update on the hens

Well 8 hens and a rooster survived the first great dog attack. We have not had any eggs since that date and it’s been 2 weeks now. Three of the hens were laying before the attack and should have recovered from the shock - everyone looks fine- but no eggs. Hopefully the 6 hens who weren’t laying will begin soon - at least.

Then there was the second attack. My husband let Ginger - one of the terrible terriers get by him as he went out the door. She was a participant in the last attack and must have been remembering the fun. She hasn’t done that in a long while. Anyway I was at work and the turkeys and their frizzle escort rooster just happened to be walking by the back door as she darted out. The fun began.

As my husband hurried to get his wheelchair down the ramp he hit one of my plant stands filled with a large geranium at the bottom of the ramp. It caught in his wheels. As this was going on Ginger nailed Frizzle in the driveway. My husband thought he was dead. Then she took off after one of the turkeys, chasing her down the dirt road. The other turkey flew up to the roof of the house.

When Steve got the bent wire stand out of the wheel chair he decided he better get to the barn before Ginger came back and got into the coop again. He waited for about 15 minutes before she showed up hot and tired and he was able to corner her in the barn. The hens had no trauma this time. After Steve got Ginger locked inside the house he went out to see if he could find the remains of the one hen turkey and Frizzle.

Much to his surprise Frizzle was gone. He followed the trail of turkey feathers down the road but didn’t find a body. With his chair he couldn’t go into the high weeds and he could only hope the turkey had escaped into them. He couldn’t find Frizzle either. He then called me at work to get me all upset.

When I came home for work I looked for Frizzle then followed the trail of turkey feathers down the road. They crossed the road and I could see piles of them in the neighbors horse pasture. She had to pass several nice trees that she could have flown up into, but once under the fence, which was 3 straps of electric webbing, she had only a well grazed pasture in front of her. I didn’t think it was worthwhile to roll under the fence to look for her. There were big clumps of feathers everywhere and the dog had been gone for a good while. I couldn’t see a body but I assumed it was there somewhere.

At sundown the other hen turkey came down off the roof and took her regular perch on the fence rail by the barn. And lo and behold Frizzle appeared out of the butterfly garden, looking none the worse for wear. He must have played dead. But no dark turkey hen.

The next day I listened for turkey calls as the girls are usually very vocal when separated. But there were none. It was very quiet and Frizzle decided not to leave the barn where he roosts each night. But when I went out to our horse Lilies stall in the evening there stood the dark turkey hen. She had survived. She walked a little stiffly but surprisingly it seemed like most of her feathers were there- despite the large amounts by the road. Even her tail was intact.

She went over to the outside gate of the chicken run and made it obvious she wanted to be let inside. Normally she would have flown right over so she was hurt in some way. The hens have not been let out into the run yet this year, because I always wait until they are laying well in nest boxes before giving them outside space. I gave her some food and water in the run and the lighter colored hen jumped up on the rail to talk to her.

She has stayed in the run the last few days; I guess it makes her feel safe. The lighter hen visits from time to time and stays close by. Neither the turkeys or Frizzle have strayed far from the barn area. It’s a miracle she survived. I think the big brown mare that resides in the pasture the dog chased her into may have chased the dog away. I have seen the horses over there chase dogs a few times. I hope she gave Ginger a good scare.

Everything was quiet until Saturday when Lily, ( our horse), decided to bust the latch off her stall door and get into the front part of the barn. She was eating dry cat food when I found her. She has never done that before- what is going on here? But fortunately she didn’t founder from her food indiscretion and seems fine.

Well life is fun here.

dog days of summer

Yesterday was not a good day. To start off it was 90 degrees with a
relative humidity of 70%. I had to get up early to drive to the fairgrounds
and help break down the Master Gardener exhibit, load my car with some very
heavy stuff and drive home and unload. Then after doing a bit of housework
I went into my office to write and my husband went to take his afternoon
nap.

Now had we been a little smarter what happened next wouldn't have happened.
In the last few days I kept remarking to my husband on how dirty some of the
dogs were, I asked them if they were digging holes to keep cool, I even
remarked to my husband that they were probably up to something. Jack
Russell's are usually up to something. But it was hot and we were busy
during fair week and neither of us pursued the matter. Besides, we hadn't
had any breakouts for over a year, since we installed hot wire on the top
and bottom of the backyard fence.

Well three of my darling little Jacks had discovered that they could dig
near the bottom of the fence in the corner by where the dog door from the
house exits. There was a short stretch where we left out hotwire so our
older dogs coming and going from the house wouldn't get shocked. Our
garbage bin was on the other side of the fence there and we had laid down
some aluminum panels on the dog's side of the fence. Seemed pretty secure
and so it was for about 15 months. Then some how the panel got shifted and
the dogs began their tunnel to freedom.

We figure it took them about three days. That's when I noticed how dirty
they seemed to be. They had to dig a tunnel under the fence then under the
trash bin on the other side. They are nothing but ambitious even in the
sweltering heat. Although I walked by that stretch regularly on my way to
the barn all the clandestine activity was hidden behind the trash bin. Then
as my husband and the big dogs lay down for their nap and I disappeared into
my office the great escape began.

I heard some excited barking but that's not unusual here. Suddenly it
dawned on me the barking seemed a little more excited than usual and farther
away. I hurried outside and realized the barking was coming from the barn
and my heart sank.

Inside the barn and inside the chicken coop- standing on top of the nest
boxes- was Susan, Ginger and Tina. They were barking at a hen who had
managed to fly up to the ledge by the loft rafters. The pen where my
banties had been was torn apart and the dead birds strewn across it. On the
coop floor below them were the bodies of my dead and dying hens. Feathers
and blood were everywhere.

I didn't have much trouble catching the culprits. They were pretty hot and
exhausted. I could only carry two of them but Tina was content to follow us
back to the house. There, after I threw them into the spare room I screamed
and yelled at them for a few seconds, and at my husband to get out of bed.

I brought a big muck bucket with me to the barn and began picking up dead
bodies. Besides the hen that flew up into the rafters another had flown up
onto the highest perch and was safe. Had more of the birds went up high
they would have been safe. Instead they piled under the nest boxes, which
begin about a foot from the floor. There they were pretty easy pickings,
but the sheer number of them managed to protect a few of them, who were
still alive when I began pulling out bodies. I placed the injured birds in
nest boxes to calm down and offered them water about 30 minutes later.

When my husband came out he found one hen outside in the yard which seemed
unharmed. I still can't find one of the tiny banty hens - she may be
hiding somewhere. Our resident roaming turkeys and frizzle rooster were
also unharmed. All in all 10 birds were killed, 9 birds are left, and some
of them have some nasty wounds and may die. One bird is missing.

Our egg production was just getting good. I had actually sold off some hens
because I figured we didn't need them. I just sat down and cried. Such a
waste. I don't know how the dogs got inside the coop- we figure they
squeezed through the door at the bottom.

The dogs were punished by being left locked in the spare room with only
water until we went to bed. They hate being away from the pack. I went to
bed scheming about ways to really punish them, like hiring strangers dressed
in giant chicken suits to chase them around or strapping them to a board on
their sides with vet wrap and putting them in a chicken coop full of hungry
chickens.

Don't worry- none of that happened. We spent the morning filling in a
tunnel, strengthening the coop door and burying chickens. And Tina,
Ginger and Susan are being watched more closely than ever.