Captain Cook revives when Greta the Penguin arrives and the two share the refrigerator companionably. Captain Cook “thanks” Mr. Popper by giving him one of the game pieces, a checker, from which he has made his nest. When Mrs. Popper complains that she cannot tell the birds apart, her husband paints their names in white on their black back feathers.

The practical Mrs. Popper notes that the birds fill the icebox entirely, that “pretty soon there will be eggs” (71), which will create a space problem, and that she still has no place to store her food. Mr. Popper relinquishes the refrigerator to his wife and moves the birds and their rookery to the living room, where he opens all the windows to approximate Arctic temperatures for them. The Poppers wear their hats and coats in the house to try to stay warm.

A blizzard fills the house with snow drifts one night in November. Mr. Popper insists that the snow be left in place because the penguins enjoy playing in it so much. To add to their fun, he runs a water hose over all the floors to create a skating rink for them; the birds toboggan down the snow drifts on to the ice.