Yesterday when I was walking inside my house, I heard a chicken squawking really loud.  This is a sound they make when they are distressed.  I came over there, to the chicken coop, and I saw a hawk attacking my chickens!   Two chickens had escaped their pen, so he was attacking them.  The "run" is unfinished, and in poor condition right now.  The hawk could access the "run" (There is no need to elaborate on what a "run" is.  "Run" isn't a rare term, so you should know this already).

I think it was a red tail hawk, it was very big.  The hawk flew away because of my presence. Thankfully, no chickens were hurt but had I not heard the chickens, they could have gotten severely hurt or killed.  Thankfully no birds were hurt at all.  Things could have turned out much worse if I had not showed up.  Good thing I heard them from inside!  My advice is to read the first predator proofing comic, because this one covers hawks.  Thank you for reading the Ducky Blog!  Thank you again.  goodbye.  

Last night, I was sitting on the couch when I just happened to notice something outside.  I am always ready to protect my flock if I hear anything suspicious outside.

I went outside with my flashlight, and one of the raccoons was trying to get into my garbage cans.  However, I caught it and shined it in the face with a flashlight.  The raccoon got scared and scurried up the tree making chittering sounds.  This unnamed raccoon then proceeded to stare at my flashlight for several minutes while making a clawing gesture.  I was about 200 feet away.

After that, I went inside and the garbage was not raided in the morning.  Mission accomplished, the raccoon was scared and the garbage was safe.  Thank you for reading the Ducky Blog

AFLAC: "I wear a red leg band, and I am a male Brown Khaki duck.  Henry wanted a duck named Aflac, because he says you have to have a duck named Aflac in your flock.  That's from the Aflac commercials. Henry does not use Aflac insurance, but I wish that he might one day (but he probably won't)."

LUCKY:  "I am a Brown Khaki Campbell female duck that wears a yellow leg band.  Henry named me that because I survived a brutal dog attack on the duck coop.  It killed 6 other ducks.  We were allowed to sleep outside at that time.  One morning, Henry saw me, I had been bitten, but thankfully alive.  We barely escaped death.  I was especially lucky because I had contact with the dog.  I really am Lucky!"

SCRATCHES: "I got that name when a hawk attacked me when I was free ranging, and left a scratch on my beak.  It is now healed, but I still go by Scratches.  I am a Brown Khaki Campbell duck without a leg band, Henry does not need a leg band for me, because he forgot to do it a while ago."

SATURDAY:  "Hi my name is Saturday, I am a Brown Khaki Campbell duck.  One Saturday, a hawk attacked the flock and tried to kill me.  I was smart and flew, and used my new ability of flight to fly away, down by the garbage cans.  Henry was searching for 30 minutes, however he was not able to find me.  This showed that I did know how to hide.  However, everyone was worried about me.  I was too scared to come out, for fear of being killed.  Henry thinks that my ability to stay silent for that long was unique, because usually ducks are very noisy."

POPCORN: "I am a Perkin duck named Popcorn, and I wear a yellow leg band.  I just wear a yellow leg band.  That's all there is to me.  My whole life I just serve the purpose of wearing a yellow leg band.  I am named Popcorn because my leg band color looks like a tub of buttered popcorn.  I am so ordinary that my owner Henry has nothing extraordinary to sayabout me.  But, he still cares!"

MEGA AFLAC:  "I am a male Perkin duck named Mega Aflac, I wear a red band on my leg and was caught on camera reading 'What's Eating my Chickens?'  I got the name Mega Aflac because I am large, and I also do look like Aflac from the commercial.  However, the name Aflac was taken by a duck that came before me.  So, I was named Mega Aflac because I am bigger than the original (in our flock at least)."

MEGA LUCKY: "I am a PErkin duck that does not wear a leg band.  I can be identified as the only female in a flock of 3 Perkin ducks.  You can tell males apart by their orange beaks, and my beak is kid of pale."

PUZZLES:  "I was named Puzzles because my owner was puzzled in what call me there is nothing really special about me and that's why everyone was puzzled about what to name me.  I am a Brown Khaki Campbell duck that does not wear a leg band."

This duck in the photo, Mega Aflac, never bothered to make a nest.  Mega Aflac also doesn't care that he is in the news!  This is because he would much rather be playing with the other ducks.  I don't know the names of the games that they play, but it looks like they sometimes chase each other, and they like it.  Mega Aflac was featured in the news because he looks a lot like the original Aflac duck, but we already named one of our brown khaki campbell ducks Aflac.  So, I named this one Mega Aflac due to his size.

Right now, I am reading with Mega Aflac.  We are reading "What's Killing My Chickens?" by Gail Damerow.  We are reading this book to help keep our chickens and ducks safe from raccoons.  After I got this press coverage, I ate Mega Aflac and bought a new duck.  Just kidding!  I would never eat one of my ducks!  Mega Aflac is still safe, actually he very anxious to go outside, because he loves it out there.  In December, I decided that the best way I could help heat up my ducks was by turning the temperate to negative three degrees.  Just kidding!  For real, I added in heat lamps so all the animals can stay warm now.  Thank you for reading the Ducky Blog!