Ewan saves the day

The smaller four chicks photographed earlier in the week
I was just tucking into my first cup of coffee this morning when I spotted neighbour Ewan running down the garden path.Breathlessly he shouted that there was an alsatian attacking the chickens, and that he had fended the dog off once but it had come back again.
I grabbed a hoe and ran out to the field where the young dog from the riding stables behind the Church was bouncing through the fencing of the smaller run.I shouted and chased it through the graveyard, then went back to survey the hens and ducks.
The big buffs where hiding in their hen house safely and the turkeys and ducks all looked ok. Stanley had moved the larger flock behind the hen houses , so with a heavy heart I realised that the dog had centred his attack on the small juvenile flock in the smallest run. Two sides of the fencing had been knocked flat and I could only see one of the smaller white chicks (top of pic) walking in circles. Big piles of light feathers lay all around (with the quills pulled out by the roots) The smallest hen house was empty so I quickly checked the A frame ark where I found a rather shocked Rogo and the amber hen,Nonnie hiding there, Linda,Bunny and Susan were missing as were the three other small chicks (above).
Thank god, Ewan had spotted the attack ,even though he is not in the best of health, his prompt actions had probably saved many more of the hens and ducks.
I searched the field and found Bunny (a small black hooker chick) lying in a dust bath in the big enclosure. She was shocked and had been bitten but was alive, I placed her into her coop in the dark (hens can die very easily of shock and need quiet and warmth to recover) and after giving her some antibiotics and water went to search for the others.
After an age the smallest black chick (above) looking battered and worse for wear tip toed out of the long grass by the hedge and strangely allowed me to pick her up to rest in her own coop. The final "mottled" chick I found frozen and also injured up in the churchyard, but she certainly looked a little more alert than the others, and it took an age to catch her.There was something quite valiant, in the fact that all the smaller chicks somehow survived
There was no sign of Linda and Susan, and I suspect that the feathers I found was from one of them, but who knows?, I have been looking for them for most of the day.
The owner of the riding school was incredibly apologetic and agreed to pay for the damage that had been done, I just wish that she had properly invested in fixing her boundary fences, You may remember that I had already complained about the dog a couple of months ago

1 comment:

  1. What a horrid day. I know it could have been a lot worse...but that's not really the point, is it? Nx

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