Hello readers! And welcome back to my blog!

Today’s post is about…well, read the title! Yes, we did get new chickens! Two of them!

We have a brown one, which we named Dusky, and a black one, whose name is Queenie!

They were a bit shy when we first got them, especially Dusky. They are settling in well now! We gave Queenie a accurate name! She acts like quite the queen, strutting around!

Here are some photos of these gorgeous girls:

As you can see, they’re combs are quite small, so they won’t start laying for a few months yet.

When they do, though, we will have fresh eggs every morning!

I hope you enjoyed this post, even though it was quite short!

I’ll see you soon!

Jocey xoxo

Hello readers! Welcome to my blog! I hope you all had a wonderful holidays! We had a very exciting event in the holidays……….. Our guinea pig had babies!

Yes,you did read that right! Our guinea pig, Star recently had five baby guinea pigs! Five! Unfortunately, one of the babies died soon afterwards.

Star is a very good mother! (Even if she does step on her babies occasionally!) She now has three boys and a girl. Now prepare yourselves for some cuteness, because by now you probably know its time for some photos………..

Let’s start with their names now….. the black one in the first photo is Star, the babies mother. The first guinea pig on the left with the black patch on his eye is Pirate. He is by far the biggest and bossiest baby!

The white guinea pig sitting next to Pirate is Snowfall, the only girl! She doesn’t let the boys boss her around though!

The cream coloured guinea pig sitting next to Snowfall is Butterscotch. That’s a bit of a mouthful for a tiny baby guinea pig, so we call him Buddy for short. He is mummy’s boy! Whenever Star goes of for too long, you’ll soon know, because Buddy will be squealing at the top of his lungs! It’s surprising how much noise a baby guinea pig can make…..

And last, but certainly not least is the little white boy sitting at the end. That’s Winter. He’s the smallest out of all the babys’, and never bosses anyone around. He can be found next to mum, or having a doze in a secluded corner.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this post on the babies! Here’s one last photo before I go:

You’re probably wondering why they look smaller, and who is the little black guinea pig on the end? Well, this photo was taken when they were only around a week old, and the little black guinea pig was a little girl one named Twinkle. She died a few days after this photo was taken. She was the smallest out of all of them, and looked exactly like her mother.

Her brothers and sister miss her, and so do we.

The others are growing extremely quickly. We hoping to put Winter with Blizzard, Snowfall with Misty, and the two other boys are hopefully going to live together. If you are wondering who the other guinea pigs are, you can read my other blogs and find out!

Goodbye for now, and see you soon!

Jocey xoxo

Hello readers! And welcome to my blog once again! And yes, as the title suggests we did get a new guinea pig. (A baby one in fact! 😆) however, we did have two of our other gorgeous guinea pigs, Smudge and Midnight die of heatstroke. 😞

I was very surprised when one day, my older sister walked in carrying a cardboard box which contained……can you guess? A new baby guinea pig! The little darling is SOO CUTE! Her fur feels like clouds…(well, what I imagined clouds felt like before learning that they are tiny drops of water!) And her eyes ares so big….sorry, I’m getting a little carried away here….

To prove how cute she is, here are some photos.. but BE WARNED! Extreme cuteness lies ahead!

Have you fainted from cuteness yet? I hope not, because otherwise you wouldn’t be able to read this! I apologise for how blurry the photos are… since she is just a baby, she has heaps of energy!

But what were we going to name her? After much careful deliberation, (Naming a baby guinea pig is a solemn process not to be taken lightly!) we decided on the name Misty!

Before I go, here is a quick update on Skye, my sisters budgie:

Her colours are becoming darker, and she is SO CHATTY! Also, sometimes she will “dance“ for you! Here is a photo of Skye before i leave:

I hope you enjoyed this post and I’ll see you next week!

❤️ Jocey xoxo

Hello readers! Welcome back to my blog!

Recently, we had something very sad happen. My chicken, Snowhite, and my sisters chicken, Cleo, died. 😔 Snowhite died of old age, and Cleo had a sour crop, where a piece of food gets stuck in a chickens crop.

So, of to the nearest farm supply place we went. After staring at identical brown chickens for around a few minutes hour, we somehow managed to pick out one that looked slightly different.

We ran to find mum to tell her we’d (finally!) picked out a chicken! Imagine our disappointment when the lady at the front desk told us that the chickens weren’t for sale until Sunday! (It was a Saturday.)

We were horrified! We would have to wait 24 hours! however, the lady told us that is was a chicken, sorry, poultry sale! Slightly cheered up, back home we went.

The next day, at early o’ clock, we drove there to find chicken paradise! Chickens were everywhere! Of course, a box full of chicks attracted our attention first. The only problem was, we had no way of telling if they were male of female!

And our parents knew our neighbours wouldn’t appreciate being woken up at 5am to a rooster crowing!

As we moved further on, I didn’t know where to look first! There were chickens EVERYWHERE!

Finally, at the very back, a small cage caught my eye. There, among huge roosters with spurs as long as your finger! I saw two small chickens, crouching in a corner.

“I want those ones!” I yelled. Probably not the most dignified way to ask… remembering my manners though, I added “pleeaassee?” My older sister had found a pair of of bantam chickens. Bantam chickens are just like ordinary chickens, except they are mini!

In the chicken coop, the other chickens weren’t very pleased to see these new arrivals, clucking suspiciously and stalking around. In the end, I named my girls Lacey, and Pearl. My older sister named her girls Snowflake and Twilight.

Now, here are some pictures of our adorable chickens!

Pearl looks rather strange at this angle!

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this blog! See you next week! Jocey xoxo

Hello readers! And welcome to my blog once again! Today I will be writing about the second part of our trip to Canberra!

We went to the Royal Australian Mint. I’ve never seen so much money in one place! There was even five cent coins in the stair case! We learnt about how Australia got its currency, and saw some very old coins!

After that, we went to Questacon! Australia’s biggest science center!

It was really fun! There was huge free fall slide were you fell for a moment before sliding! It was really fun! ( and scary! ) we watched a show on Liquid Nitrogen and there was a room were you could make stuff with sticks and rubber bands!

The next day, we went to the Canberra National Zoo. There were soo many animals including a guinea pig! I’m not sure if it was even supposed to be there, because there wasn’t a sign for it or anything! It just sat there in the monkeys enclosure, chewing on something unidentifiable. There were a lot of monkeys! One of them started copying everything I did! I loved the fairy penguins… so tiny! 😆

In the afternoon we went to the Floriade! Soo many flowers! 🌹 💐

There was a stage and we watched some people perform some kind of Mexican dance and Mum took lots of photos. I took quite a few photos myself though……

Well, that’s inspired me to start a garden.. what about you? I hope you enjoyed this blog, and look out for Canberra part 3! (Its the last one, I promise!) 😆

Jocey xoxox

Ps. Sorry I couldn’t think of a caption for the rhino picture.. if you have a caption, please send it in a comment and I’ll add it to the pic!

Hello readers! Welcome to my blog! ( And sorry for not writing one in FOREVER! 😃)

Anyway, today I will be writing about a strange occurrence that happened lately. The strange occurrence is this: ( drumroll, please!)…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… SWEETPEA MADE A FRIEND!

Now for a NORMAL guinea pig, that is not a strange occurrence. But did you notice I emphasised the word NORMAL? ( I did it again, by the way!) If you have forgotten which guinea pig Sweetpea is, here is a picture for reference:

Now, Sweetpea may LOOK normal, and if you met him, I’m sure you would agree that he is the sweetest guinea pig EVER! But I’m getting off the point.

Sweetpea is not normal. At all. Full stop. Because Sweetpea HATES other guinea pigs. If you put another guinea pig in the same cage as him, well, let’s just say the end result would NOT be pretty. ( Believe me, I’ve had experience!)

But for the first time ever, Sweetpea has made a friend! Awww! 🥰 And his new friend is……………………………………………………..

GEORGE!!! If you do not remember who George is, well, SHAME ON YOU! ( I’m kidding!) Here is a picture for reference:

George actually used to be my big sisters guinea pig. But then she gave him to me! 😁 So, the first time I put George with Sweetpea, they had a big fight.

However, after a few days, they got friendlier. And now they’re BFFs! Okay, not exactly. They have their good moments and their bad ones.

And today is one of their good days! Here is an adorable photo of them snuggled up together:

Well, I hope you enjoyed this post, and hopefully I’ll do another one next week!

Bye for now! 💖 Jocey xoxo p.s. in a week we’ll be going to Canberra, so I’ll do a blog post on that! 😊

Hello readers! And welcome to my blog once again! Today I will be writing about my older sisters latest “toy” the guinea pig leash! Now, you might be having images of a guinea pig neatly parading around the block, nose held high. Unfortunately, guinea pigs are not like that. They pull and tug, or they do absolutely nothing at all! Here is my result of the guinea pigs trying it out. I’ll start with Maya. Here is a picture ( or two! )

Anyway, she was pretty good at first. She sat there, contentedly nibbling grass until WHOOSH she whizzed of into the bushes! After a long while of pulling and coaxing, (and threatening!) we finally got her out. Okay that didn’t go too well….. let’s try Maya’s sister, Mimi. Here are some pictures of Mimi:

Unfortunately, Mimi is quite a timid guinea pig. As soon as we put her down, well, she’s off in the bushes. *sigh* two down, six to go! I wasn’t there to witness Stars first try on the leash, but I’ll just add some cute pictures, because, well, why not? Here are the pictures of Star: You might notice that Star has rather a startled expression. That’s because, as I was photographing her, the door chose that EXACT MOMENT to slam closed VERY LOUDLY. Okay, now we’re off to the next guinea pig! Which is Blizzard! Here are some photos of him:

So Blizzard behaved very well, until…. something scared him. What was it? I will reveal it in

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(Drumroll please!) the thing that spooked Blizzard was……. you know, I am going to take a photo of it, just for fun! Anyway, here it is, the thing that scared Blizzard so badly he went running off……( not into the bushes, thankfully!)

Here it is!

Yes! The thing that scared Blizzard was a bell! A harness was attached to the leash and a bell was attached to the harness! Poor Blizzard, he kept on running, but the strange noise kept following him! I have to admit it was a little bit funny… ( okay, it was HILARIOUS!! 😂 ) but can you imagine being chased by something that never went away?

Then, the only other guinea pig I got to witness having a go on the leash was Sweetpea. (Obviously!) I’m not going to take a photo of him because his cage is a two minute walk away……( just kidding, I’m not that lazy!) anyway, Sweetpea was pretty good on the leash, except he didn’t do much except eat grass and sit there……… before I finish this blog, here is a photo of the leash and harness: And before I go, here are some pictures of Skye, just because! Oh, and Skye now mimics some human noises! Thank you for reading this blog and I’ll see you soon! 💕 Jocey xoxo

Hello readers! Welcome to my blog! Today I will not be writing about our pets because, well, I’ve written a blog on all of our pets! So today I will be writing about our cooking. Our family is sugar free, so we have to get creative if we want to make something sweet, such as cookies or muffins.

If you are interested in going sugar free, I would certainly encourage you! Sugar free living has many benefits. If you want to know more about going sugar free, look for books by Sarah Wilson. I have read her books a thousand times! (Not literally!) Anyway, the hard question is, what do you use instead of sugar? A good alternative is Rice Malt syrup. Here is a picture of it for reference:(Oh, and if you’re wondering, the loaf of bread in the second picture is my mums homemade bread!) I’ve found with most recipes you can usually replace sugar with Rice Malt syrup, but keep in mind you may need to add more flour as it’s runnier.

Also, a healthier alternative to plain flour is coconut flour or almond meal. You can find them at most health food store. I won’t lie to you, sugar free living is more expensive, as the stores are often packed with sugar laden food. The best way to get around this is to make your own! There are heaps of sugar free recipes online, and I would definitely recommend (again!) Sarah Wilson’s sugar free books. They have heaps of recipes, as well as a full guide to quitting sugar.

Since this has been a rather short post, I thought I’d update you on Skye. She is doing well, though she is decidedly not a night bird! Woe betide anyone who dares to disturb Skye from her beauty slumber! She is also surprisingly good at mimicking other birds! She has learned how to make lorikeet and noisy minor noises! Sometimes it sounds as though we have five birds instead of one! Anyway, here are some photos:Oh, and here are some photos of the flowers my great grandmother grows in her garden:And since I’m on a roll, here are some photos of Blizzard and Star. I would photograph all the guinea pigs,but as the iPad is on 1%, I have to go now!I hope you enjoyed this post! From Jocey xox 😃

Hello readers! So sorry I haven’t posted in FOREVER, so today I will be doing an extra long one to make up for it! Since I’ve mentioned guinea pigs AND Skye, I will now be doing a post on our flock of chickens!

Our flock consists of three Australops, two white leghorns, and a Rhode Island Red. In other words, three black chickens, two white chickens and one brown chicken. ( mine! ) chickens are great pets to get, and if you don’t have enough time for a dog or a cat, then i would recommend chickens. ( or guinea pigs!) they don’t cost much, they are very entertaining to watch, and they lay fresh eggs!

( Fun Fact: most ” fresh ” eggs from the shops are sometimes up to three weeks old! ) Oh, and they also eat your kitchen scraps and provide good compost! If you don’t have chickens but would like to get some, read on! Also if you already have chickens, maybe you can find some useful advice in this post. And if you’re simply reading this post out of curiosity, go ahead!

If you are thinking about getting chickens, a good number is three. One chicken would get too lonely, and two chickens would always be fighting each other to become the boss! We started with four, and worked up to six! ( Warning: chicken keeping is extremely addictive! So be prepared! )

Every chicken flock has a ” pecking order “. The highest in the pecking order gets the most treats, claims the comfiest nesting box, and so on. Cleo, a black Australop is the boss in our flock! ( her full name is Cleopatra the second of Egypt. You can see why we just call her Cleo! ) Cleo is my older sisters chicken.

The next highest is Ebony. She is another black australop with orange feathers round her neck. She is probably the plumpest of all the chickens! She is my younger sisters chicken. Next is Opal, another gorgeous australop. She closely resembles Ebony, except Ebony is plumper.

Opal is my younger brothers chicken. Then along comes Coconut! Coconut is a pure white chicken. She closely resembles a slender ballerina! She is my mums chicken. Smoky comes next,and as her name suggests, she is a smoky grey, almost white colour. She is quite a timid chicken, though she survived a vicious dog attack! And then, bringing up the rear, is my chicken, Snowhite. She is the oldest of the chickens, and, in my opinion, the most beautiful!

Unfortunately, chicken keeping is not ALL sunshine and rainbows! A few years ago we started with four chickens. I had Snowhite, ( and still do!) my older sister had Frisky, my younger sister had a black chicken named Blackie, and my younger brother had a brown chicken called Stripey. Our chickens settled in happily, in a custom built cage made by my grandfather. Then we acquired coconut, Ebony and Smokey.

Then one morning, we heard some clucking. It wasn’t the usual, ” I’ve laid an egg ” it was an alarm call! We rushed down to the chicken coop. There, a horrible sight greeted our eyes. Two black and white dogs looked innocently up at us, while a pile of feathers lay beyond them. Stripy and Frisky were dead, Smokey was badly wounded, Snowhite was huddled up in the roof of the coop, and coconut was nowhere to be found. We found Ebony huddled up with Snowhite. We discovered Coconut in the neighbours pool. This horrible disaster could have been prevented simply by locking the door! That careless mistake lost lives. Now, we always lock the chicken coop door, and we haven’t had any more accidents since! Now, to provide something a little nicer, here are some chicken photos!

The first picture is of Opal and Cleo,the second picture is Smoky and Cleo, and the third picture is Smoky, Cleo, and Opal. The fourth picture is Coconut, the fifth is Smoky and the sixth and seventh are Snowhite. The last picture has all of the chickens but Opal. I hope you enjoyed this post! And if you’re thinking about getting chickens, here are some good books on chicken keeping: chickens the essential guide to choosing and keeping happy, healthy hens, by Suzie Baldwin. A family guide to keeping chickens. By Anne Perdeaux. Choosing and raising chickens by Jeremy Hobson and Ceclia Lewis

I hope you enjoyed this post and I’ll see you soon ! Jocey xoxo

Hello readers! Today I will be writing about a ( very! ) exciting thing that happened recently…….

So here it is! I am proud to announce that my big sister is now the proud owner of……..

A budgie!!!!!!! * ahem* sorry about that, but it is soooooooooooooo cute! Okay. Now that I have calmed down, I will tell you her name. It is… ( drumroll, please! )

Sky!!! Isn’t that a perfect name for a bird?! I am not a budgie expert, but I thought that such an exciting event could not go unrecorded! Sky is 11 weeks old, and very talkative. As I type, I can hear her tweet!

We actually don’t know whether she’s a boy or a girl, but as it seems wrong to call her an ” it ” I will stick with calling her a girl for now. Apparently you can tell by looking at their thing above their beak. I don’t know what the proper name is for it, so I will call it a nose. If its “nose ” is brown/pink its a girl and if its nose is blue, then its a boy. At this stage its hard to tell, as she is still a baby. Her nose is an almost purple colour. I don’t know what that means……… anyway, here are some adorable pictures of the darling bird! ( be prepared for some blurry pics though!) Oh, I forgot to mention, she is sooo hard to take pictures of! She was hanging upside down, and flying everywhere! Well, I hope you enjoyed this (Rather short!) post on Sky the budgie!

Jocey xox 😊