Calendula - Son may have Tourette's

[abifae]

Lovely!

I have a friend in Loveland who has a medicinal garden. It's lovely. All CO native stuff.

 

[calendula]

Thank you everyone for your kind words

I had an absolutely horrible day on Friday. I walked outside to give the hens our leftovers from breakfast, and suddenly this big, brown dog comes running towards me. Scared the crap out of me, but I didn't think much of it. People seem to have a hard time containing their dogs in my neighborhood, so it's not unusual to see one running loose. I keep walking, and make it to our compost pile, where a big black dog is happily digging through it looking for food scraps. I yell at it to get out of there, and chase it off, and it goes to find his brown buddy.

So, I hurry back to the chickens, because I don't want these dogs to get any ideas...and find that I'm too late. They broke into the chicken tractor. There are feathers everywhere. That stupid brown dog runs past me and tries to get back into the tractor. I grab the closest thing to me that I can find--a rake--and chase after those dogs wacking them and screaming (I wonder how many neighbors were watching me). Finally, I run them off and return to the coop to see what the damage is. Two of the hens are missing feathers, but otherwise seem okay. The third, however, has both eyes swolen shut, a bloody nose, and is just sitting there with her head hanging.

I picked her up and cleaned her the best I could, and then set her back in the coop while I called my husband to tell him the bad news. In the mean time, those dang dogs came back, and my oldest son chased them off with the rake. I finally was fed up and called the police to get the dogs. He never came back to let me know if he caught them or whose they were, but they haven't been back since.

So, we are trying to nurse this chicken (aptly named "Chicken"--my husband is so creative) back to health. She couldn't open her eyes, and I was worried that she'd been blinded. She finally got up and tried walking around, but kept running into things, and couldn't see to find the food and water. So, we've been using a dropper to give her water, and I tried feeding her, but she refused. Today, she has her eyes open a slit, but I still don't think she can see well. She isn't eating or drinking, and I don't know what else to do. Totally sucks.

But, in other news, I purchased the Tattler canning lids and rings. I made some Tequila Salsa yesterday and canned it using a few of the Tattler lids, and it appears that they have all sealed.

I have some bread dough soaking right now, so I will be making bread when I get home tonight after the kids go up to the school to see who their teachers will be this year. School starts September 1st, and they are so excited!

Hope everyone had a great weekend, even if mine kinda sucked.

 

[Marianne]

I hope she perks up fast!

I was out chasing stray dogs last year. Same thing, feathers all over, but everyone survived. Out here, they won't do anything about stray dogs (someone dumped them) unless they're vicious. Then the sheriff comes out and shoots them for you. Erg.

We had to corral the dogs, feed them over the weekend and then take them to the county holding area (which was the local animal hospital). Hated it.

 

[valmom]

Ugh, that sucks. Our stray dog problem has finally decreased from 3 rotties and 2 mixed breed strays to one wild Jack Russell and his medium sized mutt buddy. I think they nominally "belong" to someone over at our bad neighbors' but they are never anything but running loose. Those rotties were the reason we built the chicken fortress and I am afraid to let them be in a smaller tractor to graze and forage. I hope your chicken perks up.

 

[lorihadams]

Get yourself a handgun darlin' and next time shoot first and call the police later. You have the right to shoot a dog that goes after your livestock.

 

[calendula]

Get yourself a handgun darlin' and next time shoot first and call the police later. You have the right to shoot a dog that goes after your livestock.

Believe me, I thought of getting our gun! But we live in the city, and it's illegal to fire a gun in the city limits. I don't think airguns are illegal to shoot in the city though. I should dig the bb gun out.

 

[gettinaclue]

OH MAN! I'm so sorry to here about the dogs and your poor chicken. Hope she gets better soon.

 

[Farmfresh]

They sell small electric battery operated fence chargers or even better Solar powered ones at Tractor Supply. I would run a hot wire around the entire coop. Those dogs will probably be back. It hacks me off how WE always try so hard to follow all of the rules, and other people just don't seem to care!

I would also be CERTAIN that my injured chicken went to with me to make a "neighborly" visit to discuss the dog problem AND damage payments.

 

[framing fowl]

How's your chicken today? My dog got my rooster a couple of years ago because he ended up where he wasn't supposed to be. He looked really bad and we kept him in a dark quiet corner for a couple of days. He was eating though. Is your hen eating at all?

 

[savingdogs]

I was going to duplicate what Framing Fowl said, I have had two different incidents where dogs attacked my chickens and they seemed terrible at first, but pulled through. Maybe there is a chance if you can get her to eat.