Momma loves her babies!
Welcome to the grand opening of the new Penelope Silvers blog! PhilosBooks.com was my home for several years, but I’m going to kick off my shoes and rest here for awhile. More importantly, to kick off this momentous event (sans balloons or hors d’oeuvres), I’m sponsoring a contest! A “Name the Chicken” Contest, to be precise. The top two names (by a vote) will receive this amazing book, “The City Homesteader,” to assist in a self-sustaining lifestyle–even if you live in the city!
Here’s the book description from Amazon:
“The City Homesteader is the handbook for the world of self-sufficient living. It’s about living tangibly in a virtual world. It’s about being resourceful, saving money, reducing consumption, and increasing self-reliance. Join the many who are raising backyard chickens in the city and tilling their side yards: tapping into natural energy, managing homes more efficiently, and getting back to the earth.
Explore the homesteading arts: gardening on small and large scales, raising dwarf fruit trees, sprouting grains, smoking meats and fish, grinding grains for flour, making cheese, making wine, cellaring, heating without fossil fuel, harvesting rainwater, composting, and much more.The City Homesteader provides all the basics, including how to find supplies and step-by-step instructions that make it easy to follow along. Original illustrations throughout help you create your very own homestead on any piece of earth.”
Why Chickens?
A little backstory. In 2013, my husband had a stroke and if that wasn’t enough, I had surgery for breast cancer–a year later–almost to the day. Due to these health crises, we had a decision to make. Our goal was to live as healthfully as possible, beginning with our own eggs. The tiny flock kicked off with 14 chickens, three died, and six chicks were recently added. Take note: when you purchase chicks from Rural King, you must guess as to the breed. Oh, and pray you don’t get a rooster (which happened to us in our first batch).
Our best estimate is that five are Black Australorps, but the speckled black and white may be a Barred Rock. Let me know if you have another guess. These little ones have now joined the ranks of Opal, Goldie, Tweetie, Jane, Puff, Patty, Lucky, Lady, Slick, Peach, and Peanut. In no particular order, they are Easter Eggers (blue or green eggs), Araucanas, Ameraucana, Welsummer, and a mutt (Puff). She’s our scrappy chicken and will push the limits every time.
As older sisters, they’ll probably pick on and peck the heck out of the newbies when they’re finally intermingled, but for now, glorious peace.
Name the New Chickens
Here’s what you do: Reply in the comments with your names, or tweet them to me at @Philosbooks with hashtag #chicknames and I’ll pick winners of the top two names on October 15. Each will receive their very own City Homesteader guide. In addition, I’ll publish your bio and pic on this blog (unless you’re very shy)! Best of luck to everyone.
By the way, they’ve grown considerably since this post. They are looking and acting more like teenagers every day.
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6 (The Runt)
The following is courtesy of My Pet Chicken Website here:
AustralorpAustralorps are the Australian take on the Orpington breed. They are calm and friendly, and excellent layers of light brown eggs. The Australorp’s exceptionally soft, shiny black plumage has hints of green and purple in the sunlight. Peaceful and dignified, Australorps are an absolutely delightful bird which we highly recommend to anyone who wants a pet chicken that lays dependably.  |
Penelope Silvers is founder of PhilosBooks.com,
where Independent Authors are introduced to the World!
She is a freelance writer, publisher, and radio host of
Penelope’s Book Chat on Blog Talk Radio.
Lovely bunch of chickens!! They are named by their perceived personality.
1. Matilda — looks bossy, yet motherly
2.Priscilla _ seems a little nosy, named after a beloved friend of mine who died of cancer.
3.Cleopatra– Looks Queenly and will have initials of C.C.
4. Buttercup— just so cuddly!!
5. Tiffany– Such a beauty!! And knows it!!
Sigh, I don’t think I can ever eat chicken again.
I love those names, but Cleopatra will definitely become Cleo, and Priss, and Tiff. Sounds like high school prom queens! Love ’em! Thanks, Micki! 🙂
🎶 Chuck Chuck Chuck Chuck chicken, lay a little egg for me! I haven’t had one since Easter, and I’d like one for my tea … 🎶
It’s part of a British nursery rhyme my mama used to sing for us when we were kids! So, in honour of her, and her singing, I guess I’d call one ‘Babs’ – NOT that she’s ever called that but hey, some folk are- if they start of as Barbara that is!
Another for name would be ‘Ariel’: because it sounds good if they’re Aussie Australorps ! Of course, following on, if they’re from Orpingtons, and/or you’ve a little black & white gal, it’s going to have to be ‘Oreo’ !! Ok, they’re my thoughts anyway! Enjoy lovely ;))
That nursery rhyme is new for me, and I’m sure a lot of other folks here in the U.S.! Babs, Ariel, and Oreo. Such clever names! Thanks for sharing, Nicki! 🙂
Loved that nursery rhyme, never heard it before.
Isn’t it cute? Can’t you just hear the lilting Chuck Chuck Chuck….?
Now see if you had a rooster, Chuck is just perfect as a name!! lol
Let’s hope that doesn’t happen, Micki, or Chuck will be taking a trip to the critter auction! 😉
Now that’s mean. The ladies would be so happy, you’d get more eggs with a smile from them and a cock a doodle do. 😁
I vote for the Babs Ariel and Oreo submitted by Aurora Knight. Such creative names and easy simple ones for chickens.
I never was good at picking names for anything that I liked and even had Lots of help deciding on my children’s names. So I will just cast a vote on the names submitted. :)) That is my vote for now. Thanks for letting us participate in this fun contest. Love your blog Penelope!
Sharon B
So glad to see you over here, Sharon! I’ll make a note of the thumbs up for Aurora’s names. You’ll probably think of some names when you’re NOT thinking about it! 😀
This so reminds me of the good old days when my grandma had lots of chickens (too many to name actually). But this is a new day so here goes:
1. Blandie (not blonde, so bland)
2. Scrawn (not Sean, kind of lean lookin’)
3.Whatzit (curious isn’t she) out of space, more later
Hi Delo, Hopefully we won’t have so many that we can’t name. 😉 Thanks for visiting and leaving us to ponder on those very creative and curious names. I’m thinking of chickens out of a sci-fi novel. We’ll add ’em to the voting list! 🙂
Ha! Loving the ‘scrawn’ and ‘whatzit’!! In UK we have a crisp (your ‘chips’), called wotsits. They are a cheesy kind of maize crisp. So, altho’ your chucks are black, not the reddish colour, what little pecker doesn’t love maize?!! And Scrawn- too funny! Could happily be a name for any runt- altho’ we pray better days for that young missy, and not quite so scawn-y for long hey?! Thanks for amusing me & giving me a real good “cluckle” !! 😉 Axx
Thanks for the education, Aurora! We are surely learning lots about the Brits trying to name our lovely girls!
Ok I’ll cast a big vote that Priscilla makes it to finals
(to be called Prissy), and I can’t leave out the name Whatzit out by Delo. Thumbs up!
Who doesn’t have a vote from me yet? Ok and when you get a rooster I am with Micki on Chuck 🙂
Actually just name it after Micki – Mick the chick :)) lol too funny. Great contest Penelope!
Thanks, Sharon! I thought the contest would be fun, and when it’s finished, the girls will get new glamour shots with their new names. You’ll be amazed how they’ve changed. 😉
Thanks for stopping by to see us and vote, Sharon! I’ll make a note of those votes. We are off and running! 🙂
A chicken named after me!! All my life I’ve dreamed of this day. And every day that you feed her you will think of me. Just don’t eat her!!
You can name one after me. I tend to squawk a lot lately.
Okay! Mick the Chick. 😉
I am honored!!! (bowing)
“Hen r’ Etta; “Chick a’ Dee” ; “Mrs. Cluck Cluck”
xoxo
Wow! We have 2 Auroras! What a beautiful name…and such cute chicken names, too. 😉
When do we vote or do we do the voting. Running out of names now.Actually Chuck the chick works since females use male names all the time.
Hi Micki, We’ve been having votes trickle in all along, so you’re welcome to cast yours! I’m keeping a tally, and we’ll have a final voting on September 15, with the announcement of the 2 winners shortly thereafter. Tell your friends and family to get their names in! 🙂
Hello everyone! Hurricane Irma blew through here, but we are fine here on the west coast of Florida. I’ve been off the internet for 2 weeks (major withdrawals), so I’ve extended the contest deadline until October 15 to allow more people to visit and vote. Share this post to get votes on your names and win a book!
Here are the list of names. Please comment on your favorite here on this post. 2 Winners! 🙂
Matilda
Priscilla 1 vote
Cleopatra
Buttercup
Tiffany
Babs 1 vote
Ariel 1 vote
Oreo 1 vote
Blandie
Scrawn
Whatzit 1 vote
Mick
Hen r’ Etta
Chick a’ Dee
Mrs. Cluck Cluck
How many do we vote for?
Hi Micki, I’ve had people vote for more than one, so just pick your favorites. No limit! 🙂
We’ve got winners! Looks like our #1 submission was from Aurora, with 3 votes, and then we’ve got a tie between Micki and Delo with 1 vote each. I’ll be contacting each of you to send you a book, Thanks for being a part of our contest and for all the creative names! 🙂