The Life and Times of a Library Chicken

Ingu Batyerreul • February 28th, 2026

The library is a home to books, computers and students studying, but recently it became a home to something a bit more feathered. Between textbooks and novels, a tiny, fluffy chick was born after an egg, bought from eBay by a student, was brought in by the librarians into the school library as a small educational project for students. The goal was to create a hands-on experience with the opportunity to learn about responsibility, animal care and life cycles. The egg was placed in a warm glass case, with student volunteers and staff working hard to monitor it and ensure that the egg was stored at the perfect temperature in order to hatch. The library, already full of knowledge, became a place where learning was happening in real time. Students visiting the library checked on the egg daily, learning responsibility by tracking its progress and looking after it. After three weeks in an incubator inside the cage, the chick finally hatched. Upon its arrival, a student vote was held to name the chick, ultimately resulting in the name Dr. Omelette Eggleston. Library aide Leslie White described students’ reaction after the chick hatched.

“I have never imagined that we would have our very own chicken in the library,” White said. “We ordered four eggs from Ebay with the purpose of reaching more student engagement. Only one hatched and that was Dr. Eggleston. We get a lot more kids coming in daily to see how the chicken is doing. He brings joy.”

As the news of Dr. Eggleston’s hatching spread, students rushed to the library to see the new resident. He immediately fit right into life in the library, chirping and curling up near the glass of the cage, welcoming any passing student or staff member that offered him a pet or a treat. Dr. Eggleston is cared for by the librarians, who make sure to feed and check up on him throughout the school day and at night he is taken back to a house of a student who bought the eggs in the very beginning. With Dr. Eggleston in the library, students often hear chirps and a steady stream of peeps while they are studying, reading or playing games in the library’s group work space. Sophomore Isabel Tsai, who often visits Dr. Eggleston in the library, shared her reaction when she first saw the chicken.

“I was curious and wondering why there was a live chicken in the library, but I think it’s very cute,” Tsai said. “It’s interesting how [the chicken’s] presence in the library helps many students to relax and take a break from the stressful day of school.”

As Tsai implied, Dr. Eggleston has become so much more than just a chicken, he has become a symbol of community who brings students together through each visit. Students worked together to raise Dr. Eggleston, learning valuable lessons of cooperation. He showed that, in addition to textbooks, learning comes from caring for others, in this case a library chicken. As Dr. Eggleston spent more time in the library, students bonded and created memories that will last well beyond their day to day classes. His presence provided a new and different type of learning by allowing students to interact with things they normally would not. Sophomore Rylie Liu who often visits the library, shared her experience watching Dr. Eggleston grow.

“I have never seen a chicken in real life before,” Liu said. “It shocked me how fast it grew. It was honestly very impactful for me, especially for biology. Watching a living creature evolve was fun.”

Dr. Eggleston’s time in the library came with a lesson and a lot of fun that left memories beyond the book shelves. What started as a way to teach students responsibility, turned into a story that connected everyone involved in Dr. Eggleston’s journey. Even when Dr. Eggleston eventually leaves the library and goes on to live at the student’s house, students will always remember the time when it was home tothe welcoming chicken. Not every school can say it raised a chicken in their library. That makesPeninsula’s library pretty egg-cellent!