Thank you so much for all the kind words! And LOL!!!! TheSitcomGirls! Until this very moment I never realized that in fact a good part of my life of late is like a sitcom at times. But that is not where the name really came from! I have always given names to all my animals no matter what. I still remember the tent caterpillar I had when I was ten. His name was Fred and he did quite well is his fishbowl with the choke cherry tree leaves I fed him. That was until the day I added a beautiful beetle to the bowl that I named Crunch. Crunch ate poor Fred. Crunch was gorgeous, shiny and green-the most beautiful beetle I had ever seen. I proudly showed him to my aunt the entomologist. She told me Crunch was a "dung beetle". I was still proud of my beetle after that although not entirely comfortable with his lifestyle.
When I decided to get chickens I wanted them all to have names. But because hens of the same breed often look exactly alike I decided to name all my hens after female sitcom stars. I could associate different shows with different breeds so I wouldn't forget! Then it wouldn't matter quite so much if I mixed up the names within the breeds. The names would be interchangeable! My first four chickens were Lavern, Shirley, Lucy and Ethel. Lavern and Shirley, who are my avatar barred rocks, are still with me and I still can't tell them apart! But at least I have a 50/50 chance of calling them by the right name! Sadly Lucy and Ethel have both passed away. They were RIRs and very friendly, gentle birds. I miss them. I joined Backyard Chickens so I could learn to take of my babies and TheSitcomGirls seemed to fit!
I have 30 chickens now: Blanche Devereux, Dorothy, Rose, Sophie, Maude, Florence, Olivia, Wilma, Betty, Edith, Gloria, Mama, Eunice, Ginger, Mary Anne, Diane, Carla, Janet and Christy.
Then of course there is Spock, Counselor Troi, Warren and Mrs. Harding. Then I have Blackie, Bonus, Lucky, Alice and Peg who didn't end up with sitcom names.
Now who am missing? This is embarrassing! Rather than just make up any old two names I'll have to take a look in the coop and get back to you!