Luvmypets Journal: A New Season

[luvmypets]

My duck passed a few hours after I brought her in. The hen is doing good, her stitches stayed and she is much more lively. She is eating and drinking, im hoping she can pull through

Here was the wound, about the size of a half dollar exposing her bone and a few organs. I cleaned it out and stitched it shut. I used to sew but I had never done anything like that, my dad said it looked really good.




I think she may be paralyzed in her one leg, it could just be shes in pain.

See how she curls her toes

 

[Bruce]

although that is a good idea and I would have to agree with cntryboy, I have to urge against that method. It never worked well for me I would be honest and say you need a barn cat to keep the rodents under control in the barn because they are getting into feed. that should help.

Metal cans with integral bale handles to keep the lids locked down work too.

We had an attack in the coop last night. Something big we think Raccoon..I just stitched up a hen who had her shoulder exposed. I have a duck in shock in my lap. I don't know what to do. She is my last female

Really sad you lost the duck, looks like you did a good job on your first "Vet surgery".

Your hen is lucky, coons usually rip the head and neck off, eat that and leave the rest. She must have gotten spooked just in time, not sure what would have caused the coon to leave at that time. I hope the paralysis is temporary.

I am VERY SORRY to say that the coon will be back, it knows where the buffet is. The one that killed my hen last summer in an unsecure coop next to the "Fort Knox" coop came back later the same day SEVERAL HOURS before sunset and was going for a hen (*) in the broody buster in the FN coop (recuperating from an infection). She had been in the buster in the unsecure coop when the other hen was killed that morning or the prior night and had to have witnessed it. I moved her to the FN coop that morning after I found the dead hen. The FN coop is locked only at night. You can imagine her fright being in the buster and seeing the coon coming in, she was frantic.

I just happened to be going in the barn "at the right time" to get scratch to call the other girls in so I could lock them in the coop before dusk when I THOUGHT the coon would become active. I locked the coon in the coop and went for the air rifle I had purchased earlier that day, still unopened in it's box. The coon later moved to the woods, not under its own power. So, as @CntryBoy777 intimated, you need to find out how it got in and block that with 1/2" hardware cloth or at least 2x4 wire fencing (a weasel can still get through this). I once saw a video on BYC of a coon that took a long path to get into a coop (in a barn I think) and the SMALL spaces that it could get through. I guess they are more "fluff" than substance when they want to get through an opening you would swear they couldn't possibly fit through.

Best of luck!!!

* She is the one I had to kill last weekend due to a horrendous prolapse from which I am very sure she could not recover.

 

[luvmypets]

Metal cans with integral bale handles to keep the lids locked down work too.


Really sad you lost the duck, looks like you did a good job on your first "Vet surgery".

Your hen is lucky, coons usually rip the head and neck off, eat that and leave the rest. She must have gotten spooked just in time, not sure what would have caused the coon to leave at that time. I hope the paralysis is temporary.

I am VERY SORRY to say that the coon will be back, it knows where the buffet is. The one that killed my hen last summer in an unsecure coop next to the "Fort Knox" coop came back later the same day SEVERAL HOURS before sunset and was going for a hen (*) in the broody buster in the FN coop (recuperating from an infection). She had been in the buster in the unsecure coop when the other hen was killed that morning or the prior night and had to have witnessed it. I moved her to the FN coop that morning after I found the dead hen. The FN coop is locked only at night. You can imagine her fright being in the buster and seeing the coon coming in, she was frantic.

I just happened to be going in the barn "at the right time" to get scratch to call the other girls in so I could lock them in the coop before dusk when I THOUGHT the coon would become active. I locked the coon in the coop and went for the air rifle I had purchased earlier that day, still unopened in it's box. The coon later moved to the woods, not under its own power. So, as @CntryBoy777 intimated, you need to find out how it got in and block that with 1/2" hardware cloth or at least 2x4 wire fencing (a weasel can still get through this). I once saw a video on BYC of a coon that took a long path to get into a coop (in a barn I think) and the SMALL spaces that it could get through. I guess they are more "fluff" than substance when they want to get through an opening you would swear they couldn't possibly fit through.

Best of luck!!!

* She is the one I had to kill last weekend due to a horrendous prolapse from which I am very sure she could not recover.

Its our fault, we left some holes open that got washed out by rain and now we are paying for it. We are thinking it may now be a fox. I wasnt going to say this but one hen was completely dragged out and gutted. One of my ducks was MIA. My dad is back in town so we will be setting up a trap.

 

[Bruce]

Gutting doesn't seem right for a fox, they (at least those I've lost to them) take the whole chicken. They don't eat chickens where they kill them but take them back to their dens. I found a couple of piles of feathers along the path the fox took with the last one 2 years ago and a pile by the lilac bush (where I ASSUME the hen was killed) with the first one 3 years ago RIGHT behind the little barn. Both were taken outside a couple of hours before sunset at the end of April. I THINK this is the time of year they have their kits and their "usual" food isn't abundant yet so they chance getting close to people.

http://articles.extension.org/pages/71204/predator-management-for-small-and-backyard-poultry-flocks

Don't just set a trap, fix those holes ASAP. My guess is the culprit will go straight back to the coop and avoid whatever bait you put in the trap UNLESS they can't get to the fowl. Even then my understanding is that to trap a coon (at least, rats too) you need to have the trap baited but NOT set for several days so the critter gets used to it being there and NOT being a danger to them when they go in after the bait.

BEST OF LUCK! Having lost 2 hens (nearly 3) to foxes and 2 to a coon, I really feel for you.

 

[luvmypets]

Dont worry the holes was the first thing we did

 

[CntryBoy777]

An open can of sardines is wonderful bait for a coon or possum....they will lick the can.

 

[norseofcourse]

I'm so sorry about the attack and your losses. I hope the hen recovers and whatever it was doesn't come back.

 

[luvmypets]

I feel sick to my stomach.. we are missing so many birds.. including my precious soci. I know its my fault I just want to hide but I know I can't. Standing outside the barn looking at the damage it just leaves a weight on me that hurts in a way I've never felt before..

 

[CntryBoy777]

Well, we never like things when it seems that in "Hindsight", we are responsible for a bad outcome. However, it is the "Lessons Learned" that makes us Better as we continue on. Every single person has and will make mistakes, as long as they live. So, instead of kicking yourself for something ya can't Change....be that much more determined to do and be Better from this point on. There are many more there depending on ya, too.

 

[luvmypets]

Thanks @CntryBoy777 I needed that.

Well guess what, my patient left me a present as she was so grateful for my help. I came home to a nice brown egg