Aaliyah: The grayish ones are called Blue Orpingtons. We saw pictures of them online and we're like, oh, we should get them because they were so cute.
[So do your chickens have names?] Nayshawn: Twilight, Luna, Teba, LeBron . . . .
Aaliyah: That one’s X. LeBron is laying an egg still. Teba is the white one; she’s named after a video game character from Breath of the Wild.
Nayshawn: That’s the same for Midna! Aaliyah: Midna is also named after a Zelda character, but from Twilight Princess. Nayshawn: It's Midna’s turn!
Aaliyah: The one Nayshawn has is Midna. She is a Cream Legbar, I think. She's a different breed, yeah. And she actually had a sister named Bruce named after Bruce Banner. But there was a possum that came and killed Bruce and scratched out Midna’s eye and her face. So you can see she only has one eye. She is the best chicken in the world because she's very calm, she's so soft and very cute, and she doesn't mind if you hold her.
[What are your favorite chickens?] Nayshawn: Midna and Teba. Sometimes they do something funny. I like them because I can hold them. I feed them lots of special chicken food.
Aaliyah: Ohh, they also love meal worms which are like freeze-dried worms. They're like treats for chickens, and Nayshawn . . . it’s like a moth to a flame. I have this really funny video of him holding the bag of worms and all the chickens are chasing him across the yard.
I do enjoy having chickens most of the time. They're very cute and it's really entertaining to watch them because they're so fluffy. It's like they have a really tiny head but a huge tail. And it's really fun to feed them. They’re just really funny to watch and they're so soft and they eat all of our food scraps.
[What do you not like about having chickens?]
Nayshawn: Nothing.
Aaliyah: When you hold them, sometimes they poop on you.
[What do you like about the neighborhood?] Nayshawn: I like the big statue at Northeastern. I like Peterson Park!
Aaliyah: My school’s in the neighborhood – Northside – so that's pretty convenient. I like on Bryn Mawr that there's a couple of cafes that are really nice that my friends and I go to. 711 – I've probably spent hundreds of dollars there. I also like how there are a lot of trees lining the streets and stuff. I think that's cool, especially in the summer. Things I don't like . . . I don't know, there are not that many kids my age. A lot of them are a lot younger than me. It's fun seeing all those little kids, although sometimes they're a lot.
[Is there anything else you’d like to say?] I think on Halloween this coming year, I think that people should get bigger candy bars. And I think you should include that.
Aaliyah and Nayshawn were interviewed by a neighbor in July of 2022.