KW Homestead

Pasture Raised Poultry & Edible Landscaping Plants Since 2013

Tag: names

Naming More Bantams

Since the hawk attacks a few days ago, we’ve recounted and realized that another bantam was taken, Perry, the pretty little one who looked like a hawk herself. This realization was another blow… Especially one that made me feel guilty. Why hadn’t I noticed that she was gone? And how long had she been missing from the flock before I noticed? These questions were bothering me, so I decided to take a very careful tally of everyone who is left to be sure that I have my numbers right in the future if an issue ever arises again.

Related to this, the four black bantams that are still living with the standard chickens had never been named. Early on, there was 6 of them that all looked the same without any major markings to distinguish them. Now that there are 4, I decided that it was high time for me to spend some time observing them (like I did with the new bantam flock) so I could give them names. When they have names, it is much easier for me to remember how many there are and to watch out for them accordingly.

So as an overview for myself more than anything else, there are 12 bantams that are living in the bantam mobile. They are:

  • From the new flock: Elvis, Presley, Red Wing, Robin, Ringo, Poka, Oro, and Churo (8). The 2 from the new flock that hawks took were: Teeny and Perry.
  • From the original flock: Vanna, Q, Bren, and Cleo (4). The rooster from the original flock that the hawks took was Roosty.

There are 4 bantams living in the standard pen, they are:

  • Sola: She has the smallest comb of all and it is very gray. She has no head tuft.
  • Media: She has medium-sized comb that is pink. She has a medium-sized head tuft.
  • Caper: She has a large comb that is gray. She has a large head tuft.
  • Hattie: She has a large comb that is red. She has a large head tuft.

There are 16 standards living in their pen with the 4 black bantams. They are:

  • Rex the rooster
  • 8 Barred Rock hens
  • 7 Buff Orpington hens

So now we at least know how many we have of each (since I always tend to forget). Let’s hope we have better luck in the coming year with keeping an eye on our poultry!

.:.

naming the new bantam chickens!

i spent part of the afternoon outside, sitting on an indian blanket from the wedding, looking at our new bantam flock. they seem to be having a fine time inside of their new bantam mobile, and since their space is small and contained, i was able to get a really close look at all of them.

first of all, roosty is the leader of the new flock, and he has 4 of his old ladies with him: brin, who is brindle and just had a brief stay in the chicken spa because she was molting and looking ugly; q, who looks like a quail and is named after one; vanna, who has a white neck on a black body and is named after vanna white; and cleo, who is very broody and has a long black tuft on her head and a bright golden neck (so we named her after cleopatra).

i wanted to give the new hens names, but first i had to spend some time observing them and taking notes. at first they all looked alike to me, except for the hen now named perry, who has no comb or tuft of hair on her head and seriously looks like she is a sneaky hawk who has gone undercover with the chickens! some of the new hens have features that distinguish them from the rest of the flock–features that are very unique and noticeable in the crowd–but others have features that are similar to their mobilemates and thus needed to be observed more closely to tell them apart from one or two look-alikes. so i made this chart (i am an organizational nut at heart):

S Gray/S Black = speckled gray/speckled black

Neck color

Body color

Tuft on head?

Comb type

Other

Name

Gold

S Gray

Yes

Pink, big, crooked, floppy

Elvis

Gold

S Black

Yes

Pink, small, crooked, floppy

Presley

Gold

S Black

No

Pink, small

Orange wings

Red Wing

Gold

S Gray

No

Pink, small

Orange breast

Robin

Gold

S Black

Yes

Pink, small

Ring of missing feathers around her neck

Ringo

Gold

S Gray

Yes, very small

Pink, big

Orange spotted wings

Poka

Gold

Black

No

Pink, big

Oro

Gold

Black

No

Gray, small

Churo

Gold

Black

No

Gray, small

Small bodied

Teeny

Gold

S Black

No

None

Looks like a hawk

Perry

The traits that are highlighted in blue are the traits that played the largest factor in giving them their name. For example, the two with the very floppy combs were hard to tell apart until i looked more closely at comb size and the direction it flopped over their face. they both looked like they had elvis-like hair to me, so i named the one with the largest comb elvis and the one with the smaller comb, presley.

red wing, robin, poka, and ringo were easy to tell apart from the crowd, since they had deep orange wings, a deep orange breast, deep orange polka-dotted wings, and a ring of missing feathers around their necks, respectively. ringo‘s missing feathers were from getting her head stuck through chicken wire for an entire day before my dad noticed and could free her. hilariously, she still has the featherless ring!

oro and churo look very similar to the matronly cleo, so i decided to give them names with similar sounds. neither have black head tufts like cleo, but they both look like less regal versions of her anyway! teeny is the smallest-bodied of all, and has a really tiny gray comb, and perry, like i said, looks just like a hawk (named perry after the peregrine falcon).

and there you have it… our new chickens’ names. proof that even within a batch of seemingly similar things, you can tell those things apart if you sit and look long enough!

.:.

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