On Monday morning the water company was in front of the house working.  They were pretty loud, and all that I could hear. I walked outside to get something out of my car, and didn't see any of the birds. I heard what sounded like a cat meowing, and thought maybe the ducks had cornered one of the kittens in the coop. So I walked down, and as I got closer I could see a big grayish bird chasing around the chickens. So I started running, and it flew away. It had killed one of the call ducklings and an easter egger chick. One of the japanese hen's got an injured eye either from the hawk or being trampled by someone running away. She is looking much better now though, just a little scabbing left under her eye now. So the flock is on lockdown until around noon each day. They aren't very happy with it, but it's a compromise we'll have to deal with. I feel safer letting them out later, and they still get free time. I'll be going through the kids room soon and looking for baby toys they've outgrown I can put in the coop for the geese. They get bored easy, and I need the room with Christmas coming up soon. 

Last night I heard the dogs barking loud enough to get me up around 3 in the morning. I grabbed my flashlight and went outside to see what was going on. There was an opossum in the bird's yard. I valiantly chased it off with a stick. Once it had ambled it's way out I fixed the wire so it couldn't come back in again. Luckily it was just in their yard, not the coop although the coop is pretty safe. There have also been quite a bit more hawks in the air lately, but we have a pair of crows in residence who have done a good job warning and chasing them away. Today I walked down to lock them up, and the geese were outside of the yard. They are always inside by the pool until I put them inside each night. i thought something was odd then, so I walked around the yard and coop, but didn't see anything out of the normal. I thought I heard something moving in a tree, but thought it was highly likely I was just being paranoid too. So I put the ducks and geese in, and locked them up. As I was walking away I heard a bloodcurdling scream coming from behind the coop. I stopped, wondering what on Earth...then I heard a few hoots and a few minutes later an owl flew right by, with a rabbit. This is after having nothing except a few stray cat's bother my birds since last fall.                             So in conclusion, remember fall and the end of summer bring out the predators. Some trying to gorge themselves to build fat reserves for winter, and many raptors starting to come through during migration. It pays to be e