Duckcicles!

Last night we had freezing rain, a nice little sheet of ice on everything. I woke up this morning, looked out the window and saw how pretty it was, and then had a flash of horror as I wondered if those idiot ducks had slept out in it. I had this mental picture of their noses iced over and them frozen into place or something.

So I rushed and put 3 layers of clothes on and shot outside to see. Their run is secure, so I don't lock them up, they can choose indoor or out. I didn't even think of the freezing rain and their habit of facing winter head on and being outside in it.

Their noses weren't iced over, but the rest of them was! The top of their heads, their backs and shoulders, tails free of it since they wiggle them so much. I have duckcicles, just as I feared!

It falls off easy, they'll be ice free in no time. They didn't seem bothered by it one bit. Quackers put her egg in the house, so they must have been indoors at some point. Usually she lays it in the run. I have the run lined thickly in pine needles, they can bed down pretty deep in it.

I put fresh pine needles down so that they're not on the ice. It'll melt tomorrow and the next day, it's headed back up the the 50's.

I know they're not stupid, but must they worry me this much? I guess I need to start going out every evening and locking them up, just for my own sanity.

Yes you can, so long as they aren't complained about and you pick the poop up into sealed containers. No roosters, no specific quantity. Some of the villages around the city say no poultry, others have a 6 hens or less rule. Some places have an acreage requirement, others so 100 ft from the property line. If I wanted a cow, I would have it have it 100 ft from the property line. Springfield Township allows roosters. My dad's neighbors have like 3 roosters, on a TINY residential lot. Must be some very patient neighbors. Specially with the sometimes free range pea fowl... they on occasion sit on my dad's roof, or the other neighbor's. Peafowl... on the neighbors ROOF, in the CITY. LOL They make me look like a poultry keeping angel. I keep my numbers small and don't let them wonder. I'd have pied peafowl or white if I could... but I don't think it's fair to my neighbors, as patient as they are with me. haha

The village that starts 4 houses up from me has more indepth rules.... no roosters, no complaints, no egg sales, no smell, ect. It's a posh area, though it has it's fair share of poultry keepers. I was surprised at how many people have chickens in the city and surrounding areas.