By Georgia Osten
I’m not sure why, but the other day, my husband asked me if I wanted to have a chicken coup. I love animals, but chickens?? Number 1, they’re not cuddly; Number 2, they have these sharp beaks, & Number 3, they poop everywhere. Don’t get me wrong, I love birds though, I’ve had parakeets when I was a little girl. My first parakeet was Tinker Bell. Right? What else would you name a parakeet? The main thing I remember about Tinker Bell was that she flew into my bowl of Trix cereal one morning when I was having breakfast before school. Yuk!

When I got older, I had a few cockatiels. The only one I can remember was Pearl. We named her that because she was a pearly color and we had a beach house in Pearl Beach subdivision. The beach house was a vacation house, not our real house. When we came to the beach for the weekend, we’d bring Pearl and our dog, Ruby. Ruby and Pearl got along just fine. We would transport Pearl in a really small bird cage because she had her own “Beach Bird House” too.

So, the other day, my friend Karen stopped by my office to visit, and we got on the subject of her pets, of course, several cats, but the most interesting of pets, CHICKENS! I’m fascinated and the more I hear, the more I might consider having a gaggle of them. Sorry, just looked that up, it’s a Flock!

Karen told me all about her husband’s experience with this Flock of chickens. Karen just had to name them, after all, they are their pets. There’s Bo-Peep, Sue-Peep, Mo-Peep, Lou-Peep and “the Twins.” Don’t you just love it!?!

As a side note, y’all know I have some twin grand boys in my family, I call them “The Littles.” A little different, they’re people, not birds …

So, I asked Karen, how do you tell them apart? Well, she tells me, “Bo-Peep has a deformed foot, Sue-Peep has light yellow feathers, Mo-Peep is the loudest and “peeps” a lot, Lou-Peep has darker feathers, and the twins are identical in color so I can’t tell them apart.”

All this began about a year ago, Kenny and Karen decided to get some chickens. After much research, they purchased six Americana baby chicks. Now, I don’t know one chicken from another, so this would be a challenge for me. But they pampered them and played with them and they’ve bonded to become “one of a feather.”

Now, this brings up another memory of my father-in-law. Back in the day when the post office was where Little Schipper’s is, the post mistress called my father-in-law. “Earl, you got a package, and it’s chirping!” Bop & Mama jumped in their pickup and rushed to the post office to pick up their little feathered friends. I can really imagine Bop with a bunch of little peepers running around the Seahoose.

Karen tells me “The Peep Family” enjoys their time with Kenny, he’s their BFF, they cackle to him, kind of like purring, they nuzzle with their beaks (not so sure about that?). They tolerate Karen, picking at her jewelry. They love the buttons on Kenny’s overalls. The Peeps are “free range” chickens, they have the whole yard to explore. Whenever Karen & Kenny are downstairs, The Peeps follow them around, and if they sit, The Peeps will jump up in their laps to be held. They’re very friendly and smart, they never thought they’d have chickens as pets.

When they hear Kenny close the upstairs door, they know he’s heading downstairs and they’re there to meet him. They follow him around and supervise his every move. The Peeps don’t tolerate much of Karen, a bit of a jealous streak. They cackle loudly to drown her out when she and Kenny are trying to have a conversation. Although, when Kenny isn’t around, they will go snuggle with Karen.

By the end of the day, they go to their little home where they spend the night and are safe from predators. But, during the day, they stay in the yard and don’t bother the neighbors. Ah neighbors, Karen says this is why they don’t have a rooster. Too loud!

I don’t know, but I think the sounds of a rooster would be a good “wake up” every morning.

I may look into this “chicken” thing, but first, I think I’ll go over to visit with Karen & Kenny’s Peeps!

[GO: Oct-17-2023]