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The "Ask Anything" to Nicalandia Thread

Are Chickens able to discern when their name is called? Or this is something to do when Humans giving names to their pets? In Nicaragua Chickens don't get to have names but more like nicknames based on their appearance.
I've never had a chicken that responded to their name, but I never really tried either.

I often give names to chickens or any other livestock animals just because it's an easy way to refer to them. (Faster to say or write "Basalt" than to say or write "the Barred Plymouth Rock hen with fuzzier barring than the others have.")

My names are often like nicknames based on something about the chicken. Examples: Goldie for feather color, Red for legband color, Biter for behavior, Goldie's Daughter for who her mother was.

Sometimes I'll just pick anything that sounds good or that occurs to me at the time, including foods, flowers, human names, mythological names, etc.

Some chicks get names when very young, others get named later when something stands out about them. Some get butchered without ever getting names. I occasionally give group names ("the Barred Rocks" or "Goldie's Daughters"), which sometimes turn into individual names if I butcher, rename, or rehome all but one of the group.
 
Are Chickens able to discern when their name is called? Or this is something to do when Humans giving names to their pets? In Nicaragua Chickens don't get to have names but more like nicknames based on their appearance and they are not used to address them but to distinguish them

Mine don't.

I *do* call them by name when talking to them -- I talk almost constantly while in the chicken coop and run in a calm, soft voice because I think it helps them to understand that I'm me and not a threat even if I'm wearing unfamiliar clothing -- but they care even less than my cats do (which is saying a lot).

I often give names to chickens or any other livestock animals just because it's an easy way to refer to them. (Faster to say or write "Basalt" than to say or write "the Barred Plymouth Rock hen with fuzzier barring than the others have.")

My names are often like nicknames based on something about the chicken. Examples: Goldie for feather color, Red for legband color, Biter for behavior, Goldie's Daughter for who her mother was.

Some of mine are named for food items as a reminder of their ultimate purpose, some are named for their roles in the flock (Rameses, the dynasty founder), some for band colors (Black-Yellow), some for their colors/characteristics (Blue Rose), and some oddballs, such as the California White, Repecka, whom I named for the cartoon character in my ventilation article.

Mocha is a Mottled Java. "Java" is slang for "coffee" in the US. Therefore the two Javas were name for coffee drinks -- Mocha, the darker one, and Latte, the lighter one.

I sold Latte last fall and I was going to sell Mocha, but all the people buying adult hens from my flock cull were new to chickens and had young children so I decided not to sell them a known biter who might end up hurting a child and making him/her afraid of chickens.

Back closer to the topic,

Mocha molted this fall and now has about 50% more white than she had before.
 
Are Chickens able to discern when their name is called? Or this is something to do when Humans giving names to their pets? In Nicaragua Chickens don't get to have names but more like nicknames based on their appearance and they are not used to address them but to distinguish them

I'm sitting at 70 chickens right now I'm pretty sure (it would take me some mental calculations to come up with the number for sure 🤭 ), and every one of them has his or her own name. Mostly name names; Athena, Reuben, Mavis, Pete, etc. but with some oddballs thrown in, like my old, old girl She Who Sleeps Standing Up. I can't say that they all know their names, however, as I'm a serial nicknamer with my animals. My cat, Casper, for example, is much more often called Fluffy Man, or Mr. Puff, or Puff Pants, or Mr. Cat, etc. etc. etc. than he is called by his actual name. With my chickens, it's 'sweetheart' or 'big guy' or 'you dummy' or 'darlin' or something else in that vein, all said with the most loving of intentions of course. ;) I think the ones I interact with the most get to understand what their actual names are eventually, but, other than that, my habits don't exactly help with them knowing what their names are so those names are more for my benefit than for the birds'. As others have said, though, they can learn to recognize a given name as much as a dog or cat does.


Mocha molted this fall and now has about 50% more white than she had before.

I have a Mottled Cochin hen who's looking to have done about the same with her most recent molt. Three of the four of them have always been primarily white, with the fourth being more black than white, but this last molt she's looking like she's gotten a lot more white on her.

Interestingly enough, my Ancona hen (another breed that is black mottled) has stayed pretty consistently black with about the same amount of white on her every molt, and she'll be 10 years old this year. 🤔
 
Interestingly enough, my Ancona hen (another breed that is black mottled) has stayed pretty consistently black with about the same amount of white on her every molt, and she'll be 10 years old this year.

Wow!

I've considered trying a couple Anconas because I like having a few white layers, but I'm rather enamored of the mischievous but not overly-flighty personality of my California Whites.
 
What causes these upright feathers? They've gotten more and more upright as he's aged and lost his comb. They're always up, he doesn't flare his hackles anymore with his age and their size
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Is it just because he's got the genes for long feathers?
 
Wow!

I've considered trying a couple Anconas because I like having a few white layers, but I'm rather enamored of the mischievous but not overly-flighty personality of my California Whites.
How would you feel about spitzhaubens, honestly? Mine lay as well as my leghorns and don't seem quite as nuts as most white layers
 
Wow!

I've considered trying a couple Anconas because I like having a few white layers, but I'm rather enamored of the mischievous but not overly-flighty personality of my California Whites.

I don't know if I would recommend Anconas based on my experience with her, honestly. She isn't what I would call flighty, actually she's very tame and human friendly, loves to sit in your lap (and I mean yours or your friend's or their friend's lap, she is absolutely not picky!) or be picked up and have her feathers stroked, but she's very meek with the other birds and was bullied pretty harshly when she was younger. She's reached the age where few are older than her so she finally is more intimidating than intimidated by the majority of the other birds, but her first couple years were pretty tough. But, of course, she's the only Ancona I have ever had, so who knows if that's a breed thing or just her.
 

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