Duck Disaster II
You can tell from the title that this isn't too great. The neighbor's dog got in, AGAIN. This time the damage was bad.... Real bad. Where to start?
We got home from a fun weekend at the lake. But, only two of the five ducks were in our yard. "Oh, no," I thought with a sinking feeling. It was Dolly and Donald, and Dolly was bloody. I was cleaning out their pool, I saw something lying on the bottom. I picked it up and realized that it was a flea collar. Obviously our suspect was NOT a coyote. After a while, when I was taking care of the chickens, Daffy the black Eastern showed up from seemingly no where. I looked and realized that she looked pretty bad. After closer examination (from inside the house), we decided to take her to the vet the next day. We did, and I was surprised that she had made it through the night. The vet said it was pretty bad; the jugular was ripped in two, but fortunately ducks have two. He said if it was his duck, he'd probably put it down. So, we made the decision to do that. It was terrible, but if we hadn't done it she'd have gone through much paid and extensive surgery... There wasn't even a guaranty that she would live. The night before, we'd found one, Pearl, across the street. We took her and Dolly in also, just to check on Dolly, and because Pearl had become infected with maggots. The vet told us that the eggs would hatch within 8 hours! They got her cleaned up, though.
The next day, somehow the other black Eastern, Abby showed up. But as it turned out, this was the real Daffy. We'd mixed them up, but that didn't really matter. At least she was back! She wasn't NEAR as bad as Abby had been. But she had maggots. We did what the vet told us to do, and got them all out. Now, Pearl and Daffy are living in our upstairs bathtub, while Dolly and Donald stay out in they're pen.
We called Animal Control, and they talked to the owners. We also talked to them and showed them the collar. The owner said that she had bathed her pooch the night before and put that very collar on her. We've not seen the dog since, and we hope it stays that way. If not, we have a court date set.
Babies!!
We have at least ten new chicks, including 2 half white Silkies/ half black Old Englich Game bantams. we've lost a couple due to drowing, but the rest are running around with their mommas. One hen is still setting on a couple eggs, and I think that one more hatched this morning!
The rest of our chickens are all doing great. We've been letting them all out, and they can't STAND it if we're even late letting them out. They are so funny.
~chickengirl~
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3 comments:
You must feel miserable. I hope you can let it roll off your shoulders and continue to be the happy, good momma that you are!
Around here, no one lets their dogs run loose. I think there are lots of animal owners who prefer their own animals to roving dogs, if you get my drift.
My electric poultry mesh has been effective so far. It gives the chickens a 60' x 60' area to range in and I haven't seen anything get in there. Our cat has had her curious nose blasted, and now won't go behind the barn at all.
It was an awful experience, but as the post title says, it's 'the life of a chicken farmer'.
I wish that no one around here would let their dogs run loose, but unfortunately that's not the case with these people. Each time that it's showed up, we grab the BB gun, but it gets smart and runs off.
I think that would be great, but we let our chickens out and they might get blasted, and I'm not sure if they're as smart as cats!!!
BTW, I have tagged you on my blog. You'll have to go read it to see what you need to do, if you so choose!
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