Cyn, you take such great pictures
Gideon looks like a sweetie.
Don't you wish it were possible to keep more boys. OMG! I sound like Amy!!!
Careful there Laura. This malady is contagious, you know!
Cyn, I love that pic of Mina the Terrible. Looks like a true southern redneck chicken to me with that bit of grass sticking out of the corner of her mouth.....kind of like she's saying..."Yeew ain't from around here, are yew!?!"
Kathy, do you give Tyson a treat every time he chases off the geese? Some kind of reward? If not, start doing so. He'll soon figure it all out and make the connection. Chasing geese = TREATS!!!!
Well, I've got a bit of bad news to report. A second hen of my flock has been attacked by a hawk today. Charlotte, daughter of Chief and either Rosie or Ivy, was brutally assaulted mid morning, out behind the little cabin. How she made it from there, all the way back to the coop with the horrendous injury she sustained is utterly amazing to me. If we had suffered a comparable injury, I'm not so sure any of us would have made it.
That rotten hawk, of which I'm pretty sure it was the Cooper this time, as they are bigger and much more powerful than their smaller Sharp Shinned cousins, ripped my poor sweet Charlotte from just above her hock, all the way up to the top of her pelvic bone. At its deepest point, I'd venture to say that the gash runs at least a quarter of an inch deep.
Denny and I immediately cleaned the wound, stitched her up and applied lots of tri-biotic ointment, both to the inside and outside of the injury. Stitching alone took the better part of an hour and a half, and brave dear Charlotte never complained once. Never even so much as flinched. Though she was trembling throughout the procedure. I think she may have had a mild case of shock. Amazing, considering how traumatic the whole event must have been for her.
She's resting as comfortably as I can make her, in the Nella Brooder in the pump house. She remains alert and actually chipper, despite not being able to put her full weight on her right leg. She even laid her egg in there this afternoon! What a little trooper!
My only concern at this point is how that deep gash in her thigh is going to heal. She may never have full use and mobility of that leg again, and that would make her terribly vulnerable to future attacks by any predator.
We shall just have to keep our fingers crossed and say small prayers for a miracle. And why not? One has already been granted today: She made it through and is in good spirits. So long as Charlotte is willing to fight for life, how can I do any less for her?