A guest blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

Ice cream was on sale at the store last week. I walked by the freezer without even slowing down.

I was so proud. Then I passed a second display – not fair.

The featured ice cream was “Texans Tackle Crackle.” The carton resembled a football and, although I am not a huge football fan, the name intrigued me.

I bought ice cream – and ice cream cones. It is very good ice cream. Vanilla with chocolate swirls and something crunchy – I’m guessing it is the “crackle.”

This got me thinking about names.

Not all of our chickens have names – which is good since we have thirty or so chickens. Only the ones with distinguishing characteristics have names. For example, Frizz.

FRIZZShe is a frizzle chicken who has quite an attitude. She needs to have a name – she has earned it by her tenacity among the bigger birds.

Then we have Crooked Neck so named for obvious reasons.CROOKED-2

We had one named Hurt Foot for equally obvious reasons but she died. We don’t believe the death was at all related to the hurt foot.

Samson is our rooster with very long feathers.samson

In case you aren’t familiar with the story, Samson was an Old Testament judge who never cut his hair as part of a vow to God. He was known for his strength among other less desirable traits.

Names can describe something as is the case with our chickens.

Names can also create a sense of curiosity like the Texans Tackle Crackle Ice Cream.

So what’s in a name? A lot more than you might think.