Naming the Chicks

The past week has seen our beautiful little Silkie hens busy exploring their inside coop. Although they are still quite timid, I have managed to handle them quite a bit and even had one take a tentative peck at the chick crumb in my hand.

But their lack of names has been concerning me. Before I cleaned out their run this morning, I took them into the kitchen and let them have an explore. They didn’t venture far from the door, tentatively pecking at the food bowl a foot from where I was sitting. I watched them for a while and tried to think of different names without success.

Despite the chicks being so small, they do make quite a mess and it took me about half an hour to properly clean out their enclosure. My husband came up and we checked their feet. As silkies grow feathers on their feet, they can easily get very dirty. Pondering for a moment, he suggested that the white chick might be called Pearl. That got both of us thinking of different stones or gems to call the others. Nothing seemed to fit but I was struck with a flash of inspiration. Silkies are fluffier than any other breed of chicken, resembling fluffy feathery clouds. We could name the chicks after different types of cloud! Quickly, we decided that the littlest chick should be called Cirrus and the black one Nimbus. We debated for a while about the name for the grey chick. Finally, we decided on Stratus based on the colour of these clouds which are typically varying shades of grey. These clouds are particularly common in the UK – we specialise in grey overcast skies. Especially in winter!