Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Poultry and Pets => Chicken Chat => Topic started by: Vecten on March 08, 2011, 15:01
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I was talking to someone on the allotment at the weekend, he keeps chickens and is very knowledgable about chicken problems. I asked him if he ever visited this forum as I felt he could probably answer a lot of queries on here. He said that he had seen the forum but had been put off by the number of people referring to their chickens as girls, ladies etc.
I was a bit stumped by this, then noticed that most people who post here are female and that they do indeed refer to their chickens as girls or ladies (instead of chickens).
Does this put men off? I have never called my chickens girls or ladies (why would I want to?) so is this just a female thing?
Just curious really.
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Nahhhh, don't understand that! I have always called mine lasses (sometimes worse) or chucks.
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Should not really call them chicken but we do , my girls/hens are never ladies............. :D
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I usually call mine little b*****s but when they're behaving their my girls. :D
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Both me and my other half refer to our chickens as "the girls" and they all have proper lady names.
Two of my favourite names for them as a flock is either the feathery brethren or the feathery mafia, it does depend on what they're doing though!
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Mine are all being called Dave
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maybe we are a little sentimental about our hens. But we want whats best for them so they can gives us the bestest eggs ever.
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my posh dainty ones are called ladies, the others are my girls and the boys are called the boys of course ;)
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I call my the 'girls' probably to console myself that I am not the only female here. OH 2 boys and a half male dog!!! Without my 'girls I would be truly outnumbered!
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I can't see why that would put anyone off! I call mine the girls because.............they are girls! :)
steve
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If anyone is put off of joining in just because of what people call their hens then more fool them - their loss ::)
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Me too! They are the girls, or ladies but when they are not laying they are little s***s ! :lol:
Can't understand why anyone would be put off because he prefers to call them chickens and we don't.
Still, like they say, nowt so strange as folk!!! :D :D
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Mine are all being called Dave
Lol. That's odd because I call all mine Rodney. :)
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I think the reference to calling them 'girls' or 'ladies' is just pointing at a wider issue. I think the 'culture' of this forum is to treat our chickens as pets, or even part of the family, and become sentimentally attached to them. Obviously that doesn't suit everyone.
For some people chickens are simply a unit of production - eggs or meat. IMO there is nothing wrong with that, on condition they treat their animals humanely.
So each to their own. I will keep giving my 'girls' names, chatting with them while I clean their coop or feed them, and chat on here about their antics. If that puts anyone off, I'm really not bothered!
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I am a little confused because are hens not the female of the chicken world, would be very wrong to call them gentleman, although I do have a black hybrid who is very stubborn and it just comes naturally to me to call him a he.
I am married to a man with two sons and when I decided to have a cocker spaniel (which I have now have three) I insisted on them being girlies so I did not feel so out numbered. It is lovely now (because of neighbours) that my chickens have to be girlies too.
I think its a shame that the gentleman feels like that because he would probably have alot of useful ideas and be very helpful but after all they are ladies/girls/female.
chickway.
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Where's Hilfooter? What does he call his err... egg layers?? My hubby calls them the girls because that's what they are to us. :tongue2:
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I think the reference to calling them 'girls' or 'ladies' is just pointing at a wider issue. I think the 'culture' of this forum is to treat our chickens as pets, or even part of the family, and become sentimentally attached to them. Obviously that doesn't suit everyone.
For some people chickens are simply a unit of production - eggs or meat. IMO there is nothing wrong with that, on condition they treat their animals humanely.
So each to their own. I will keep giving my 'girls' names, chatting with them while I clean their coop or feed them, and chat on here about their antics. If that puts anyone off, I'm really not bothered!
Well Lindeggs, our chickens are either for meat or eggs, and I sell chicks and point of lay hens sometimes, and we grow turkeys for Christmas, but they are still all my babies, or my girls and boys until they go to their new homes.
But when one dies, unless its a favourite, it doesn't upset me as much as it does some peple on here, because mine are not pets (well I have the odd exception! :D) but they are still girls and boys! ;)
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Where's Hilfooter? What does he call his err... egg layers?? My hubby calls them the girls because that's what they are to us. :tongue2:
I'm here Jinty and my opinion is that women are simply more anthropomorphic than men.
I have studiously avoided referring to my chickens as "ladies or girls" for fear that you may discover than I'm in fact a girlie. However as Lineggs has now unmasked me in the "eggs sorting" post
http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=72609.msg827175#msg827175
as her mother. I have to admit I refer to my birds as "Ladies" in private ::)
HF
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mine are called chickens, i dont care that people called theirs 'girls' but it does annoy me when people write stuff like RIP chicken when one dies, i dont like to see my hens die but i dont understand how you can be in tears all day because of a chicken dying.
Maybe it's a perception of over sentimentality that puts him off. He is a retired farmer so animal husbandry is in his blood. I have to admit I often skip the 'My poor Gladys died after a long illness' posts (with all the messages of condolences).
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it depends on if your birds are pets or livestock. Mine are pets (all 40+) but if I hatch cockerels (as at least 50% of each hatching are) they stop being pets and become future dinners - they are still called my boys and those that I keep get named and revert from dinners to pet status.
As the majority of people on here treat their chickens as pets and will try their hardest to keep them healthy and will treat often regardless of cost they feel a great loss when this fails and as such I will comment on these posts just as I would if they had lost another much loved pet.
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Like Joy, I will often answer a thread about someone being upset about losing their pet chicken. Because I feel sorry for the person. I agree Tom the chicken is dead, but the person still feels that loss.
I did post when little Enery the silkie died because I was very sorry that it happened so soon after he got his 2 new mates. And I probably will when Rocky the Rooster goes, because everyone knows about Rocky and his rescue to us. :D :D
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Well I admit that my chickens don't have names... though I still call them girls and boys.
I probably see my chickens as half way between livestock and pets. I'm not emotionally attached to them like I am my cats, for example.
I do nurse the sick or injured ones; though I wouldn't resort to surgery.
Any boys that I hatch which are not suitable for breeding become walking dinners.
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Our chickens are called the "ladies" to distinguish them from the "girls" who are dogs and the "boys" who are the cats, terms all usually used to establish who has committed what crime! :D
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It depends if your chickens are pets or livestock. Mine are most definately pets...I shout 'ladies' and they come running. Its the same as calling you dog or cat bay a 'pet' name...excuse the pun :) Women are softer creatures, more in touch with emotions and have friendlier hearts, so it makes perfect sense for them to be cooing and ahhhring over their chickens and blokes to see the chickens as chickens. My OH refers to all 3 as chicken....plain and simple...as are men ;)
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my sablepoots won my oh round as they sit on him and chatter away. Now he can't eat any cockerels that I cull - more meat for me and the dogs then :lol:
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Where's Hilfooter? What does he call his err... egg layers?? My hubby calls them the girls because that's what they are to us. :tongue2:
I'm here Jinty and my opinion is that women are simply more anthropomorphic than men.
I have studiously avoided referring to my chickens as "ladies or girls" for fear that you may discover than I'm in fact a girlie. However as Lineggs has now unmasked me in the "eggs sorting" post
http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=72609.msg827175#msg827175
as her mother. I have to admit I refer to my birds as "Ladies" in private ::)
HF
WAHAAAA :lol: :lol: I seem to remember a post a few weeks ago referrring to red nail varnish and lipstick :lol: :lol:
By the way Anthropomorphic = the attribution of human characteristics to non-humans (had to look it up). Just like me calling my car Fergus the Frog. Err, wait a minute, frogs are non-human too. :D :D
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I think most people on here invest a lot into their chickens: they worry about housing, feeding, bedding, health and so on - as they would for a dog, cat, rabbit, snake or whatever.
The names (if the flock is quite small) are more to differentiate between birds - it's easier to refer to Henrietta than to say that one over there....no not that one......that one!
Whatever you put energy into caring for, you care about when it is ill or dies: there are dog bereavement counsellors, but the principle applies to any pet - it leaves a space where it used to be so we miss them.
We see ours as pets with a bonus! And the better we get to know them as individuals, the more of a hole they will leave.
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mine are called chickens, i dont care that people called theirs 'girls' but it does annoy me when people write stuff like RIP chicken when one dies, i dont like to see my hens die but i dont understand how you can be in tears all day because of a chicken dying.
Tears all day? I spent 2 night in tears over my little chook that was unwell and I thought I would have to dispatch. Hubby is a great big hairy builder (she's is named after his mum) and he felt the same. Maybe some people just care more about some things more than others? :(
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I really don't name any of my animals, even my cat is called cat. I do have a few chickens which look almost identical and to distinguish them I gave them leg rings so they get called red or blue.
I don't think I care for them any the less though. I guess it depends how you define caring. :)
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if you call them red or blue then you are calling them a name :lol:
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if you call them red or blue then you are calling them a name :lol:
I'm calling their legs a name. Does that count? :)
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Vecten - give up lad. Joyfull has got you kippered :lol: :lol: :lol:
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Vecten - give up lad. Joyfull has got you kippered :lol: :lol: :lol:
That's right Vecten Joyfull has a spell to turn you into a kipper as well as a toad it's not safe to bandy words with her. ::) I only managed to get turned back into a handsome prince after kissing several dozen beautiful princesses and believe me they take a lot of finding on this site! :tongue2:
HF
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:lol: :lol:
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Bah !! :mad:
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I give the chooks a name both past & present. At porridge time it's " GIRLS - PORRIDGE" & they come running.
I have to deal with illness, vets everything with all our pets. My husband is hopeless - cries, the works. ::) With humans - he's a hard one.
We had a fox attack & lost 4 birds - I had to go & retrieve the bodies at 4.30 in the morning while OH stayed in the house.
I recently had to dispatch my last very ill ex battery chicken & it did really upset me. It didn't help it not going to plan! I thought it wouldn't bother me too much but it did, so underneath I guess I do see them as part pet /part livestock.
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Bah !! :mad:
Don't let them get to you. Ignore it. ;)
By the way.... I call my chicken: raw, cooked, roast or boiled... Not very inventive but tastes lovely once the weekl;y shop's done. :lol:
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Bah !! :mad:
OMG :ohmy: :ohmy: Have you turned Vecten in to a sheep Joyfull :unsure: :(
HF
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you know the strength of my powers HF - anything is possible :lol:
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Bah !! :mad:
No spitting the dummy out Vecten :lol: :lol:
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Very rarely venture into here but the title caught my eye!
Docile, cuddly, a bit dopey, potentially both friendly and quite lovable are my immediate impressions (can't speak for the chickens though!) :wub:
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Very rarely venture into here but the title caught my eye!
Docile, cuddly, a bit dopey, potentially both friendly and quite lovable are my immediate impressions (can't speak for the chickens though!) :wub:
You've obviously never lived with one while in the menopause......you're opinion WILL change. Stick to the chickens.
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Mine are all girls so are referred to as the "girls" or "ladies". My OH has a collection of farm vehicles ( rust really !! ) and he's got female names for all of them !!