The dogs have gone on a hunting spree / killing spree over the
last 3 weeks, killing 2 of our 7 week
old chicks, injuring another 2, 2 silky chooks and today they attacked our
female turkey. I've kind of got this hospital thing going on at the moment, the
2 injured chicks are in the shed with the turkey poults who are 3 weeks old.
The other chooks have been buried or tossed into the bin. The buried ones have
been dug up again though!
Mary - our female turkey - had been sitting on her eggs in the
cactus for the past week. She knew the
dogs couldn't get her or her eggs there because its past 'The Fence' (one of
those hidden fence things that signals the collar to give the dog a zap if it
gets too close). But the dogs have waited til she was super hungry to get her.
She has a bit of a ripped chest thing happening under her right wing and
feathers missing from her head and neck, but physically she is ok. I doused her
in betadine so that maggots don’t form and to clean the wound.
The chicks are a different story in how they were injured /
killed. They have been kept together in the same pen with the silky hen and
rooster that Neil brought down for us, locked up and were only allowed out in
their little yard just less than a week before they were killed off. The dogs
were jumping the fence into their yard and then knocking the poles we use to
jam the doors shut down to get into them. They have done this plenty of times
to get to the eggs too. Now the chickens have learnt - lay in the garden shed
behind the saddles and lucine or in the wood box.
So not only do I have a hospital happening, but everyone must
think we have a sign out the front "Don’t like your current owner? Then
come live here! Animals of all shapes and sizes welcome. Including cats".
Someone has tried to palm off a staffy to us, our cat rocked up
one night and never left, Neil from up the road gave us his beloved silky hen
and rooster (the ones that got killed – that’s another story!!), then he
brought down his guinea fowl. THEN, last Friday night when Nathan got home from
work he was greeted by all the animals as usual, except there were 4 adult
chicken hens and not 5. So he called out to her....but instead of just 1 hen
coming, 2 came!! WT-!! Since when did we have 6 chooks again?? He was so
convinced that I had gone and bought another hen and still now, 4 days later I
don't think he believes me.
Remember 'Old Girl'? The one we got with 'Silky' from that empty
rental place? ..... Well, this chook is like her.....seriously!! Its a spitting
image of her, just not as fat!!! She is laying in the garden shed, walks around
with the others, knows where to get water during the day, comes when
called......everything the others do. We, ok I, have no idea where she has come
from. All our original chooks are either still here (2 of them), dead and
buried or eaten by the dogs. It is soooooo weird!!!!!!!
Then Im constantly playing security guard for 'Silky' (the one
we got with Old Girl) - our big old silky rooster. He is always being attacked
by Dodgy Rodgy (aka Roger) our other rooster (for our layers). Poor Silky
spends the day out the front on the driveway so Roger doesn't get him. He has a
fair few feathers missing from his head but no actual wounds yet. We need to
get rid of him, he has no purpose here and so we are feeding him for the fun of
it. Why cann't the dogs have gone for him this morning instead of Mary???
I wonder what dead or injured chook I will find tomorrow??
One of our first chicks to hatch.
