When we first decided to keep chickens, we raised eight of them in our backyard shed-turned-coop. Three of them ended up being roosters, so we ate one and gave the other two away. We only named one of those original five hens (who were killed by a hawk unfortunately). Not sure why we didn’t, but we usually just referred to them as “the brown one” or some other feature.

We then bought five laying hens from a local farm and let our toddler name them! Honestly, she did a great job and it’s so important to give your pets names. When we first moved them into their new home, they were extremely skittish, impossible to pet, and so fast. They also ended up going through molt right when they moved in; meaning they were not laying eggs, losing and re-growing feathers, and building up their nutrient reserves. It is a very painful process which tends to make them not want to be touched. But they are coming out of molt and starting to lay again.

There are so many benefits to keeping chickens, one of them being that your toddler will learn a lot about the food chain, life cycle, and death. But another good reason is that keeping chickens is fun for kids. Names are definitely fun! Here’s what our daughter came up with.

Meet Pepper

Pepper is a Silver Penciled Wyandotte, which is an American breed that does really well in the cold due to their short combs. She lays light brown, large eggs (often double yokes) and is very gentle. Our daughter really loves to help in the kitchen so salting and peppering food was most likely at the forefront of her mind when naming this girl.

Meet Lavender

She is definitely our friendliest hen and jumps about a foot off the ground for a cracker. She is a Sapphire Gem, which apparently is a new Czech breed; not much is known about them yet. She was the only hen laying for awhile and lays large brown eggs. Lavender is named for her coloring (as you probably guessed) and also just because my daughter likes that word. She is cold weather hardy and loves free ranging around our fenced-in, suburban backyard.

The other day, we were going outside to give the hens a treat but only counted four. We figured she was probably laying, but she wasn’t in the coop when we checked. So we walked around the neighborhood for awhile and then my daughter suggested we check the garage, which had been closed for several hours at that point. I thought that was a pretty unrealistic suggestion, but there she was! Lavender really loves to roam, especially on her own.

Meet Baby

We were told by the seller that Baby and Lavender are Sapphire Gems, but I’m now sure that Baby’s an Easter Egger. She’s laying light blue eggs and has white earlobes. I’m honestly a bit surprised she’s laying since her wattles haven’t quite come in.

I asked my daughter why she named her Baby and she said “she just looks like a baby.” And I’m not sure why exactly, but I see it! She’s still the most standoffish hen we have but we’re trying to win her over.

Meet the Two Blackhawks

I mentioned early that we only named one of our first five hens. She was a black Easter Egger and my daughter’s favorite chick from about three days old. We named her Blackhawk, so the two current black Easter Eggers are referred to as “the two Blackhawks.” My husband is also a Blackhawk pilot, which originally inspired the name.

They are known as Easter Eggers because they lay a variety of colored eggs. Ours lay a sage-like, blueish egg almost every day of the week, are extremely friendly, and great with the kids.

More Names to Come

We have six chicks that have yet to show their personalities; two California Whites, two White Leghorns, and two Golden Comets. Names TBD. Stay tuned.