“The hens are popular with Europeans and North Americans, but not so much with Chinese,” Sutherland said. “I think that for them hens clucking in the backyard are still everyday life, not a memory like they are for us. We’re buying into nostalgia here.” The Happy Hen brand has now been extended to tiles, tea towels, mugs and salt shakers, and over 20,000 of the birds are made annually. Sutherland says the hens are really penetrating the public consciousness: “At a Christchurch A & P show, we and a few other Dunedin attractions, including the albatross peo­ple, mounted a display. Quizzes were held by the organis­ers, and one of the questions was, What are the famous birds associated with the Otago Peninsula?’ The Happy Hens,’ came the reply. Even the albatross people thought that was funny!”