COCKADOODLE DOO

[kjsspot]

I forgot to tell you we got another saying here, we call some blokes Christmas Trees when the woman is in charge.
Their balls are just for decoration.

[mick]

Fox/s got 5/8 chooks last night, carried 4 away and left one dead one in the vegie patch. I found out where it got in, tracked it through the paddock them lost the sign.
Tonight, there will be a lovely surprise waiting for any foxes should they come back.

[kjsspot]

oh no! D:

[PinkDiamond]

Oh noooo, mick, I'm so sorry to hear that! It was the coons that would dig thru the walls if they could, or come up from underneath and kill my ducks and chickens, and it's always heartbreaking. Hope you can get some more birds, and secure the coop so nothing else can get in.

[mick]

I ordered 5 more, the lady said all they calls they are getting are for fox kills this spring. They are getting into places they have never been before.
No luck last night they priobably too full to move. I set a cage trap as well as the 4 leg traps and snare set in the entrance of chook house.
I will get em one way or another.

[mick]

So just now one of the three left got into the vegie patch and its leg tripped the trap. In my rush to free it, another got me down to the bone.
I dont know what I have done tio deserve this misery.
I dont kow how its leg wasnt cut off.
So now I have to catch it and kill it.
I dont like killing animals, maybe he nieghbor will do it if its still alive tomorrow.
I know its only a chook but its very upsetting.

[kjsspot]

Oh gosh Mick! I'm so sorry!! D:

[PinkDiamond]

OMG mick, those traps are too dangerous to use, as you and your chicken found out! If the bird can still move about, I don't think I would kill it since you don't know if it can heal, since it didn't cut its leg in half. As for you, OUCH!!! Please don't use traps like that for your own safety. The only way to do it is to make your coop predator proof, so you may need to armor it with metal if anything can get into it. How did the fox breach it?

I guess you don't have a guard dog to alert you to a predator's presence? A dog would be much safer all around, as long as it's one that doesn't kill small critters, than a trap that a predator may be lucky enough to miss, but you and your chickens get snared in.

As to your injury, colloidal silver used both topically and internally will keep it from getting infected, so that's what I would use until it's healed. And at this point, I think I would be bringing the last 2 chickens inside until you figure out a way to make the coop predator proof. They don't need a lot of room inside, so a shower curtain or piece of plastic large enough to protect the floor, and a way to keep them contained to the protected area should work for them to roost inside overnight might at least be a temporary answer to your dilemma.

[mick]

Well Super Chook, the next day, good as gold. Amazing. No sign of injury no limping, seems as happy as larry.
I poured alcohol on my wound, internally, seens to be working.
Chooks must have tough legs, but lesson learned.

[mick]

I think what happened was the plastic leg band on the chook took most of the force and protected its leg. The damage was when it struggled to get out. Thats the only explanation I can figure.