Chicken Names

[Optimutt]

Hello! I'm doing some research for an article I'm writing, and would love to get some first-hand responses from those who have chickens, as I do not.

Do you name your chickens? What names do you call them? Are any names recycled in your flocks? Are there any superstitions about naming chickens? Are there any taboos? What tips or suggestions do you have for naming your birds? Do you choose NOT to name chickens, and if so, why? Do you make a point to give every bird in your flock a name (even in larger flocks of 100+)? Is there a cut-off point in numbers, where it simply becomes too much of a hassle to name all of your birds?

By answering, you give consent to the use of such details. Credit for experiences to be given according to your user name, unless otherwise specified. Many thanks!

(Admin, apologies if this is in a bad place. Could you please move this thread to a more appropriate area? Many thanks!)

 

[Armaget]

Hey, cool article! I don't have chickens yet but am expecting some and will most definitely name them. I love giving names to animals except for two exceptions- Names that are food, like Muffin and Marshmallow, or names that are puns. My mom wants me to name one "Henrietta" and my brothers want one to be "KFC" but those, for a perfect example, are names I will never ever tolerate. Ever >: )
Also, a more relaxed rule I guess, is that I don't really like giving animals regular people names. One because people names are boring, and two, in case I ever meet someone with the same name. Another example is my dad's step sister in law who named her pig the same as him.

To be fair, we still don't know if it was on purpose or purely accidental.
(So just in case.)

 

[RiverOtter]

Here, we are superstitious about naming birds. It just seems that naming one is like the kiss of death. Something always happens to a named bird. It's almost uncanny

 

[Tofu the chicken]

Hello, great idea! I name my chickens all of them (although I don't have too many) I don't have any superstitions or taboos but I just name them names and I take suggestions from all my friends and sometimes they name them, in my flock the names I have are, de'shawndra, dexter, andrew Jackson, s'mores, frodo, squeaky, and Clarence, and I had to get rid of two white silkie roostera named marshmallow and tofu, I like naming all if them because they are all unique, with their own personalities I think they all deserve names

 

[centrarchid]

I keep names short / monosyllabic with hard consonants at start and finish. This makes sounds easier for birds to recognize I think.

 

[Love my chickens 25]

All my chickens have names but my rule is I never reuse names like after one dies if I sold it I may use the name maybe not. I may be crazy but that’s my way

 

[pibb]

If I had a mixed flock where it was easy to tell who is who, I would give mine exact names I guess, but I don't. I have a straight flock of white leghorns. While there isn't many, I do give them the names of whatever color zip tie I put on their legs. For example I have Ms Black, Ms White, Ms Green, Ms Yellow, etc. If I have a rooster, I do give him a name and is probably best not repeated here.

 

[AllenK RGV]

Here, we are superstitious about naming birds. It just seems that naming one is like the kiss of death. Something always happens to a named bird. It's almost uncanny

Agreed! However my wife doesn't understand and we're discussing specific birds to go broody it does help.

 

[Painted Calls]

I name all of my birds, or rather my kids do. There have been a few times I've had to step in and offer different suggestions or have them pick a different name. We don't recycle names. Too confusing.

Now if I had 50+ birds, names would only be given to the special ones. Just like with our cattle.

 

[astrelec]

Hello! I'm doing some research for an article I'm writing, and would love to get some first-hand responses from those who have chickens, as I do not.

Do you name your chickens? What names do you call them? Are any names recycled in your flocks? Are there any superstitions about naming chickens? Are there any taboos? What tips or suggestions do you have for naming your birds? Do you choose NOT to name chickens, and if so, why? Do you make a point to give every bird in your flock a name (even in larger flocks of 100+)? Is there a cut-off point in numbers, where it simply becomes too much of a hassle to name all of your birds?

By answering, you give consent to the use of such details. Credit for experiences to be given according to your user name, unless otherwise specified. Many thanks!

(Admin, apologies if this is in a bad place. Could you please move this thread to a more appropriate area? Many thanks!)

I don’t have any chickens, but recently I got four ducklings. We have a joke in our family where every pet we have gets an “old man name.” We have had five dogs with such names. I continued this with our ducklings. (even though we don’t know the gender)