The Last Straw

It happened again: the dog came back. This was surely the worst damage of all. Not only did the dog get the ducks, but also the chickens. As you may know we let our chickens out in the summertime. We were just starting to think that the dog wouldn't be back, so we let out the chickens and the ducks. We were gone all day, helping at our church's summer music week. When we got home it looked as though there'd been a pillow fight... a feather pillow fight. We found two dead chickens around the coop, and one close too death. Several chickens and a baby Silkie were cowering in the corn field, our gorgeous white Cochin was lying down terrified in the field with her feathers spread around her, our white Silkie hen and splash Cochin looked bad. And, of course, two ducks were chewed bad. The splash Cochin died in my arms, as did an Ameraucana. A few days ago a missing chicken turned up, but it was dead, too.

I saw my Old English Game bantam rooster's tail feathers all over the yard, and knew he was gone. But there he was on the porch, with four tailfeathers in all! Poor thing. But he's safe. I think that he tried to defend himself and all of his girls, unlike our huge rooster!! with tail feathers

There was still one missing: Butterscotch the mama hen, the mother of four Silkies and a mutt. We were sad that she was gone, but I still kept up hope. And sure enough there she was that night when we went to put them up! Totally fine.

All in all the damage is: 2 dead Ameraucana pullets, 1 dead cockeral, 1 dead Cochin, 1 dead buff Orpington, two chewed ducks, 1 chewed Sex Link, 1 tailless OEGB rooster, and two stressed chickens. We're not sure what happened to it, but the dog's not around our neighborhood anymore.

~chickengirl~

Tag!

I've been tagged by Don at A View from the Green Barn!

So, here are the 6 random things about me:

1. I love acting, and have been in at least: 1 or 2 television shows, a commercial, an independent film, a play, and I was a 'chicken wrangler' when my Rhode Island Red rooster, Rocky, was in a Jewelry TV commercial.

2. I have been to 35 states, 2 countries, and every county in my state. (This isn't about me, but my mother was born in Alaska!)

3. I've lived in one house my entire life. Our big white farmhouse is about 130 years old. Before we bought it, there were old outhouses and buildings in the yard. There's still a pigstye in the back, but it's now overgrown with black walnut trees.

4. Tonight I spent about thirty minutes out in our chicken coop shooting at rats with a BB gun. It was strangely entertaining! We probably have at least twenty rats... Ugh

5. I love art and recently painted a picture of a Canadian goose with her goslings. The painting is traveling around my state in an art show. I was awarded 2nd place in the entire state for my work. It helps to have such great subjects!

6. My thumbs don't match. One is short and squat, while the other is (shorter than) normal. They are actually different sizes, and the nails are different. If I commited a crime, I could probably be recognized by my thumbprint (of course I would never commit a crime!!)

Well, those are my six random things.

I've tagged:

Sparkle- 'Catch a Falling Star' One of my very close friends, she hasn't been on Blogger in a while, but I may be able to pursuade her!

Shine- 'Bling Bling' Another of my good friends, she shares the passion of chickens with me. They live 500 acres of land, have chickens, rescued baby turkeys, a beautiful peacock (that just showed up), and recently took care of 5 rescued goslings.

Sir James- 'Lords of Chivalry' My knight in shining armour.

Alena8- 'BIG PINK FAN' Although I don't exactly share her passion for pink, I still love her.

Here are the rules:
Link to the person who tagged you.
Post the rules on the blog.
Write six random things about yourself.
Tag six people (or however many you'd like) at the end of your post.
Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

~chickengirl~

The Life of a Farmer

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~