Washingtonians

[FirewifeJess]

Seems everyone's here but nobody has anything to say! Hello all!

 

[FirewifeJess]

Because of fleas, I've done 9 loads of laundry today so far and have more to do. It's never ending. Every time I have a free washer, I strip someone else's bed and wash the whole darn thing. So frustrating. I'm bagging up every last extra pillow, blanket, towel, etc to put up high in the closets after they've been washed so they can't get re-infested with fleas. I'm so DONE!

 

[VelvettFog]

This morning (6:30 am) as I was walking up to the chicken yard, it dawned on me that the birds were being extra loud. Then it hit me, that's the 'alarm' song, so I quickened my step. When I get up there I can see that there is at lest one dead bird. A quick glance around, and I see another victim, only this hen is not quite dead. I pick her up gently and take her into the shop. A quick once over shows that there seems to be a single puncture wound behind her left eye. There is blood in her feathers. I make no attempt to clean this up, as the bleeding has stopped. I put her in one of my hospital cages, thinking that I will have a second body to bury when I get home from the office.

I am pressed for time in the morning so I did not spend a lot of time looking at the dead bird. No blood. None at all. But I do see what seems to be a single puncture would around the neck area. All day while at work I am thinking of the injured hen, unable to stand or even hold her head up. I am pretty sure that she'd be dead by the time I got home. I normally get done with work around 2, but today it was 3:15 before I was able to escape. To my surprise the gal was still holding on. I was able to coax her into drinking some water. If she shows improvement by tomorrow morning I think she'll live.

I've done some googling and the only thing I can come up with is ... Chupacabra.

Anyone else have any ideas on what the predator could have been? I don't think we have Chupacabras this far north


VF

 

[FirewifeJess]

This morning (6:30 am) as I was walking up to the chicken yard, it dawned on me that the birds were being extra loud.  Then it hit me, that's the 'alarm' song, so I quickened my step.  When I get up there I can see that there is at lest one dead bird.  A quick glance around, and I see another victim, only this hen is not quite dead.  I pick her up gently and take her into the shop.  A quick once over shows that there seems to be a single puncture wound behind her left eye. There is blood in her feathers.  I make no attempt to clean this up, as the bleeding has stopped.  I put her in one of my hospital cages, thinking that I will have a second body to bury when I get home from the office. 

I am pressed for time in the morning so I did not spend a lot of time looking at the dead bird.  No blood.  None at all.  But I do see what seems to be a single puncture would around the neck area.  All day while at work I am thinking of the injured hen, unable to stand or even hold her head up.  I am pretty sure that she'd be dead by the time I got home.  I normally get done with work around 2, but today it was 3:15 before I was able to escape.  To my surprise the gal was still holding on.  I was able to coax her into drinking some water.  If she shows improvement by tomorrow morning I think she'll live.

I've done some googling and the only thing I can come up with is ... Chupacabra.

Anyone else have any ideas on what the predator could have been?  I don't think we have Chupacabras this far north


VF

So sad about your hen! But no....prolly not a chupacabra

 

[Imp]

This morning (6:30 am) as I was walking up to the chicken yard, it dawned on me that the birds were being extra loud. Then it hit me, that's the 'alarm' song, so I quickened my step. When I get up there I can see that there is at lest one dead bird. A quick glance around, and I see another victim, only this hen is not quite dead. I pick her up gently and take her into the shop. A quick once over shows that there seems to be a single puncture wound behind her left eye. There is blood in her feathers. I make no attempt to clean this up, as the bleeding has stopped. I put her in one of my hospital cages, thinking that I will have a second body to bury when I get home from the office.

I am pressed for time in the morning so I did not spend a lot of time looking at the dead bird. No blood. None at all. But I do see what seems to be a single puncture would around the neck area. All day while at work I am thinking of the injured hen, unable to stand or even hold her head up. I am pretty sure that she'd be dead by the time I got home. I normally get done with work around 2, but today it was 3:15 before I was able to escape. To my surprise the gal was still holding on. I was able to coax her into drinking some water. If she shows improvement by tomorrow morning I think she'll live.

I've done some googling and the only thing I can come up with is ... Chupacabra.

Anyone else have any ideas on what the predator could have been? I don't think we have Chupacabras this far north


VF

I've read reports of weasels doing that, just a puncture on the head/neck area. Supposedly they are drinking the blood. I don't know the veracity of it though. Any weasels around?

Russ

 

[justbugged]

So I had to Google chupacabras. It seems that scientists are fairly certain that they are really Coyotes that have mange caused by an 8 legged mite. The wild dogs are often hairless. So it's very possible that one of these coyotes got your hen. Though my first guess is that it is much more likely a raccoon. Raccoons like to eat the heads off of chickens. It could be that your being near stopped the attack before the animal could do more damage.

 

[FlyRobinFly]

One of my friends told me that I shouldn't look at it as always getting the pets with health problems. She figured they knew that they would get what they needed with us and found their way here.

I believe that is true. Your animals are very lucky to have you!

 

[FlyRobinFly]

Waaaaaaaaa! Vthats me crying because I basically flea sprayed myself in the face. Burning eyes and throat and sneezing and burned throat for the last half hour even after washing thoroughly and drinking a ton of water. The can of spray I was using locked into the open position and I had to scramble to maximize its usage before it ran out and was wasted. I hate fleas!!!!!,!!!!

Ouch! Sorry Jess, hope you're okay and the fleas are not!

 

[FlyRobinFly]

I've done some googling and the only thing I can come up with is ... Chupacabra.

Anyone else have any ideas on what the predator could have been? I don't think we have Chupacabras this far north

Maybe the Chupacabra bought a plane ticket!

Sorry about your hens though.

 

[mikeyb]

Quote: Yo! That's a Great idea. Oh yeah, I could do that. As a matter of fact, the uneven ground plays Heck with my hips when walking around the coop. I have just floated past my son the idea of building up the entire area and backfilling to level it. I could bury the pipe in the backfill. Thank you, that never ocurred to me.