11308 Giving chickens names

The problem giving chickens names and observing their personalities is when they come to the end of their usefulness, ie no more eggs, It makes it hard to bring their life to an end. If we were still in England we would make pets of them and forget about eggs. But here in the paese in Sicilia our neighbours already think us mad as they say we could have up to 15 in the space we had 5 and get rid of them after 1 year,ours are 3 this year and one of them, who has been laying nearly every day has stopped for the last month. We also let them out to run around every day and they give us great entertainment, the neighbours were happy with this as they accept our surplus eggs from us, they have changed theirs 3 times last year and haven't had many eggs.:reallyembarrassed: We told our neighbours that their chickens have joined the chicken union an have gone on strike unless they can have the same conditions as ours,:laughs: but look at us and shrug their shoulders and say Inglese. Does anyone know of a home for retired chickens?

Category
General chat about Italy

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 01/02/2009 - 12:38

[QUOTE=gioiosani;106926 Does anyone know of a home for retired chickens?[/QUOTE]

This is a little cruel, but a Le Creuset pot comes to mind, but then I am a country girl at heart. If you want a protein source then never give the beasties names.

Can quite understand though, spent hundreds of pounds on my daughters pet rabbit, which include vets fees to cut its toenails and my father was in shock for days when he heard this. The only place for a rabbit in his view and most Italians is with a white wine and mushroom sauce.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 01/02/2009 - 12:54

I had a nice brown egg today from my 13 year old bantam! So chickens do not stop laying ever as far as I know.What does happen is that in July or August they do moult and regrow new feathers.This uses up too much energy and protien for a chicken to lay an egg so for at least 2 months there are no eggs.This is when chickens would be killed for the pot.

You can overcome this by having different varieties and by hatching chicks very early in the season (feb) so that they start laying when adults moult.Giving foods rich in protien will also help to lessen the time the moult takes.

I nearly always name our chickens although we never eat meat I can't see what difference it makes? If you can care about an animal before you kill it for food surely that's a good thing?

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 01/02/2009 - 14:46

[quote=gioiosani;106926]The problem giving chickens names and observing their personalities is when they come to the end of their usefulness, ie no more eggs, It makes it hard to bring their life to an end. If we were still in England we would make pets of them and forget about eggs. But here in the paese in Sicilia our neighbours already think us mad as they say we could have up to 15 in the space we had 5 and get rid of them after 1 year,ours are 3 this year and one of them, who has been laying nearly every day has stopped for the last month. We also let them out to run around every day and they give us great entertainment, the neighbours were happy with this as they accept our surplus eggs from us, they have changed theirs 3 times last year and haven't had many eggs.:reallyembarrassed: We told our neighbours that their chickens have joined the chicken union an have gone on strike unless they can have the same conditions as ours,:laughs: but look at us and shrug their shoulders and say Inglese. Does anyone know of a home for retired chickens?[/quote]

I'm totally with you on the naming issue and when we got our first 10 chickens last year and only 2 turned out to be hens, the anonymous cockerels all met their maker (to the delight of the 2 hens who had been enduring a daily ordeal or rape and pillage - although one seemed to enjoy it, the more timid one fled for safety on top of the hen house).

The 2 remaining hens at 5 months old then went into production, producing ever increasing sized eggs on a daily basis at 10am sharp. Then in July they stopped. Taking advice from our neighbour who told us they were "broody", they gave us 10 fertilised eggs, the result of which was just one chick that hatched on the same day my grandaughter Pippa was born. [ATTACH]2302[/ATTACH]

There was a similarity in hair colour and as we suspected the chick to be male, he was named Pippo!
[ATTACH]2303[/ATTACH]

Having made the mistake of naming him, we now have a glorious cockerel who is pretty much fully grown and is a truly wonderful looking bird.[ATTACH]2304[/ATTACH]
However, the thought of killing and eating him now, is another matter entirely. Maybe we will change our minds when his voice breaks properly and he starts getting randy with his 2 foster mums! We'll let you know.

We certainly won't be naming any more.

Russ
[url=http://www.lagrandequercia-abruzzo.com]La Grande Quercia Bed & Breakfast[/url]

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 01/02/2009 - 15:05

I think you can only name them if they are pets or egg only, for me it was breed to feed and when it started snowing I felt sorry for them and did the deed, can recommend cockerel curry!

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 01/02/2009 - 15:05

I agree that it is impossible for many people to kill an animal after you have cared for it and particularly given a name. I am currently minding our daughter's pet rabbit "Ninja" and this is not the first time this happens. Consequently, although I used to love to eat rabbit in the past I cannot manage to do it after this.... And Aretina, I agree that rabbits cost a fortune... at least this one also belongs to that group, international travel, vet's fees, "manicures" and even surgery as he had to have a toe amputated... Still, my daughter loves him so it is her choice.