Some Old Guy
Chirping
I went to bed last night, fell asleep, maybe slept 3/4 hour, when my Speckle dog woke me up. She was barking and growling, so I slipped my slippers on, grabbed my .22, and stepped outside with a flashlight. Couldn't see anything, but the ducks were all gabbling about something. I walked around the pen twice, before I saw a black tail swish inside of a brooder box. Hmmmm - ducks don't have furry black tails, in my experience. I stood where I thought I might be safe, and kicked the brooder box a couple times. Out comes a black head, followed by a black back bearing a pair of white stripes. She's looking around to see who disturbed her late night snack, and sees me. She starts swinging around to aim her main gun at me, and I says "OH NO!"
Well, I stopped her swinging around, but I couldn't stop her spraying - into the ground, and all over the brooder box. Crap. I never should have put the hen house so close to the house. This is going to permeate the house in short order. Hmmm . . . what do I have at hand to deal with skunk smell? No bleach. Not much peroxide. Ah-HA! There's most of a gallon of white distilled vinegar. I grabbed that, and walked back outside. Doused the dead skunk, slopped vinegar all over the brooder box, and sprinkled it all over the affected ground.
Now, I'm not going to tell you that the vinegar got rid of the smell, but it has most definitely made the smell bearable in just 20 hours or so. Either that, or I've grown accustomed to the smell. Yeah, that last is pretty unlikely. Skunk spray is potent!
Oh, the weapon of choice. I rely on a little Savage .22 LR rifle. I worry that one day, I'll step outside to find a big cat. Officially, the Game Commission says there are no big cats in Arkansas. Well, I've personally seen two big cats, and there are stories of dozens of others in the local community. No matter what officials might say, there are a lot of big cats living in the river bottoms, in Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. One that I saw would have weighed over 80 pounds, the other closer to 110 pounds. I don't know what's going to happen if it's only me and the .22 standing between a big cat and his chicken dinner! On the other hand, I hate to carry a huge cannon outside to deal with little critters like a skunk.
Back to the ducks. All day long today, I've been counting ducks. I counted two drakes, and 4 hens. I kept looking, and looking, and looking, couldn't find that fifth hen. This evening, I finally found her. She found a way under the mobile home, and took up residence. I still have 7 healthy ducks! Now I've got to persuade her to rejoin the flock, and block off that opening she used. She doesn't understand that she left a somewhat safe place, to hole up in a much less safe place. I mean, I'm not crawling under the house in the middle of the night to find a skunk!!
Well, I stopped her swinging around, but I couldn't stop her spraying - into the ground, and all over the brooder box. Crap. I never should have put the hen house so close to the house. This is going to permeate the house in short order. Hmmm . . . what do I have at hand to deal with skunk smell? No bleach. Not much peroxide. Ah-HA! There's most of a gallon of white distilled vinegar. I grabbed that, and walked back outside. Doused the dead skunk, slopped vinegar all over the brooder box, and sprinkled it all over the affected ground.
Now, I'm not going to tell you that the vinegar got rid of the smell, but it has most definitely made the smell bearable in just 20 hours or so. Either that, or I've grown accustomed to the smell. Yeah, that last is pretty unlikely. Skunk spray is potent!
Oh, the weapon of choice. I rely on a little Savage .22 LR rifle. I worry that one day, I'll step outside to find a big cat. Officially, the Game Commission says there are no big cats in Arkansas. Well, I've personally seen two big cats, and there are stories of dozens of others in the local community. No matter what officials might say, there are a lot of big cats living in the river bottoms, in Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. One that I saw would have weighed over 80 pounds, the other closer to 110 pounds. I don't know what's going to happen if it's only me and the .22 standing between a big cat and his chicken dinner! On the other hand, I hate to carry a huge cannon outside to deal with little critters like a skunk.
Back to the ducks. All day long today, I've been counting ducks. I counted two drakes, and 4 hens. I kept looking, and looking, and looking, couldn't find that fifth hen. This evening, I finally found her. She found a way under the mobile home, and took up residence. I still have 7 healthy ducks! Now I've got to persuade her to rejoin the flock, and block off that opening she used. She doesn't understand that she left a somewhat safe place, to hole up in a much less safe place. I mean, I'm not crawling under the house in the middle of the night to find a skunk!!
