Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption
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spicycauldron
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If you name your hens, what are the names?Just for fun this one! I know some don't name their birds, especially if they're going to eat them, but those of us who do... name them, that is...
What names do you currently have?
We just lost Hyacinth (named after Hyacinth Bucket in 'Keeping Up Appearances'), and still have Hermione (as in Harry Potter), Galadriel (Lord of the Rings), Guinevere (King Arthur). That's the ex-bats out of the way. And then there's Gypsy Rose (our Buff Orpington-Cuckoo Maran cross), Buttercup (our Buff Orpington), Ghostie and Elizabeth the First (our lavender araucanas), plus Dietrich and Hepburn (our Cuckoo Marans, named after two very glamorous film divas, of course!).
No idea what we will call our Faverolles when they arrive next month, but am thinking maybe it's time for 'Doctor Who' names to make an appearance... Sarah Jane and Leela, perhaps? 
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spicycauldron
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And do any of your chooks actually know their names? Of ours, only Galadriel - she of the paving stone crush miracle survival episode! - knows her name, and I think that's because she spent so much time in the human-house getting to know us very well.
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jocorless
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You know most of ours but I'll post them anyway - We have Nellie, Norah, Nettie and Nancy the ex-bats - then there is Lucy the Cream Legbar, Lilly and Lulu the Lavender Araucanas, Dax the Wheaten Marans, Piper the Cuckoo Marans and Paige the Copper Black Marans (the 3 marans were going to be Piper,Paige and Phoebe but the Wheaten looks more like a Trill with all the speckles) and then we have the Barnies - Who tend to get called the Twins cos you struggle to tell them apart but their names are Helga and Ingrid cos they are a Dutch breed and stomp around the run honking like geese
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Green Rosie
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Of course our chooks have names  - there's Mrs Crossbeak, Mrs Blacktail, Blondie, Norma, Mabel and Chicken Licken  . At the moment the 2 Mrs's are our star layers.
(But we haven't named the cockerels as they are going in the freezer soon  )
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Mary-Jane
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Our first pair were calld Trinny and Susannah.
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Chez
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I don't name them now, because of the eating-thing. But we still have Mary and Sandra, who were named after our adoption social workers .
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Marionb
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Are you actually able to tell them apart? (Assuming they're the same breed etc of course).
Mind you I suppose they say the same about sheep - all look the same, but I can identify most of ours (except when they've just been shorn...  )
Hubby had 6 hens, I recall one was called Henneth Penneth.... 
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Kinnopio
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When I was a youngster me and my brother called one of our chickens Tree Bum Fluff.
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vanessa
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We never intended naming ours, it just kind of happened 
Tweety ... our first ever hatchling, who tweeted like mad both in and out of the shell
Pip, who's shell was "pipped" for ages - turned out to be "one coq too many" and too small to eat, so went to live at a neighbour's ... has a distictive crow, so we know he's still there
"Boo" - a surprise hatch, didn't think any more were going to come out, and then next morning, there was Boo, all fluffed-up and gorgeous. Sadly Boo only lived to about 10 weeks, found him dead in the brooder-run one morning.
Twinkle was the final hatchling from our first batch, named by MOH who just wanted to call one Twinkle ... turned out to be a huge Welsummer coq who got agressive and ended up in the pot. Delish he was, too
Neighbours then rallied-round - one hen, 2 coqs, needed more hens! We were given 2 black hens, a black-and-gold bantie, and a speckled Sussex. Names didn't take long ... the 2 black ones were Higgledy and Piggledy; still got Piggledy, an excellent broody, but her sister neither laid decent eggs nor stuck at broodiness, so she went. The bantie became "Goldie", and the Sussex is "Squeak" ... cos she looked a bit like Pip, so Pip-squeak
The next hatch turned out to be all coqs bar one, but they were named (and subsequently eaten), again by chance. The one hen is a beautiful bird, identical to her speckled-Sussex mother, except she's a gorgeous golden-brown and black. She was "the auburny one", which got shortened to Aubrey ... yeah, I know, it's a man's name
2 hens hatched by a broody became Buffy and Angel ... one is buff-coloured, so the other one became Angel.
Our coq (a beautiful Cream Legbar coq) is Beaumont, so named because that's the little hamlet where he came from. Gets called Monty for short.
And there the naming has kind-of ended for now. We had a batch of a dozen raised by Piggledy ... one coq is "Vivien" after Vivien in The Young Ones ... he has the most amazing punky hair ... but the 5 coqs are all being fattened for the pot, so they're just collectively referred to as "the turkeys"... don't ask!! The hens from that brood are mostly CLB X Welsummer with a second CLB crossing, and they look so like CLBs that we can't tell them apart.
Now, we're focussing on building the CLB flock, and apart from "wobble" who had a splayed leg as a day-old, and still has a twisted toe from the experience, the hens are all identical. 2 young coqs from the same hatch are "the twins".
Phew! Are you still awake?
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VM
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I really like the idea of yours being called after social workers, Chez - we haven't named most of ours yet - they just don't quite seem individual enough - but that opened up whole new vistas for me...
We're getting two of Chez's Barnevelders in a while - and we know that they will be called Raymond, after the Dutch champion darts player, Raymond van Barnevelder.
The only one of our five to have a name so far is the youngest and bossiest, the Rhode Island Red. She's called Claire, but the story behind it is too complicated and confidential to tell you...
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JB
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Do any of you name your hens _and_ eat them?
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Mrs Fiddlesticks
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we tend to pick old fashioned names so currently have a Mabel and a Prue. (This week we lost Winnie - Richard W is right, warren types don't last long) They are collectively known as the Flapper Girls cos they're a bit flighty and shouty about things
Previous incumbents have been Henrietta, Matilda, Queenie, Ruby, Chutney and Flossie
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Andrea
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We've just had a wwoofer who's only contribution was to name the chickens. the only three I can tell them apart are Mabel, Gladys and Linda (linda in Portuguese is beautiful).
The cock is called Petunia for some unfathomable reason.
They seem to respond to yerbugger though, or stockpot.
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mooominmama
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we have 2 black hens called frightened amelia(for fairly obvious reasons) and davros (she is a girl, but quite scary) and 2 warrens called dagmar (unused name from baby name list - we had a boy! boyf didnt like it much anyway) and carmela (my favourite character in the sopranos, we're working our way thru the collection of dvds)... ...i can tell them apart, but boyf cant...
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mochyn
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We name ours whether they're for eating or not.
Currently there are: Nemo (no name: she said she was Gwaihir the wind lord, I said that was silly for a chicken, she said OK she didn't want a name at all); Jones (like Cpl Jones, goes round shouting don't panic); Higgledy (Piggledy, her sister, got eaten); the Hatties (2 identical birds with nice combs), Dennis (eyebrows); Captain Creaky (because he crows rather creakily) and Cotton (a silikie: looks like a cotton wool ball).
Ducks: the cloudy birds, Cirrus and Nimbus (lavender Muscovies); Uri and Valntina (Black Muscovies); Blofeld, Bronwen and Blodyn (Chocolate Runners); Bib & Tucker (Black variety Blue Swedish); Ysbryd (grey Runner); Siocled (dark brown Runner) and pwdin & Pie (mixed).
Pig: Heulog (Large sunny-natured Tamworth sow): Scrap (the runt from the last litter) Ivanova (she just says that's her name) and Ambiwlans.
Don't ask.
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vanessa
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We do eat what we've named ... which isn't quite the same as naming what we're planning to eat Only reason for not naming those we're planning to eat is laziness
Forgot one hen ... Lucky ... so named cos she was the only survivor of a batch of 5 CLB x Welsummer. Nearly identical to Angel, but Lucky has a bigger quiff.
And the ducks ... not all named, cos most are identical; mother is Jemima (was feeling unimaginative that day ), her "mate" (no the father of her children) is Sid because he hisses all the time. One girl duckling is Susan because she's only got one eye (there's a flower called one-eyed Susan), and one boy duckling is "Spot" because he's got a spot in the middle of his back - you can only see it when he flaps his wings though We will be eating Spot at some stage.
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hedgehogpie
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Loppy, dippy and Miss P (little miss 'Purty - and she knows it).
Basically descriptive names to help us tell them apart, Loppy has a wonky comb, Dippy just is, well Dippy and Miss P sashays around being gorgeous and would probably spend all her time glued to a mirror if she had one.
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Pel
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Ours aren't really names, as in general they are greated as 'hello ladies/girls/chucks' one is called floppy, as its got a floppy comb, squeaky as it squeaks rather than make a hen noise, and loud one as she talks really loud and is the boss.
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Rosemary Judy
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Sage, Rosemary ( Rosie chicken ) and Thyme...... cos that is what they will be cooked with when their egg laying days are over....
Mr RJ is not sure about the fate of Rosie - chicken......
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StuP
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We didn't intend to name them initially but needed some way of working out which one we were discussing. So, the Welsummers are Stripe, Pale and Middle (aka Other who happens to have more personality than the others put together!) and the Silver Grey Dorkings are Silver and Dork.
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Calli
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The long term residents are named but the yard stock tend to be a general blanket term......
GBH and Mrs GBH - American Game
Jose and Mrs Jose - Spanish Game
Caesar and Mrs C and son Shameless - Shamo
Sultan and his harem - raven onagadori
Cap'n Jack and Elizabeth - daughter's yokohamas
And this morning a new Welsh section A foal - called Hebe
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Cho-ku-ri
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Our black cockerel is called 'Wemyss'
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Mrs Fiddlesticks
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| Calli wrote: |
And this morning a new Welsh section A foal - called Hebe
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bless - and a photo?
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jackiet
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Martha, Maud and Matilda!
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Calli
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Andy,
Next chickens can they be Sybil and Oscar.......I just know you are missing a few new arrivals
Coppernicus? ( french maran obviously?)
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chrissy
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We have Lucky, who is. She was the only one who got away from the fox. Jocelyn, who is black and gobby ( no offence to anyone - it just fitted), and Plank, although she is coming along nicely now. And one who is still sadly unnamed. 
Hello, after ages away chaps!
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Green Rosie
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| Rosemary Judy wrote: | Sage, Rosemary ( Rosie chicken ) and Thyme...... cos that is what they will be cooked with when their egg laying days are over....
Mr RJ is not sure about the fate of Rosie - chicken...... |
I really think Rosie should be spared the pot 
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