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Greetings and Welcome to http://www.crittersgaloreandsomuchmore.blogspot.com/ and also http://www.gardeneroflight.blogspot.com/ From these spaces I want to share my love of animals and Nature and Life in general. So here you will find stories, information, reminiscences, an occasional bit of advice and a recipe or two. Please check them both out!!!

Monday, February 17, 2014

Dog Attack!


    When I came back from my walk late Saturday afternoon, I found a chunk of fat and skin with Orpington feathers attached!!! Lots of other feathers spread all around the yard. I ran to the shed and found all four girls up on the roost.... but Hester was kind of crunched up toward the back. Poor Hester!!! And I had to wait till morning to get a good look at her.  (When I get a hen house built its going to have electric!!!)
     Anyway, in the morning she was alive but had no intention of coming out of the shed! I finally got to examine her and see the extent of the injury. A big gaping hole in her side near and in back of the wing. It was a dog bite!! Seems one of the neighbor's dog came over and went after the girls! I guess Hester either stood her ground or got trapped. Shes used to getting her own way, so I can just imagine her thinking that she could scare off this dog like she does the four she lives with. Sadly that wasn't the case.
     I have put her in semi-isolation in a dog crate inside the chicken pen. I let her out for supervised strolls, then back in she goes.


   The others don't know what to think! They stay close to Hester in her cage for most of the day. The first day they barely left her side. Only when I went out and sat with her would they wander off on their regular bug-patrol routes.
   I realize now how totally unprepared I am for any chicken emergency!!! I'll  have to remedy that in the very near future.  In the meantime, I've cleaned the wound with hydrogen peroxide ( she HATED that) and smothered it with Neosporin w/painkiller ointment.  She isn't fond of that either but she settles down and lets me hold her till it "melts" into that gaping hole! If she can avoid infection then there is a chance it will heal up and she can continue to be the main Diva around here!!!  Please send healing and prayers her way.


  (Jacob knew something was wrong and he tried his best to stay close too. The girls were unimpressed by his devotion. And Hester was just plain put-out by it.  She really isn't fond of any canine right about now! Can't fault her for that!)