ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Naming your Chickens

Updated on September 5, 2013

The Red one, The White one and The Black one

The Red one, the White one and the Black one
The Red one, the White one and the Black one

Should Chickens have names?

In the beginning exciting stages of preparing for our chickens the first thing we did was think of names, they were to be Berry (Chuck Berry) Num (num-chuck) and Norris (Chuck Norris) but five weeks later they remained tagged as the Red one, the White one and the Black one (even though the red one is actually brown).

This was Hubby's idea and his reasoning was to prevent emotional attachment to the chickens. He thought that by giving them a name we were giving them an identity and personality and that we would grow more fond of them and see them as pets with benefits rather than small farm animals - which in turn would make it even more difficult when the time comes to dispatch them. Of course Hubby always knew it would be he who would do the task, I am simply not up to it, and this is his way of making it easier. Some people keep chickens until the end of their natural life as pets once egg production has all but ceased, but we only have a small coop and they are part of our garden as producers of eggs, not pets, and whilst the financial loss of feeding a non laying chicken is not huge, it does defeat the point of having the hens in the first place. They are hilarious to watch, dumb and smart all at once and they add small farm charm to our garden. When friends came over to meet the chickens, and once the novelty had worn off for their kids, they told us that it was so natural to see chickens clucking about in our garden that it was like we'd always had them.

Hubby has been challenged by a friend of ours to a bet. She has bet him that he will not dispatch any of the hens and that he will fall in love with them and not be able to do it. This bet unfortunately (for the chickens and her wallet) has only made Hubby more determined to do it when the time comes.

In my mind we have in fact named the chickens, but Hubby insists by using "the" in front of the designated colour that they are simply tagged and not named, it is a simple way of identifying them and therefore the line between pet and egg producer has been drawn. I do agree to a point but surely a name is a word that you use to identify a person or animal and putting "the" in front of it doesn't make it any less a name it just becomes part of the name.

I must admit that I thought I would have stronger feelings for the chickens, and at first when we spoke of the eventual dispatching of the hens I was a little distraught at the thought of it. I even argued with Hubby as I felt that since the first minute we got them all he talked about was the slaughter (not recognising that he was preserving his own feelings from day one). However as time has passed I admit I do not see them as pets and do not have any warm fluffy feelings towards them. They are brilliant, noisy and smelly, charming and clumsy and their resemblance to little old ladies makes me chuckle. I give them their food, water, treats and attention and they are becoming more tame and easier to handle (I am delighted that I no longer have to chase them around the garden tripping over my flip flops to catch them and can just place my hand above their body and they submit to being handled). They follow me around, come into the living room (occasionally poo on the rug) and only yesterday the Red one and the White one simultaneously jumped onto my lap to steal my sandwich out of my hand. BUT the difference in feeling for them compared to my feelings to wards my cats is vast and so I think I may just be able to cope with the dispatching when the time comes.

I know how this will end, long discussions of "when" after noting of egg decline in one of the hens, me pleading with Hubby to give the poor hen just a few more weeks - after all she might be under the weather and egg production may pick up. Ultimately I will be told to grow a pair, the hatchet will be purchased and Hubby will do the job whilst I hide in the bedroom with my fingers stuffed in my ears.

In the end, for me, it is not the name that makes a difference to how I will feel but the realisation that this is their life cycle, this is what they are made for - to provide eggs and meat and when you decide to keep chickens you just need to figure out what as, farm animals or pets and once you have made that decision its easy to know what to do.



Click thumbnail to view full-size

© 2010 Nic Bouchard

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)