Thursday 5 July 2012

Birthday Ups and Downs

It was my birthday this week and there were highs and lows.

I woke in the morning to the following gift from the cat. Nothing like a dead mouse on your birthday to set the mood. : )
I was lucky enough to speak to my parents, grandparents, siblings, in-laws, friends and cousins both here and in NZ where all of my family live.
I received some lovely gifts including magazine subscriptions and the below book full of tips about growing different fruit and veggies and then ideas of how to use them.

So for most of the day it was great.  Then late in the afternoon I heard a commotion from the chicken pen.
Our dog Jessie had scaled the 5 foot  fence and had ripped out some of the feathers of one of our hens.
I was furious!  So I got her out of the pen and tied up and then I went back to find out exactly how bad the damage was and how many chickens had been involved.  I found the poor hen hiding in the long grass the grows around the fence and took her inside so I could have a good look at her.
I was home by myself and so the whole process of trying to look over a stressed out hen was not the easiest process.  I checked over her wings, head and body from the top then I wrapped her in a towel flipped her over and tried to get her to relax with some chicken hypnotism.  Now for those who might think this is a joke  it is actually a very good way of getting your chicken to to remain still while you look it over.  The method I use is to flip the chicken on its back, cover it's head with a cloth so it is dark (although this will still work even it you don't) then you take your thumb and index finger and run them down each side of the chickens breast bone.  Do this over and over and hey presto sleepy chicken.
Now it would have been much easier if I had a second person to keep stroking the chicken, but I didn't so I was not able to spend too long inspecting the hen.
I was able to see she had had a number of feather yanked out and was bleeding around her vent.  But it was hard to see how bad the damage actually was.  So I washed the area with some sterile irrigation solution from  our first aid kit (there goes some plastic in my plastic free month) and put the chicken into the small cage we have with so water and a clean but old towel to sit on and decided to keep her inside over night.
I rang hubby at work and told him what had happened and I hinted that I might take her to the vet.
Hubby then told me not to be so silly taking a $5 chicken to the vet for a $50 consultation and asked me to wait till he got home.  I understand his logic but I just felt really bad for my chicken.
Any way she has been in the cage for a few days and I have given the damaged area another wash and trimmed away the bloody feathers and it looks like it will heal up.  She is eating and drinking and pooping normally and today she even ate some of the chickweed I put in her cage so I think things will b ok.  I do not want to put her back with the other chickens too soon  as I would hate them to peck her or the rooster try and have his way with her, I am not sure she would tolerate that at the moment.  So we are back to having chicken(s) in the house but hopefully not for too long.
The next issue is securing the pen against Jessie as I do not want to go through this again.  That will wait for another post though.

9 comments:

  1. Oh how sad, but glad she is getting better. It seems that those poor chickens have lots of predators out to get them. Anyway Happy Birthday!

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    1. Thanks AA. She is much better and enjoying a stint inside near the fire.

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  2. Damn dogs! They're so frustrating at times. I have found that most times I have lost a chook has been due to the stress involved more so than the injuries, so you did well to calm yours down and pull her through, well done. It's a pity our animals don't realise when it's our birthday and behave themselves. I hope the rest of the week has been better.

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    1. Thanks Debra yes I know what you mean about stress killing them off. The rest of the week has been much better.

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  3. Oh wow, your own dog did that? Do dogs have a natural instinct to kill birds...?

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    1. Yes Sadly she did. Herding dogs like kelpies do not really want to kill them but they like to chase them and pounce on them because they run and flap. Generally they do not maul them they just play with them roughly and the stress kills them.

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  4. nice chicken hypnotism tip, I will try that next time I catch a chicken :) Our dog has killed a number of chickens. At one stage my husband found some advice on the internet to tie the dead chicken around the dog's neck for several days to teach her a lesson. The first chicken we tried, the dog ate some of it before we noticed! Next chicken was in a feed bag and tied to dog's collar. In mid-summer. It didn't work!!!! And the dog STUNK. So I don't recommend that you try it, or believe everything you read on the internet :) good luck, Cheryl eventually grew out of it, but we never leave her alone with access to chickens anymore either.

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    1. Eww Liz as if kelpies are not smelly enough (just the way they like it) : )
      Some one said that you should wack the dog over and over with the dead chicken but I am not convinced that would work either. Plus we do not believe that hitting dogs for any reason will solve the problem. The electric fence solves the problem and we will be sorting that out this weekend.

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  5. Happy Birthday Fiona! You received some nice pressies. The poor chook, that is what I am worried about if I get chickens, as my dog loves to chase anything, when I am in the garden he chases the little lizards and when he has killed it he stands there looking at it as it is not moving. He is so mean. Glad to hear the chook is on the mend.

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