I had a chicken that took 2 hits from a fox on separate occasions. First time, wound on the back that healed. (Kept her warm and inside)
Second time, big kerfuffle, dog barking, found the chicken, picked her up (2am) stiff as a board, feathers everywhere, JR had chased the fox past me at a rate of knots, so went to bed as there was nothing more for me to do. Next morning, went out for the burial but only feathers so assummed the bugger had come back and dragged the body away. Three days later found the chicken alive under the big Acanthus bush so Mrs Lomatia kept her inside in a box (as she did on assault #1) and the bird recovered.
They're pretty tough.
Actually saw a scurfy vixen and cub in my back corner earlier this year - frightened the .... out of me. JR got a sniff and went right off! There are more foxes per square km in the part of Melbourne where I live (suburbia) than any other part of the world apparently.
My former dog (smooth haired Fox terrier) cleaned up some young chickens I had many years ago and buried some of them in the veggie garden. Found the feet poking out from the ground. Wasn't happy. Dug under the netting so where there is a will there's a way!

Thanks Lomatia,
Your words and advice has made me feel heaps better.

I am going to report back in the morning. I am expecting one will not make it and one will.

Next time I'm going to make chook prison.

Cheers, Grub.

They are extremely tough, Grub. However, you have to decide how bad this other chook is. Sounds bad. But again, they do recover from the nastiest wounds. Not sure how they'll fare on their own though, if you are away again. Is there somebody who can give them some TLC?

Spatz,
My partner was hoping u would have some advice and U would call!! So thanks heaps and ditto to Lomatia. I guess 2morro will tell.So annoying coz I have all my family on choo kpatrol when a I am away and I thort I built an inpetrable run. Damn! Poor girls. Love them in a crazy way., They are so spolit, helpless and chooks.;))))))

The only thing about dog bites and birds (apart from the obvious!) is the dog bacteris don't do the chooks any good...if they survive and I hope they do, you might be advised to get some antibiotics for them, although I don't know how you would get that without the vet seeing them....

more to the point grub?

is the dog now fertiliser?

i would suggest in the line of kindness if a bird looks realy bad then do the job for it hey?

if you lay wire usually chain wire on the ground around the outside of the chook run for about a meter wide and this connects to the wire cage, this will make it very hard for anything to get in, lay some logs whatever on the outer edge of this wire mulch the area and grow herbs or whatever.

the only other suggestion which is more work is to put in a cement footing and have the wire down into the cement. also when we had a cage we had 4 foot chain wire around the bottom on the outside of the lighter chook/bird wire we used that fine mesh bird wire so chooks couldn't get their head through it putting them at risk of their head becoming a meal for a fox or dog, of course the remaining part of the chook is then only good for fertiliser.

len

mail len

lens garden page

Yes Len, Good point cement's the way to go. In my situation the run was attached to wood which was easier for the dog to dig under. (My b-in-l on the farm regularly loses ducklings to foxes but the dogs leave the birds alone. I suspect that they have been chastised in the past!!!!

A few years ago, I forgot to lock the chookhouse at dusk and "a dingo got my babies"... 2 were carried away, 5 were dead in the yard but 2 were still vaguely alive. One had superficial wounds around the neck and chest, the other very deep wounds on her back and rear. We put them in separate boxes in the house but, in the morning, the one with the superficial wounds was dead (a post-mortem showed severe internal bleeding) whereas the other (English Game Hen) lived for another 10 years. After all she had been through, she deserved to die of natural causes (a sentiment that was not shared by her chookhouse mates because she was very bossy and ill-tempered...)
Rose-Marie

I forgot to add that the wounds healed by themselves, we never used antibiotics or anything else on the wound. We have nursed many wounded chooks or ducks just by putting them in a box in a cool, quiet part of the house and placing water and soft food within easy reach.

That's spot on, Rose. A box in a cool, quiet place of the house. Water and soft food. Within a few days the chooks are getting restless and eager to join the rest of the gang. :)

Re the wire. Our chicken wire goes way down into the ground facing outside. (If you know what I mean.) I keep checking the defences regularly as we have tons of foxes about.

We keep finding bits of animals (lambs' hooves, hares' legs, etc.) that these darned foxes (or other animals?) keep scattering around the place. Messy eaters. What a waste! And it stinks like hell when you happen to work near that place and suddenly have to hunt down body parts.

Last week I passed a neighbour's paddock and there was a fox amongst the sheep - in the middle of the day! Thankfully it fled the place when I stopped and honked.

Sorry to hear about your girls, grub. I remember reading all your posts when you first got them - that was what encouraged me to go ahead and get the babies we have now.

What decision did you make this morning?

Oh Grub, that's really sad news. Dogs are just dogs, but once they have the taste.......
My bird netting is at half mast.

So sorry to hear about your Chooks Grub.
Whatever decision you make will be the right one for you.
Well we tend to get attached to our Chooks after all they
are working pets and part of the family.
A hard choice to make...Cheers..MM.

Thats a bugger Grub. Dogs just cant help themselves, but the owners shouldn't be letting it out anyway.

Thanks GWers. The chooks were still alive this AM. No clucking at all though. Very shocked all day. High heat didn't help. Their coop is under a tree and it's shaded all day. They both ate a tiny bit. They're not that hungry. I made a second shelter and laid extra hay.

The better one has puncture wounds on its neck and a bitten rear end, loss of feathers, etc. But she laid a damn egg! That's an Isa Brown for you.

The other one, the noisier Red Island Red, isn't saying or eating much. I think it laid one of those non-shell eggs. She's in a pretty bad way. But she ate some softened chook pellets, some peeled sunflower seeds, some mashed fresh corn. She is stumbling a fair bit. Deep neck wounds and can see an organ or two.

I am keeping an eye on the RIR, but she's such a strong, big bird I think she will pull through. Unless infection sets in.

The reallly annoying thing is that the neighbours have some friends staying with them, Balmy Army lads, those awful types, and it was their dog. As it transpired they "let their dog roam" around Bondi from where they are from.

The dog was back out today, said another neighbour, Shona, who witnessed the whole thing y'day. She brought chocolates to make us feel better and I gave her a pile of eggs from the girls, who are grateful for her raising the alarm and telling the neighbours their dog was eating our chickens.

The lady who owns the dog brought wine and young kids to apologise last night. Today, her husband, the Pommy type, was making smartarse comments to his other lad mate. So it was all a joke to them.

I fixed the run. If the dog is out and about I'm ringing the pound. It annoys me that I have to deal with their dog in my backyard. The other neighbour's cats are annoying enough! City living.

Hey Grub,

We don't have chooks but I am feeling for you and your poor girls. I just can't understand how people can be so unfeeling to the suffering of fellow animals.

Best of luck,
Helen

hi Grub, Im backing len's suggestion with the concrete footing where the bottom of the wire goes down into the concrete so it cant be dug underneath. we had chooks when I was growing up and we had a lot of problems with dogs and foxes digging under and killing the chooks until my father put concrete footings in all around the wire and under the gate, we never lost another chook after that.

it's a shame the neighbours friend is so irresponsible, and dogs just cant help themselves when it comes to chooks, but the concrete footing really works.

We might have to go with a general interest story about the Human Grub :)

Hey Grub,

Just popped in to bump the election update down the road. See it's already moving along.

So sad to hear about your girls, hope they recover. I canÂt believe the dog is out running again.

The title of the Grub story could be: Man shoots neighborÂs dog. Then again, itÂs not the dogs fault, it canÂt really pick its humansÂ

I think you are right re the value of concrete footings. The run is formed over a disused veggie bed, so there is concrete around it. The mistake I made was that the wire on one side was tucked back inside the run and the dog got its head or something under the wire and kind of dug down a bit.

I've since secured that part of the run with a large steel bar weaved through the wire on that side, buried deep in the earth, beside the concrete edging. I don't even think I could get in there now. Lucky there is a gate.

Hi Bruce,
Glad to see you around. I agree: it's the dog's owners who deserve a hiding. But I think it would be like water off a duck's back.

Well if you ring the pound and the owners have to pay to get their dog back it might teach your neighbours a lesson. This is what I did a few years ago when my irresponsible neighbour let his dog roam the suburb. The rangers came, picked up the dog and the dog owner had to pay to get it back. I have never seen the dog runing alone since, but I know it is there as I have seen it through the window (this is just to let you know that it is still alive :-)

Sorry to read about the girls' travails, Grub. Dermott sends an apology on behalf of his species. And if he were ever to see a chook, he'd probably lay an egg in fright.

Thanks everyone and Finbar.

I miss his humour. The lacerated chook neck/breast looks like death warmed up. But the chook is eating. That's something. Not making much noise though. Gave it treat: worms on dark. Got a week before I jet off for a week. Hopefully it perks up.

Hard juggling all this and the working week and travel. *small violin playing.* But you will be pleased to know the babies are looking good this season.

Hi Grub,
I've just got back from a weekend away, I'm very sorry to hear about your poor girls, thankfully all my girls & boys are fine. I've lost lots of chooks to foxes & dogs over the years & have seen some recover from really serious injuries.
I think the general "leave them alone" advice is good. They've survived the initial shock & infection isn't usually a problem in birds.
If they're still hanging in there when you go away I'd think they have a reasonable chance of pulling through.

Thanks Sarah,
I did briefly entertain the thought of dropping them over to your joint with the seedlings :) I reckon they will make it. That's good news re infection. I also thought about Valium and a need and thread, but backed off on account of not knowing the dose to give a chook. But I have sown boned breasts before.

Mrs Lomatia made up some vegetable broth and fed it to the girl after one of her attacks. (Don't use chicken broth!!!!)

The bad one is better each day but seemingly bound up. I, er, you are gonna think I'm crazy. I used a warm wet sponge to clean the rear end and the egg-laying area which were a tad bloody and no eggs and, yes, she has that bound-up sulky demeanour.

But the neck and shoulders, bad as they look, seems to be turning into a KFC crispy fillet. And the Rhode Island Red is none too worried about that. I might have to give it's derrier a steambath on the weekend. Few days after that I'm off for a week. It'll have to be autochook.

Last resort: Animal wellfare said they will take them in for $5 a day if we really really are desparate. Things you learn. They would keep them separate from the cage of roosters, but said the cocks will go crazy and luckily they wouldn't be sleeping on site the week we are away. They must cockadoodle all day long or something. Couldn't be as bad as kohls.

Alternative was to put them in with the roosters for a week. I'm not sure how this works but I'm sure my girls wouldn't come home the same.

Grub, it's okay, we've given rear-baths to chooks before. They seemed to enjoy it actually.

The rear end looks a bit bedraggled after the bath, but soon everything fluffs up. :)

Oh, so I am seemingly keeping good chook company. No soap or suds, I would think. I was going to throw only a few soothing leaves of Lemon Balm in with the bath  have to use them for something  put on some relaxing chook music, and turn the lights low. I'll give it a go.

Unbeknown to me the lady up the back admires the way I tend my girls. So I'm not as bad as I sound. Lol. She said she listens to me talk to them. Who would have though I would be so, well, clucky. :)

Grub I certainly would take your girls in if you're still worried about them when you go away. I have a run for sick/broody hens to keep them away from the others. Especially if they were accompanied by some seedlings & kohlrabi :-)
Let me know
Sarah

glad to hear your girls have survived the first few days, grub.

I let our babies out on their own today - I was in and out, hanging up washing, washing up at kitchen window etc, but it was the first time they were all on their own without someone actually sitting there guarding them. I was more owrried about magpies getting them (nesting season) than I was about dogs or foxes (do we have feral foxes in Brisbane?) - but now I'm just paranoid - I think it stressed me too much to do it again! LOL

Watch the Kookaburras, too! They go after ducklings and chicks. Good to hear your chicks are thriving, wishful!

how are the patients, grub?

They are all the better for you asking, Wishful. One is as fit as a fiddle and laying and talkative. Though more alert and alarmed at all the spring bird noises from the likes of Noisy Mynas or Silver Eyes, Kohls and Cockatoos.

The other one is feeding, but not how she used to. She is a lot more timid. When she stretches her neck to peck the ground she exposes the large featherless area with a deep laceration. Its all dry now. But boing so makes her feel vulnerable. So she's getting around like a neckless chicken. She is a bit unsteady from this preferred pose too.

I reckon she will get there in the end. Speaking of which she had a bum bath y'day arvo and, yes, quite liked it. I added crushed garlic and lemon balm to the water. Stranger than fiction. I think it will take some time to get her back to where she was. She's much quieter, which in a way, is a blessing.

This weekend I'm going to move her to a temporary run over a soon-to-be renovated bed full of worms. The last two days they have been eating: rice mixed with canned tuna, fresh corn kernels and chopped mescalun. Along with everything else. I must be mad!

Glad to hear they're going well Grub. Have you tried bathing the laceration to soften it, just use salty water.

The bum bath helped that end of things a lot. The neck/shoulder laceration is healing but I'm not sure that there won't be a large chunk missing from her skin and flesh.

Halfway down the neck it actually looks like the neck is sticking out of the flesh or broken. But it couldn't be coz she is pecking at things. About 60 per cent of the way to a full recovery I rekcon. Not an egg. Must be putting energy into the healing part of things.

Might try and post a pic, though it's going to be difficult taking the pic! - Cheers, Grub, who can't get the old timber out of the rafters iin his shed no matter how hard he tries so off to timbermill for edging for new bed and 20 bags compost, etc, to add to own compost and fill the damn thing.

I think Rhode Island Red is on the mend. Some deeper slashes and a bone thing out of view. But she is sounding better and even gave a wee egg.

What's the prognosis from the Chookcology Unit?

So she just wants to say thanks for your support.

Here is a link that might be useful:

Looks like it is healed over to me. I reckon she will be fine. Mantis

Amazing how they can survive such injuries. I trust you're talking to her Grub and telling her she's wonderful? Positive vibes etc :))

I think Grub has dissapeared on a weeks trip somewhere. Dont know if he has a computer with him or not.

you back yet grub? how are the girls?

Well, I must say I'm astounded that they could recover so quickly from such injuries. But mesclun mix, chopped at that!

Are you sure the chicken in the picture is a rhode island red? She looks very similar to my brown lomans. Rhode island reds are usually a very dark red. I may be wrong as I can't see the whole bird. I thought mine were rir but only recently found out they were lomans.

Hi,
Just in. My stand-in chooky keeper reports that we are getting two eggs a day again. So great to hear she is back doing the laying thing. Thanks for everything.

Goldhills,
I will look into this. I will endeavour to snap a better portrait. I just asked for a very large chook and a lady who knows a sister-in-law, who runs a mobile kids' farm, sourced the chook and said it was a RIR. It looks just like the RIR in my "Backyard Chickens" book, which has colour plates. But will check :)

Cheers, Grub :)

isn't that incredible?. i think of chickens as vulnerable little things. Wow, that's good news.
A good cosmetic surgeon should do wonders for that scar.

Welcome back Grub, I hope your week was not to taxing :-)
Good news about the girls laying again.

Thanks for the welcome. Madness here. We released fish to 500lbs. One girl fought a 800-900-pound marlin for 1hr 40 mins before setting it free. Much diving among coral gardens. I'll upload some pics in an off-topic area ASAP. Meantime, back to the craziness. (I think chooky minder has been overwatering the babies. Some seedlings look kinda sad.)

Hi Grub, don't take my word for it because I don't know a lot about breeds. I only found out about mine when I bought some more to replace a few that were getting old. This one in the picture is still young, not laying yet, but is a brown loman. Some of them seem to have a little white on them but some are all red.

{{gwi:2116588}}

Anyway it doesn't really matter. It sounds like they have a caring owner which is the most important thing - except maybe when the owner is off fishing and didn't invite anyone else :)

Gosh, what a drama! I just came over here after months of not visiting and we were just about to go the shop to get milk - but M had to wait for me until I had read all the posts to find out the fate of the poor chooks!

Glad to hear that they are feeling much better, what a traumatic experience for them (and you).

freckle

Ahoy Captain AHAB. Hope ya girlz are fine.
Next time you go galavanting off, could you keep me a pair of small Marlin?.
I thought they might make nice earrings, when stuffed of course!!