Given Name or Nick Name?

Our chickens are pets and pets need names.  So we spent lots of time coming up with a theme to give us some guidance when we first got out chickens.  And as you know, we settled on The Spice Girls, and have named all our chickens after items you'd find in your spice cabinet or in the spice aisle of the grocery store.

Today, we have Coco, Ginger, Honey, Sugar and Spice.

But I have to wonder sometimes why we bothered because we've come up with dozens of nicknames for the girls and rarely call them by their given names.

Coco was by far the cutest baby, almost all black with a white rump.  I still can't get over how tiny she once was when I look at her today.  All 7lbs of her baawwwking and telling me how it is.  And as you know, Coco is the only one who will answer to her name.  I'm not really sure whether knows that's her name or if she just knows that when she hears me call Coco, she'll get a treat.  But either way, it's pretty cute.

Coco as a baby chick.  LOVE her white fuzzy rump.

Coco was always staring at me.  I should have known she'd grow up to be the boss.

We also call her Big Girl, Jersey Girl, Bug, Coco Bug, Coco Nogalis and Snooki when she's bad.  Coco Naughty is uttered quite often.  She is a digger and can excavate out a hole the size of a toaster oven in a matter of minutes.  And we sometimes refer to her as The Boss.  After all, she is the boss.

Ginger probably has the most nicknames.  We called her Turbo when she was a chick.  She could motor through three inches of pine shavings down to the bottom of the brooder in seconds.  We also referred to her as The Pillow.  She would always push her way in between two of the other chicks to sleep and one would always wind up falling asleep on top of her.  And she is still referred to as the Baby because she's always been the smallest and kind of whiny like she wants her mama.

The yellow blob just under the thermometer is Ginger.

 Today, Ginger is called; Bug, Ginger Bug, Love Bug, Pill, Fatty, Blondie, Pineapple Princess, Grumpy Butt, and sadly, the Crazy Bitch.  She's had a terrible time accepting the three new baby Orpingtons into her flock.  And to this day, she still pecks at them.  Not quite as much and not as viciously as when I first introduced her to the babies.  I keep telling her that she needs to stop that because these babies are from a different blood line and are a good pound if not more bigger than Ginger.  And one of these days, they are going to realize this and peck her back.  And it breaks my heart to see Ginger bullied.
 
The babies are Honey, Sugar, and Spice.  They are referred to as The Bunkies most often.  They've been called the Three Amigos because they have been tight with each other since I brought them home.

Photo of The Bunkies about 3 weeks before they started to lay eggs.

Sugar is easy to pick out.  She in the middle in the above photo.  She's always been the biggest and today, has a set of wattles on her that would make many roosters jealous.  She does not like to be picked up or touched and lets you know it.  I call her Sugar Pie.  Sugar also bites.  I mean, really bites and has drawn blood on me a few times.  She'll grab a finger and hang on and pull.  She jumped up last week and bit me on the thigh through my pants and I was really bleeding when I got back into the house.

I'm gonna have to keep an eye on her.  I think she's got a bit of roo in here somewhere making her more aggressive.  But she lays eggs so she's definitely a girl.

Look at those wattles.  Does anyone have a BO with bigger wattles?  I swear they are nearly two inches long.

In the photo of the three of them, Spice is on the left and Honey is on the right.  Honey is also called Honey Bear.  That's really where her name came from.  She's the most affectionate and cuddly of the trio and you just can't help but want to squeeze her.  And Spice, we call Spicy.

The Bunkies don't have as many nicknames as the two adults but they will in time as their personalities really begin to develop.

Do you have nicknames for your hens?