- Apr 15, 2009
- 6,770
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I have a Toulouse goose and 5 khaki Campbell ducks that have been wandering around our property for about 4 years. They are basically feral- I feed them, water them and house them at night, but that is the extent of our interactions. The few occasions I have had to medically treat them has been a nightmare for both them and me. The flock is pretty savvy and shy, so they have not had a problem with predation up to this point. That changed a couple days ago.
We have been dealing with a problem coyote all summer. This animal is very aggressive, unafraid of humans and as bold as brass. She is healthy, but feeding 2 pups, so she is acting completely unlike any coyote I have dealt with in the past. F&G has been called about her repeatedly, but they are useless. She has snatched one of my chickens. She snatched the neighbors' roo right in broad daylight with the whole family sitting not 50 feet away. We put a hail of buck shot up her nethers last week around lunch time when she came calling. All the birds in the neighborhood have been put into lockdown except for my flock of free-range waterfowl.
Earlier this week my young daughter and her friend were playing in the front yard in my daughter's play yard. They had just come inside when I heard my goose scream. Frenchy was in my daughter's play yard, facing off with the coyote to save her ducks. The coyote grabbed her by the wing as I was running out the door at full tilt. I managed to spook the coyote into dropping Frenchy. Frenchy came running to me and ran straight into my house! As she was hiding in the closet I started calling vets. Her wing was badly broken and all ripped up. She is too wild for me to attempt to fix it myself. I tried and got nowhere. I called a few avian vets I know in the area, found one that was reasonably priced.
Frenchy had to spend the night at the vet. The day she was injured they pumped her full of pain meds, antibiotics, and fluids. She had a temporary cast put on the wing. The next morning, when she was more medically stable, they gassed her and took x-rays. Her wing is snapped through the radius and ulna with some splintering. The vet is confident that she can heal with just a cast on the wing- no surgery. She will lose the ability to fly and the wing may droop, but she can't fly anyways (too big) and I don't care if her wing isn't perfect. She came home yesterday afternoon with a permanent cast on her wing. She needs meds 4 times per day- antibiotics, pain meds and probiotics. She has to be housed in my garage for the next month at least. She will need checks every week and a re-scan of the bones in a month. In total...$500 worth of work.
The free-range ducks have been forcibly captured and locked up with my chickens. That is a story unto itself...
The coyote? Her days are numbered. We will be hiring a hunter/trapper who can concentrate on getting her and her pups ASAP. Everyone in the neighborhood is chipping in to get this animal gone. I cannot believe she was so bold as to attack the birds in my front yard, right in the middle of the day, where the children were playing not 10 minutes before.
In the meantime, I have one very angry $500 goose living in my garage that I have to medicate 4 times per day. Pray for me because I am pretty sure she is going to kill me once she starts feeling better.
We have been dealing with a problem coyote all summer. This animal is very aggressive, unafraid of humans and as bold as brass. She is healthy, but feeding 2 pups, so she is acting completely unlike any coyote I have dealt with in the past. F&G has been called about her repeatedly, but they are useless. She has snatched one of my chickens. She snatched the neighbors' roo right in broad daylight with the whole family sitting not 50 feet away. We put a hail of buck shot up her nethers last week around lunch time when she came calling. All the birds in the neighborhood have been put into lockdown except for my flock of free-range waterfowl.
Earlier this week my young daughter and her friend were playing in the front yard in my daughter's play yard. They had just come inside when I heard my goose scream. Frenchy was in my daughter's play yard, facing off with the coyote to save her ducks. The coyote grabbed her by the wing as I was running out the door at full tilt. I managed to spook the coyote into dropping Frenchy. Frenchy came running to me and ran straight into my house! As she was hiding in the closet I started calling vets. Her wing was badly broken and all ripped up. She is too wild for me to attempt to fix it myself. I tried and got nowhere. I called a few avian vets I know in the area, found one that was reasonably priced.
Frenchy had to spend the night at the vet. The day she was injured they pumped her full of pain meds, antibiotics, and fluids. She had a temporary cast put on the wing. The next morning, when she was more medically stable, they gassed her and took x-rays. Her wing is snapped through the radius and ulna with some splintering. The vet is confident that she can heal with just a cast on the wing- no surgery. She will lose the ability to fly and the wing may droop, but she can't fly anyways (too big) and I don't care if her wing isn't perfect. She came home yesterday afternoon with a permanent cast on her wing. She needs meds 4 times per day- antibiotics, pain meds and probiotics. She has to be housed in my garage for the next month at least. She will need checks every week and a re-scan of the bones in a month. In total...$500 worth of work.
The free-range ducks have been forcibly captured and locked up with my chickens. That is a story unto itself...
The coyote? Her days are numbered. We will be hiring a hunter/trapper who can concentrate on getting her and her pups ASAP. Everyone in the neighborhood is chipping in to get this animal gone. I cannot believe she was so bold as to attack the birds in my front yard, right in the middle of the day, where the children were playing not 10 minutes before.
In the meantime, I have one very angry $500 goose living in my garage that I have to medicate 4 times per day. Pray for me because I am pretty sure she is going to kill me once she starts feeling better.
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