Chantalle Ng now has pet chickens, jokes that mum Lin Meijiao won't let her name them 'Bai Zhan Ji' and 'Shao Ji'

It’s no secret that Chantalle Ng and her actress mum, Lin Meijiao are animal lovers.

Chantalle, 27, used to foster cats and dogs as a teen, and currently has two dogs, Dasher and Pretty, who were both adopted from local organisation SOSD Singapore, which is dedicated to rescuing, rehabilitating and rehoming stray and abandoned dogs.

However, Chantalle’s recent Instagram Story post announcing two new feathered additions to her home still caught us by surprise.

The Mediacorp actress spoke to 8days.sg, where we found out more about the fluffy chickens (who are still unnamed as of now), and how they’ve already captured the heart of a male suitor in the neighbourhood.

Chicken rearing's no walk in the park.

As it turns out, Chantalle’s friend is somewhat of an expert at rearing chickens, and when he mentioned that he was about to adopt 5 silkie chickens, Chantalle jumped at the chance to get two feathered companions of her own.

"I've always wanted to live on a farm, surrounded by nature with animals and plants. I follow a few personalities on social media who rear chickens and saw how cute these little animals are,” she shared with us through text.

It’s been a couple of days since then, but safe to say, the chickens have settled really well into their new home.

After all, Chantalle did buy and install an swanky new outdoor enclosure for the chickens on the very first day, and has been applying her newfound chicken-rearing knowledge when caring for them.

"When I first got my dogs, there was more settling in required, but the chickens fit right in. They're just happy to be roaming around and snacking on whatever I give them,” Chantalle shared, adding that she’s trying out a "Deep Littering method” for dealing with the chickens’ waste, which is "self sustaining and doesn't require a lot of maintenance”.

Naming dilemma.

And yes, Chantalle now gets fresh eggs to enjoy too, though she might not get eggs for much longer.

"My hens are 1 and 3 years old, and the older hen might stop producing eggs soon,” she shared, before adding a very timely Oscars reference: "That isn't a problem at all because like Michelle Yeoh said, "Ladies, don't let anyone tell you that you are past your prime”.”

Chantalle also added that her mum’s a huge fan of the chickens too, quipping: "Our new favourite activity is to check out what the chickens are doing. Let's just say they're egg-cellent new pets”.

However, Meijiao wasn’t a big fan of the names Chantalle came up with. Though Chantalle joked that she’ll name the chickens 'Bai Zhan Ji' (or 'white poached chicken' in English), and 'Shao Ji' (you guessed it, roasted chicken) in an IG Story, she clarified that she was just joking around.

"I don't think my mum will allow me to name them that,” she laughed, before adding that Meijiao’s name suggestion was "Love + Ly,  so together they're “Lovely”… but Chantalle’s not a fan of that either.

Chickens are friends, not snacks.

The actress went on to share that there’s just one (or rather, two) members of the family that they have to watch out for — Pretty, and Dasher.

Though Chantalle did share a short clip of her introducing Pretty to the chickens, she added to us that Pretty still has to be monitored when she’s near the chooks, as there's worry that Pretty might think the chickens are a snack.

As for Dasher, Chantalle let on that the 15-year-old’s "unable to see and hear very well”, and hasn’t noticed that he’s now sharing his backyard with a couple of chickens.

"I brought him to Botanical Gardens a few years ago and he wanted to attack the swans,” Chantalle explained. So, you know, it’s probably for the best that Dasher’s kept in the dark about the chickens.

Finally, there’s just one more individual that’s really ‘excited' about the new arrivals — a wild rooster that’s been strutting around Chantalle’s neighbourhood.

"He visits every single day and spends hours screaming at them,” she shared, before adding: "My chickens are super chill, they just carry on looking for worms.”

Here’s hoping they make peace with each other soon.

Photos: Chantalle Ng/Instagram