Sand and Amazing All In A Matter of 2-1/2 Hours

[smoknz28]

Sad...and amazing all in a matter of 2-1/2 hours.

As most of my family and friends are aware...I love animals here on my mini-farm.

About 2 weeks ago, we became new owners of Chocolate Turkeys named Hershey (tom) and Godiva (hen). Over this course of a couple weeks, Godiva and I have become close to one another. She loves greeting me and being held by me...as she doesn't realize she's not a small bird anymore at just over 10 lbs.

Well, during these couple of weeks, we have been trying to figure out a coup for them to reside in protecting them from the foxes. As we've been deciding, we've been feeling comfortable with their sleeping arrangements until we figure things out for them. She usually will sleep on top of the goats 5' gate and he'll usually sleep on top of the chicken's pen about 8' high.
This morning my dog woke me up barking. With her bark, she doesn't bark for any other reason than to go outside to relieve herself or that there is a fox or someone in our yard. This was at 5:30 am.

I grabbed my .45 and flashlight and had a darn good feeling it was more of a fox issue than anything else...shined the light in the backyard to find Godiva being attacked by a fox. Firing the .45 was not an option as I would have woken up the entire neighborhood...I though of firing my Ruger 10/22 rifle...but that too would have woken up at least our next door neighbors...so all I could do was clap my hands loudly to scare the fox off of her...the fox backed off where she was free and I ran, turned on the flood lights and out the backdoor I went after the fox.

In a matter of 20 seconds....the time it took for me to run outside...it was all quiet. Not a peep....I walked the grounds with my light and didn't find her or the fox. I continued searching and with the temperature in the near teens...I gave up after searching.

I was very saddened by the loss and vowed to step up my game to extinguish of these foxes. Stayed up since she was attacked peering out my window with my .22 waiting to take out any further foxes. Sure enough...one ran right by the back yard, but again...I backed off from shooting so I didn't wake the neighbors. We may all live on acreage in our neighborhood...but the sound would have traveled too loudly. I had to let the fox go...

Made some coffee and woke the wife up to let her know that Godiva is no longer with us...which saddened my heart as she is a dear sweetheart of a large bird. If you've not seen our video together...you'll have to take a peek at it to understand what I'm saying about our relationship.

The kids then woke for school and I told my daughter that we lost Godiva....I could tell she was saddened by it but she held back her tears. She understands the risk we assume with animals.

So...time goes by and we are in the front room of our home awaiting the school bus to arrive for her and my son....

Yup, here's the bus and out the door they went......BUT...

Lizzie yells back at me and says..."She's alive!" "Daddy, Godiva's alive!"

I run outside and there she was...on top of our garbage can.

I looked her over and she was actually looking pretty good....but then the wound was found....she was bitten on our top back. Her air sack was ripped open and you can hear her air coming out of her air sack. Ack!

Relieved of joy that she is still with us I grabbed her up and put her inside out chicken coop up and away from our chickens until I could figure out what to do next. Surprisingly enough...she is in good spirits despite being ripped open on top about 4". She's able to stand and alert.

I got on the phone immediately calling for an exotic animal veterinarian. After several phone calls and searching around...I found one relatively close who does work on birds, and scheduled her in at 11:30.

Brought her in to the vet...and well, you know...it's not a norm that a turkey owner would bring their bird into the vet. This is because just to get in the door to be seen would run you about $60...and that's before any procedure is to be done. Heck, you can buy at least 3-6 turkeys for that price of just getting in the door.

Godiva has become a part of our family, just as our other animals....she is worth it for us.

She was seen by the doctor who surprisingly said he's seen worse and the birds have survived after surgery.

Next up....give me the quote for surgery....

Total out the door with visit and surgery came out to $263. Ouch! I didn't hesitate telling him to move forward with surgery. He said I could leave Godiva and they will call me.

So, here I am....at McDonalds in hopes that I receive a phone call from him saying the surgery went well and I can come and pick her up.

Time goes by......phone rings....
.
"Surgery went well and she is doing good, you can pick her up anytime now."

YES!!

So now...let me close this up now and say I am so very thankful that we've not lost Godiva. I know she's just an animal...but this is an animal that we've (okay, mostly me) come close to.

Okay...gotta go and pick up my girl....

 

[smoknz28]

Here's a quick shot I took of here backside before I took her in where her air sack was torn into....you can't see the full damage that was done though...she had about a 4" rip in her body.

 

[memphis]

Wow...Poor girl. Keep us posted on her recovery!

 

[smoknz28]

Wow...Poor girl. Keep us posted on her recovery!

Thank you Memphis.

She's currently in our basement in a dog kennel, warm so she can heal up as comfortably as possible.

Still in good spirits, very alert and her same ole sweetheart character.

Trying to keep her away from other animals right now so they don't peck at your wound, or get her excited.

 

[smoknz28]

Twice a day I'm to give her this medication. I'm to grab her head, open her beak and push this syringe all the ay down her throat to where her beak hits the horizontal plastic of the syringe and push the medication down. Ouch! This isn't going to be fun for her... Gotta do this twice a day until the medication is gone. Eeeeesh....she may not like me much after this....but hopefully she'll know it's for the best.

 

[cracked egg]

I would add some apple cider vinegar in the water. That stuff is a miracle worker,make sure it has the "mother" in it. Next time shoot the fox, the neighbors will understand. Here the neighbors all have livestock of some sorts and shooting of a pests is appreciated by all,even at 3 am.

 

[TurkenItUp209]

Next time shoot the fox, the neighbors will understand. Here the neighbors all have livestock of some sorts and shooting of a pests is appreciated by all,even at 3 am.

Yup, thats how we country folks have to roll.

 

[ivan3]

We, too, live in Red Fox territory. In 2007, between our closest neighbors and ourselves, 18 Red Fox were harvested. This action was prompted by our neighbor's having let their 13 Silver Laced Wyandotte pullets out in the yard for the first time. The owner went inside for a few minutes to get some grapes for them. When she returned she found only feathers and, from the corner of her eye, caught the tip of a Red tail disappearing into the high grasses in the field behind their house (all 13 gone in ~12 minutes). I found 13 piles of feathers under some Cedars, in our wood line, the following day. I found the den 2 days later at the base of a huge Hickory Snag (and that was that). They can work in pairs in the Spring, they will adjust their schedules (ours are almost exclusively early evening preds - why it was easy to kill as many as we did) to maximize their chances. A Red Fox can kill a full grown tom (not without effort but they can). Raccoons are always a threat to nesting hens, if the hens are allowed to do so outside pred proof nesting area.

We keep three havahart live traps out at all times, keep baby monitors in both chicken coop and turkey shed, runs are fenced with 6ft. 1"x2" welded wire, and we do not allow any `free range' that isn't armed (semi .22's) and supervised.
Attend to the defense of the turks with the same care and concern as you have exhibited towards tending to Godiva's wounds and you'll bankrupt your vet.

 

[smoknz28]

I would add some apple cider vinegar in the water. That stuff is a miracle worker,make sure it has the "mother" in it. Next time shoot the fox, the neighbors will understand. Here the neighbors all have livestock of some sorts and shooting of a pests is appreciated by all,even at 3 am.

Thank you. Are you saying there is a "Mother" brand of Apple Cider Vinegar that I should purchase and use in her water to help with her healing? Mother is a name brand?

Yup, thats how we country folks have to roll.

To both Cracked Egg and Turken It Up....there are 8 homes in our cul-de-sac with only one of them with any livestock besides myself. I could give them a warning and my phone number that I may from time to time fire at night or early morning. Guess it would be different if they all, or mostly all, had livestock.

Thanks.

We, too, live in Red Fox territory. In 2007, between our closest neighbors and ourselves, 18 Red Fox were harvested. This action was prompted by our neighbor's having let their 13 Silver Laced Wyandotte pullets out in the yard for the first time. The owner went inside for a few minutes to get some grapes for them. When she returned she found only feathers and, from the corner of her eye, caught the tip of a Red tail disappearing into the high grasses in the field behind their house (all 13 gone in ~12 minutes). I found 13 piles of feathers under some Cedars, in our wood line, the following day. I found the den 2 days later at the base of a huge Hickory Snag (and that was that). They can work in pairs in the Spring, they will adjust their schedules (ours are almost exclusively early evening preds - why it was easy to kill as many as we did) to maximize their chances. A Red Fox can kill a full grown tom (not without effort but they can). Raccoons are always a threat to nesting hens, if the hens are allowed to do so outside pred proof nesting area.

We keep three havahart live traps out at all times, keep baby monitors in both chicken coop and turkey shed, runs are fenced with 6ft. 1"x2" welded wire, and we do not allow any `free range' that isn't armed (semi .22's) and supervised.
Attend to the defense of the turks with the same care and concern as you have exhibited towards tending to Godiva's wounds and you'll bankrupt your vet.

Ah yes Ivan...you can feel me then with our Red Fox challenges. On my surveillance camera, there only appears to be one Red Fox. About a month ago, I had shot, multiple times, 4 Red Foxes. I was using .22 ball ammo and it the bullets were just passing right through their bodies. I am a retired United States Marine with Expert Marksmanship skills. I love my iron sights and have them zero'd in with my Ruger 10/22 Takedown. After laying multiple rounds into them from our second story floor, I would run down stairs and outside to finish them off quickly....but they were gone by the time I made my way downstairs. Now, during these few days of shooting...we had snow on the ground. This made it very easy for me to track their paw prints and their blood. I found a lot of blood on their trails when we tracked them...but unfortunately, their blood and tracks led us off our property lines. I was so hoping that the blood trails would lead me back to their dens....which, if I could have followed their blood trails, I'm sure I would have found their dens to finish them and any others off. I was very devastated we couldn't track them to their deaths.

I did some research and found that there is hollow point .22, which I have since purchased and loaded into the 10/22, but haven't been able to get a shot off yet on any of them since the most recent attack.

With your catch and release live traps, have you caught any foxes? What are you using for bait? Are you camouflaging them, as in the wires that make them up? If you have any pictures or videos of them setup, please post them up or message me with a link to them.

Thanks.

 

[ivan3]

Smoknz28 wrote: With your catch and release live traps, have you caught any foxes? What are you using for bait? Are you camouflaging them, as in the wires that make them up? If you have any pictures or videos of them setup, please post them up or message me with a link to them.

Here is a thread that covers most everything. Baiting? I've used about everything but, pretty much default to a slurry of peanut butter & bacon grease slathered under trigger plate/treadle. Foxes are `one off's' in live traps (only 5 in 15 yrs 3 kits/two adults), the traps are for raccoons. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/232969/modifications-for-standard-havaharts-save-time This was a good sized adult, last year: Have had good luck in the winter as they like to follow fence lines and, when ground is frozen, cache their kills along their usual paths (cached rabbit):

This is my free range `tool kit' (though I still prefer the old Remington Nylon 66 for night work): CCI's for both the Ruger and Remington. If a fox makes an appearance, here, and skedaddles. I just wait about 10 min. and pick up the rifle, they almost always have to return to take another look and, for all the `sly' stories I've heard, ours are quite brazen. Oh, the vinegar (Spectrum brand is much cheaper), not that I use it for the birds, much (a tablespoon in a gallon, here):