Hello from another Floridian

Hi all, This may be a little long for an introduction, I apologize in advance if it is too long or all messed up. My internet skills are a little rusty. Summer 2008, a group of four ducks of unknown species wandered into our yard and started building a nest. The nest ended up being attacked and destroyed, but when cleaning up the mess I found one egg intact. I set up an incubator with a milk crate and the base of a lava lamp, kind of odd, but it worked. A month passed and a tiny hole appeared in the side of the egg. Through the tiny hole we could see a small, black eye peering out at us. Up until this point my husband had been jokingly calling it "Omelet" but when he saw the little eye looking out at him, he picked it up, started carrying it around, and talking to it. Perhaps "with it" would be more appropriate, as it always responded with little peeping sounds. Three days later our little Kamo burst forth into the world, she was our baby, my husband was her mother. Spring time, 2009. Kamo had spent the majority of time in our bedroom but had grown large enough to need to be moved outside. We spent most of each day outside with her on our screened-in patio. As Summer approached a pair of the previous ducks came back, Kamo made friends and started building a nest with the female. The two of them chased the male away. (I still see him occasionally, wandering the neighborhood alone.) I made a mistake and started leaving the patio door open at night thinking Kamo would be happier in the yard with the other female. One night the nest was once again attacked, but this time I found out it was a raccoon. I found it with Kamo in it's grasp. As I ran out, it let go and dashed up a tree. I can still see Kamo limp-running to me in the darkness. Long story, clear horrible memories. I managed to save Kamo, although she never walked right after that, too much thigh gone, I think. I tried to save the other duck, chased the raccoon around the yard for a long time, but it just wouldn't let go. When Spring 2010 came, we decided Kamo needed duck company, she no longer seemed to want to associate with humans. It didn't really go very well though, they both turned out to be male. One female, two males, not really a good situation for ducks. Ahiru and Mytho, better known as Kamo's Little Helpers 1 and 2. The following Spring, 2011, our neighbors bought three chicks and two ducklings for their children for easter. As the story goes, the birds grew too big and were tossed out to fend for themselves. I watched for three days as they circled the yard trying to get back inside the fence where home was. Finally they noticed our yard and came in for a rest stop. I was terrified of the chickens at first, especially the rooster, unfamiliarity, heard too many horror stories of how vicious they are, etc. But then, by accident, I found they didn't like water on them. From there, I found if I stood strong, the rooster would not attack. He would look at me and then as if passing the job of guard bird off to me, would start pecking through the grass around my feet as long as I stood guard. I fell completely in love with them. They ate from my hand, let me hold and cuddle them, and ran a race to get to me every time I appeared outside. I was, for lack of a better term, in "heaven." Rufflefluff. Cochin? Everyone loved that little fluff ball. Henna. Rhode Island Red? Smart bird, she was also the first of the chickens to eat from my hand and let me hold her. Daikaiju Torira. Breed? I don't know. His name is based on Japanese monster movies, roughly, it means big monster chicken. He was big, stood up to my knees and had major heft. The neighbors' chickens and ducks were about three months old when they showed up and were with us for a month. I had no idea for those three years that we were breaking any laws, having been previously told by city code enforcement that it was ok to keep them as long as they were for pets only, no killing and eating them allowed. But one day we were visited by a CE officer who said we had 10 days to get rid of them, or else. We complied, had no idea at the time that there was any other option. It has become one of the worst events of my life. I'm still not "over it" even though it has been a year. So, that's my story, thank you for reading it. I probably don't have much in the way of valuable information to offer, but I'm here to learn and go "awww" over pictures, mostly in hopes that I'll be able to convince the city commisioners to allow poultry keeping inside the city limits. On the non-poultry side, I like video games, anime, rock music, photography, and reading books. We also have three indoor-only cats.