nice, though, that your winters often you such opportunities, even if not every day. Of all the billions of poultry in the world, yours are some pretty lucky fowl, the way you treat them. :)
John, thank you for saying that. I certainly hope the girls are having a happy time with us. We’re very blessed in Sydney, the weather is usually quite mild. We do extreme days occasionally, but on the whole, it’s very pleasant. This winter has been extremely mild indeed.
What a wonderful life your girls have Celia! Maybe they just have a bit of S.A.D. And are waiting for Spring to kick in for real? :)
Becca, it was the most interesting thing. Maggie’s comb shrunk right down when she stopped laying, and the it’s gone back up again now that she’s started again. I have no idea what it all means…
We used to have chickens when we were little. My parents used to live in a bus and we lived by the beach. Your post reminded me of that.
Thanks for stopping by. It must have been fun to have chickens growing up!
I so envy you having chickens in your back yard – not that I can have any as Jack Russells are not well behaved enough for us to have any :)
Oooh Tandy, I can’t imagine having chickens and Jack Russells in the same backyard!
They looks so pretty and healthy :) You are so lucky, Celia :)
Thanks Tes! We really are! :)
Life really doesn’t get much better than being able to sit in the sun and watch chickens in your back yard. Your chickens are very lucky cluckys.
Jo, it’s a form of meditation. We love it. x
They are adorable. And I wonder if giving chickens certain names predisposes them to a particular personality trait? Like human names are supposed to.
I wonder, Lorraine. They certainly seem to suit the names they’ve been given!
Celia, you are a funny “chook lady” with your videos! Ha, ha.
I think their combs are a good indicator of the laying condition. The redder the comb the better the laying.
I know, it’s tragic, isn’t it? :)
Wonderful photos!
Thanks Greg, glad you enjoyed them!
Celia, I can’t believe I have only just discovered your wonderful blog. I must have been living under a rock. I adore your lovely chicken – fantastic post and photos. I ll be dropping back for more!!
I thought the same thing when I found your Instagram feed! Going to check out your blog now! :)
Glad you two brilliant bloggers found each other!
Your ladies are GORGEOUS! There’s something so wonderful and soul-soothing about spending time with animals. You’ve got some very lucky chooks there… with such an amazing garden to live and wander in.
SK, they don’t get to wander all over the garden, or they’d be nothing left to harvest. But they do get lots of room to roam in, which is the main thing. And lots of affection, although I doubt they notice that! :)
I am definitely envious of your girls, Celia. We only have a tiny garden now and no grass for chookies… love this post!
Thanks Lizzy. I find myself envying them too, they always seem so carefree.. xx
Thanks Lizzy! We’re very blessed to have space for them!
We have run out of straw for the nesting box, and I have been thinking of what else I could use that I had around the house for free. Disappointingly I was unable to come up with anything and had resigned myself to buying more straw. Then I saw this post, and the resourceful use of shredded paper.
Jason, we put the local newspaper, which is a little glossier than the Sydney Morning Herald, through a shredder. It works well! Whenever we’ve put straw into the nesting boxes, the girls have pecked about in it, looking for food! :)
Your ladies look so beautiful! Thanks for the tour,…! :)
You’re welcome, Sophie! :)
I do love your chickens – it makes me all happy just to think of them living a happy life in your backyard, scratching around merrily for bugs and good things to eat! I also love the way you share the joy you obviously get out of having them with the rest of us!
Thanks for sharing them with us, C! They really are such funny little things. There’s a stone bench in the current patch that they’re allowed on, and Rosemary was very amused by it. I watched as she just walked back and forth under it a few times.. ;-)
I like your chicks and your stories about them…..
They do make us very happy…