What's in a name?

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We are often asked who names our residents and do the names have a special meaning? The short answers are…a few people and sometimes! Originally, when HEEFS was just starting out, and during the first few years, HEEFS founders Steve and Derek would name each of the residents. Now, it is more often the case that our Animal Care Supervisor, Andrea White, names new residents after she spends some time with them and gets to know their personality. Here are a few of the more interesting stories behind the names of some of our residents.

Nancy

Many of you may know that Nancy is, in fact, a boy. It is one of the quirks of chickenhood that the sex of the animal is not easy to determine until they reach sexual maturity. Upon his arrival, we thought that Nancy was a girl. Our vets confirmed this. And then…surprise! By the time we found out that Nancy was a rooster, he already knew his name and, well…if you can have a Boy Named Sue…why not a rooster named, Nancy?

James

One of our chickens from Farm X, James was in fact, female. Now, we’re not deliberately trying to confuse anyone when it comes to our chickens, James got her name as a direct result of being from Farm X. When the Farm X chickens arrived at HEEFS, they were originally assigned numbers and James was #007. Get it…007…James??? We thought it was clever.

Walter

Another one of our residents who has a non-traditional gender name is our chicken, Walter…also female. Some of you may remember our chicken, Heisenberg, had the same name as a character from the hit TV show , Breaking Bad. Sadly, Heisenberg passed away before Walter arrived, but Walter reminded us so much of Heisenberg that we decided to once again to reference the show with the name, Walter. If you find this all confusing, check out Breaking Bad and it’ll all make sense.

Summer

It’s been commented that Summer, our rooster with feathers the colours of a stunning fall landscape, doesn’t really suit his name. But one look at the shape of his gorgeous comb and it all becomes clear. (It was either name him Summer or Lisa Simpson…)


Jolene

When Jolene arrived from Farm X, she was housed in the area directly across a walkway from Captain Dan’s pasture. Whenever the Captain came outside, Jolene would go crazy! She would pace her fence, make lots of noise and generally try to capture Dan’s attention. She only did this with Dan, not with any of the other pigs. Clearly there was a piggy crush happening here and we all just imagined Esther breaking out into a heart-wrenching rendition of the Dolly Parton classic, “Jolene”, if she ever found out.

Fiona’s Piglets

Fiona’s piglets, Bradley, Iona, Robert, Winnifred, Zeke, Helen, Audrey and Benjamin were all named after Steve’s and Derek’s grandparents. Fiona’s ninth piglet, Penelope, was named for the white “P” shaped marking on her back.