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One of the dogs — well, Pollack — killed the big, bad male duck today. We’re now down to two females and two males. Hopefully, this ends the duck aggression, which is probably how the duck died.

When this male thought you were too close, he’d charge you. Too close was sometimes five feet and sometimes 100 yards.

Our best guess is the big, bad duck decided to attack one of the females, which drives Pollack nuts (it really is a rape that takes place). Pollack would bark from the other side of the fence. The male probably decided Pollack was too close and charged her, and then Pollack pulled him through the fence. And, that’d be it.

Animal count: 12 chicks, 8 hens, 1 rooster, 4 ducks, 4 cats and3 dogs.

"Go ahead and enact laws or set up best practices for keeping chickens. But don’t ban them outright," the Chicken Lady says.

"Chickens are good for the life of the city. My chickens get people talking to each other, talking to me. Children in the area are interested in the chickens. Elderly resident remember growing up with chickens when they were young. Chickens really are a good community builder."

What if Chickens do get outlawed?

"I guess I’ll have to get ducks," the Chicken Lady said.

 

I hope she gets Runner Ducks too.

Link.

Missoula, Montana has the a chicken controversy: To allow chickens with in the city limits or not.

Story via Boing Boing.

Enjoy the video.

Rough week or so for the hens. Two were attacked by groundhogs (a guess) — one of them dying. Yesterday, another died of old age. Another hen got lost, but returned this morning.

I really don’t want to cage the girls up. Not sure what the answer is.

I know a farm in western Michigan has started to use portable fencing and a hen house. That’s beyond my scale. I can appreciate the benefit though. The birds are constantly moved and fenced-in.

I found this hen under the garden tractor looking like she’d just gone to sleep. The only explanation I can come up with is that the heat we’ve been having was too much for her. I’m pretty sure she was one of the older birds.