Some students own dogs, some students own fish… and some students own peacocks? Teddy Noll, junior, has owned birds ranging from peacocks to quails to chickens to ducks in his suburban home. These not-so-typical pets certainly have a different impact on a family than a dog or cat would, so Bear Facts met up with Noll to see what exactly goes into caring for these animals.

How did you get into owning chickens?

Noll: My dad grew up in Iowa on a farm, so he had chickens while he was growing up. I started [owning chickens] when I was in kindergarten. We decided to hatch the chickens from an incubator for a class project. My dad and I got the eggs from Iowa from the people he knew. After kindergarten, we had some [chickens] at my house, and we didn’t keep them until fourth grade. We built a coop for them.

What did you do with the chickens before you decided to keep them?

Noll: We gave them back to where we got the eggs from. They used [the chickens] for eggs and meat.

What goes into taking care of the birds?

Noll: You have to feed them and water them, obviously. We let them wander in the day outside. We have to clean out their coop every few weeks, too.

What is the funniest thing that a bird has done?

Noll: We used to have a rooster that chased us as soon as we opened up the coop to let it out. Also, the peacocks we had used to fly up on the top of our house. It took an hour to get them down.