Finding Contentment

Horrible story, somewhat happy ending

09:54 PM, Tuesday, August 7, 2007 .. Posted in Chickens .. 6 comments .. Link

Today, my husband let the chickens out and then went into the house. Usually we don't let them out of the coop unsupervised but since we have been using them to help control the Japanese beetle population we have been letting them roam for long periods of time - as long as we were home.

Before I go any further, perhaps I should explain how my yard is set up. My entire back yard - which is pretty big - is fenced in with a split rail and hog wire fence. The back yard holds the chicken coop, a large vegetable garden, a rose garden, several flower beds, and two small trees, and still has enough room for the kids to play. Also inside the split rail fence is a chain link fence in a rectangular shape that runs the width of the house one way and about 50 feet the other way. This area is strictly for the dogs. It is off the back deck so that we can simply open the back door and let the dogs run out into their area. The kids aren't even allowed in the dog area. This ensures they will never step in dog feces while they play.

Late this afternoon I asked my 12-year-old son to let the dogs out to use the bathroom and play. He let them out the back door and then stepped out onto the deck just in time to see a horrible site. My dog Baby, a 12-year-old black Lab mix, was attacking my favorite chicken, Big Mama. She is pictured above in a photo taken a couple of months ago.

Both the split rail and the chain link fence are five feet high, and the chickens have never flown over either one before. But somehow this one chicken, the leader as far as the pecking order of the flock goes, had flown into the dog area - probably while chasing a beetle.

Baby has never touched a human in an aggressive manner. She absolutely adores kids and lets my 2-year-old niece climb all over her and pull her ears without even a whimper.

But, centuries of breeding and instinct demand that she be a bird dog, and Baby has been known on occasion to drop a starling or robin at the back door. In true bird dog fashion, the birds are never chewed on, wounded or marred in any way. They are as pretty as ever, but they are always dead. I guess she crushes them or something. And she is quick. She can catch any bird that dares to land in her dog yard. Now this doesn't happen very often, as we don't put anything in the dog yard to attract the birds. But can you imagine poor Big Mama, a beautiful araucana, trying to get away from a charging Labrador?

Hearing shouts from my son, I went to the back door just as he came back in. I thought he had fallen down the deck stairs or something, but he was crying so hard he couldn't say a word. I took him by the arms, made him look in my eyes, and said, "What happened?" He got out two words, "Big Mama" and I immediately knew what had happened. I ran out the door to find Baby at the bottom of the deck steps with what I thought at the time was a chunk of Big Mama (it was actually just her feathers). There were feathers everywhere, and Big Mama lay lifeless in the middle of the dog yard.

We were all devastated, including my husband, who loves the chickens like they are his best friends (I know, I know. What kinds of homesteaders befriend their chickens? But these were only ever supposed to be layers, anyway).

Twenty minutes later my husband and I went outside to clean up the mess before the kids came out. Big Mama was gone! She wasn't dead after all, but she was seriously injured. One of her feet doesn't work, it just drags behind her. Somehow she had managed to drag herself to a safer spot under a bench.

Hubby gathered her up and checked her over thoroughly. Like the other birds Baby has brought us on occasion, Big Mama had no wounds at all. But she was in shock. She was breathing heavily with her mouth open. Thankfully, she didn't seem to be in pain, as she let my husband move her foot around and check her without a peep.

It was over 100 degrees out today, so we put a thick layer of pine shavings in a box and put her in the cool basement with some water. We went back to check on her several hours later, and she appears to be doing better. Although she still hasn't really moved, she is alert and her head and eyes follow us everywhere.

We are still very concerned. She may still not make it, and if she does there could be problems. The foot is not broken or wounded in any way, so we are not sure what the deal is. But if the foot doesn't heal, my husband says we may have to put her down. A one-legged chicken would have a hard time making it within the flock. We do seem to have some luck nursing animals back to health, including a duck that had been attacked by a stray dog and a pigeon we found in a grocery store parking lot that had been shot with a BB gun.

But God will do what He deems best.