We name all our chickens, but the chickens have to earn their names.  The geese don’t have names because they look very similar and behave as one unit.  We tend to name them between one and five weeks of age (few have distinct lifelong characteristics earlier than one week of age).  Sometimes, though, they don’t earn a name until they are fully grown. 

Every chicken has its own unique “chickenality” (personality), which is usually what they become named for.  Scuttle, our head rooster, disliked being picked up when we first adopted him.  He is very intelligent, and quickly learned how to evade being caught.  Whenever he saw us coming he would scuttle under the nearest bush!  Cluckey is one of the most talkative chickens we’ve ever had occasion to listen to.  Occassionally they are named for some unique physical characteristic.  Stubs lost a toe during her chick-hood.  Nina is smaller than her companions. 

Soon we’ll be getting about a hundred newly hatched chicks, and we look forward to learning what names they’ll require!