the sun was shining for a change. We had to pump out the crawl space again,
low spots in the yard are flooded again, and we'll never get some spots
mowed this year. Our pond is the fullest I have ever seen it. I saw fish
spawning near the shore, the yellow flag iris are in bloom and big blue
dragon flies are skimming the pond.
Flower smells are cloying in this humid air. The autumn olive by the pond
was overpowering. I could smell the sweet woodruff and lilies of the valley
mixed with lilac sitting on my porch. That was much better than the smells
of bloody feathers and fresh killed chicken I dealt with early this morning.
Yesterday morning I found one dead "teenage" chicken from a pen in the back
corner of the barn. It was right outside the door, the other chicks were
fine and I thought maybe it had escaped in the night and an owl or early
morning hawk had killed it. It was shredded and eaten pretty well. I even
suspected a stray cat or even the male muscovy duck that's guarding a hen on
a nest near the chick pen.
I closed up the back door of the barn last night even blocking the gap at
the bottom and hoped for the best. Didn't happen. This morning I found all
the beautiful young birds slaughtered, inside and outside the pen, a big
mess. Torn and shredded. Further more I found my sweet little silkie hen
who was sitting on a nest dead. My other little chicken Frizzle was ok, but
he probably ran from the killer. He has escaped death many times that one.
I was cleaning up and noticed my Jack Russell, Sarah going nuts scratching
at the wall that separates her inside pen from the loft steps. Sure enough
under the steps was a big coon, the vicious killer. It's dark and hidden
under there. I didn't want Sarah to get bitten up, she's too old, even
though she was game. So I grabbed a shovel and went for him. If I had went
back to the house for a gun it would have been gone, and shooting into that
area wouldn't have been wise.
I was mad, and I smacked him numerous times, bashing him wherever I could.
It was tough and fighting back, growling and snarling, but I had it pretty
penned in under the stairs. I tried to pin its neck to the cement wall but
it pulled away. After about 10 minutes of me beating it, it managed to get
by me and run out the door.
Now if any of you think this is cruel you don't know how nasty raccoons are.
He could have eaten cat food or chicken food. There was lots of food around
the barn. There was still bread on the floor that I had given the ducks
last night. He could have killed only one chicken to eat. It wasn't
hungry. He was just damn mean.
I have 3 brooders full of chicks still, laying hens, 2 sitting turkeys and a
sitting duck in the barn, which if I hadn't beaten him hopefully to death,
he'd be back to get. Raccoons kill for the fun of it. They make terrible
bloody messes with what they kill. I have known them to eat the feet off
chickens or bunnies they couldn't pull through a cage or get into. They
carry rabies, distemper, roundworms and other nasty diseases. They are
vicious animals. In the woods where they belong they are fine, and there is
plenty of wooded land around here. But I don't want them in my barn or
around it.
If the one I beat doesn't crawl somewhere to die I hope he stays far away
from here. If I had the pitchfork handy I may have known that my birds were
safe. We are going to put a couple of the dogs up in the loft when it cools
down to see if there are any more up there, like babies. I don't know what
I'll do if I find babies. I hope that was the only one.
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