The Chicken Chronicles 8.27.21

This month started out like any other month for the chickens, with normal day-to-day feedings and pecking and dust baths and such.

I don't remember the context of this picture, but it must have been staged
because the Chickie Hens still don't like to sleep in the coop.

This was the second time we've had a little puppy around our chickens.

It's cute to see the way they interact!

Luke & Blue

*Notice Bandit's awesome tail.*

And then toward the end of the month, tragedy struck.  Our neighbor's (big) puppy dug under the fence and went after the chickens.  The two roosters and three of the older hens were obviously attacked, with Ms. Felix getting the worst of it.  Poor Jack discovered what happened when he went outside to check on the chickens after church and found Coda in the yard.  He took her back to the neighbor's house and told everyone what happened.  In the yard, there were tons of feathers and the chickens were all hiding, so that at first we weren't even sure how many had survived.  Ben came in and told me he thought some chickens had died and I went out to find Eliza in tears and everyone in a state of alarm.

Thankfully, none were killed, but Hei Hei and Buttercup were wounded, and the roosters' tails were completely gone.  They all look so different after surviving a dog attack.

Ms. Felix was hurt enough that she wasn't moving except for very heavy breathing.  We wondered if we'd need to take her to the vet to get her injuries tended, but after looking at resources online and asking a local "backyard chicken enthusiasts" Facebook group for advice, we were encouraged that with proper care she would be able to recover at home.  So Ben applied antibiotic ointment to her wounds, we made sure she had enough food and water, and kept her isolated in the coop.  She took it upon herself to rest for a few days.  For the first few days, when she walked, she limped.  But within a week she was moving like normal.  And she only took a couple of days off of laying.  Talk about a tough cookie!

Shortly after the attack.

In the coop, 2 days later.

In the coop, 3 days later.  Happy to have some tomatoes to snack on.

We think Dixie was in the coop laying so she wasn't out when Coda came in the yard.  The Chickies like to hang out in the bushes, and they're pretty fast and less trusting than the older chickens, so we assume they were either already in a protected location or they hurried to safety when Coda appeared.  Ben has said he thinks Coda was just trying to play with the chickens because she certainly could have killed them but didn't.  Whatever the case is, it was alarming that the dog came into their safe place and they were trapped.  I just kept thinking of how scared they must have been.  Also, we wonder if the roosters were trying to fight Coda off at all, and how things happened exactly.

Nothing like a good dust bath to help you recover after a vicious attack.

To end on a happier note here is our adolescent rooster, Henry,
and his rubber chicken-like crow (squawk?).

I'll be impressed if you can watch this and not laugh.