Peep, peep, peeeeep!

There is one question that my children will now be able to answer with complete accuracy for the rest of forever: "What does a chick say?"

"Peep, peep, peeeeep!"

This is the soundtrack of our lives. Our eight little "chicka-biddies" (as Lena calls them) are quite the noisy bunch. We keep them in a large plastic bin in the mudroom, and their "habitat" is one of the main attractions of our home at the moment. The kids wake up and run downstairs to check on them every morning, and flee the bakfiets as soon as I pull into the driveway so that they can check on them when we get home from school. I am surprised by how entertaining they continue to be. I am even more surprised by how much Lena and I enjoy playing with them.

Little "Peeper" standing on top of Mount Leo

One funny thing is that we all seem to be having trouble referring to the chicks with female pronouns. "He's so cute!" "He's the biggest!" "He's escaping!" We hope that the chicks are all girls--who will grow up to be hens and lay lots of blue and green eggs for us--and we assume that at least the majority of them are. But they do kind of look like boys. What does that say about gender stereotypes?

The other day we let the chickies outside on the grass for a bit while we changed the shavings in their plastic bin (no, I do not love the smell of having chickens in my house). It is hard to get a picture of them that doesn't involve a pair of hands reaching down to scoop one up.


Zeben has been a bird lover since he was a baby. "Bird" was one of his first signs, and he noticed birds and bird art everywhere we went. These days, he'll sometimes just say out-of-the-blue, "I love birds." He loves Robins and Mourning Doves and Chickens the best. He may never recover when we relocate our birdie house guests to the barn.



Jaz and Luke really like to see what kind of tricks they can do with the chicks. They are teaching them to fly, and to balance on things. Stuff a chicken needs to know how to do.



We've still got nearly three weeks left before we can move the chicks outside for good, and while I am definitely counting down the days, I'm sure that I will miss the peeping once its gone. Unless, of course, I'm so busy enjoying the sounds of our new human baby that I don't even notice.

If you haven't yet entered the bike t-shirt giveaway contest, it's not too late! I will pick a winner tomorrow morning, Thursday May 21st, at 9:30 a.m. EST. Thank you for all the great comments so far!