My poor little chookie.....

Tori and I were both away nearly all day Saturday. When we got home, we found chicken feathers spread everywhere over the back yard. Two chickens were running around....Tori found another one huddled in the vegie garden....we found the fourth hiding behind the shed...poor little things.

We did think that the one huddled in the garden was dead, but then it lifted its head....It's back was quite bloody.....though it didn't look like it had been attacked.....just looked like it had been plucked!

And the bloody dog was running around having a ball!!!!!

I rang Melissa, a cousin who is a vet nurse - and actually I had booked Curtis in for a trim the following day - and she said to keep it warm and cozy inside the house for the night.

The next morning it drank quite a lot of water, but wasn't really interested in food. When we took Curtis down for his trim, I took the chook as well to get Mel to have a look. Thought I would rather knock it on the head (well get someone else too!) than have the poor thing in pain or suffering.

By the time we got there though, she seemed to have picked up a little. Mel felt all over and couldn't see that anything was broken, said she needs a bit more TLC...but should be good.

I have made a seperate little pen for her to recuperate in....already though her back looks much better.

Curtis still seems to want to get her, and in fact the other chooks as well...he is up at the fence just looking and walking up and down...what to do....

Sandy

A new chook house...

I finally went and bought a new chook house. Have been looking for something secondhand for ages, or even wood offcuts or bits of tin for Jay to make one. No luck...so I went and bought a lge dog kennel from Better Pets and Gardens. I had to paint it to make the wood more weatherproof...picked a lovely shade of green!! The roof is hinged and lifts off to one side, which I thought would make it easy for collecting eggs. Will be able to see any creepy crawlies!! Brody made the ladder for me, from some wood we got off the lady accross the road. I thought if it was off the ground, they would have a bit of extra shade and shelter underneath. At the moment it is just sitting on two milk crates.

The first night 3 of my 5 chooks made their own way up the ladder and inside and I 'helped' two. Last night, all five managed to find their way inside :) Clever girls!

Yesterdays eggs...

Daily egg output is around about three now, so getting five was a bonus!!

Sandy