I heard the girls making noise after dark, which they never do, and sent hubby out to check on them. Hubby caught the coon in the act and shot him dead. I have many choice words for that raccoon. Three of the Diva's are dead. Three more are wounded. We thought only one was wounded, but upon further inspection at least three are. Two appear to be terminally wounded - their behinds are chewed off. :( They are alive, they are walking around with the flock, but it is just a matter of time. We are contemplating putting them down, I'd rather they not suffer. This is so hard. The third I couldn't get a good look at, but doesn't look nearly as bad as the other two - I am hoping tomorrow I will find that she is just missing a few feathers. My poor girls. :(
It is our own fault and I feel terrible. :( The electric fence still isn't working and we haven't been consistently locking them in at night, even after we lost some of our Guineas to a coon and knew they were our number one predator. We must be more diligent.
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Oh I'm so sorry honey. It's absolutely heartbreaking. Oh I loathe raccoons. I know they are just trying to survive, but dang it!
ReplyDeleteAwwwww! I'm so sorry! That is soooo frustrating! If it seems like more flesh wounds and not so deep, you might try putting some herbal teas on the wounds.... an antibacteria tea, like one you would get in the store for colds and flus, would have the same herbs in it that would be good for external wounds. Honey would also be great, but they may try to eat that off.
ReplyDeleteI hope they are all able to recover swiftly!
i'm so sorry!
ReplyDeleteit feels awful to have something bad happen to animals while they are in your care!
why would he injure so many?
that is terrible!
if i knew for sure the ducks weren't going to make it, it'd put them down
but...i always think there's a chance and that's my problem
we had a chicken get the back of his neck ripped open and he lived?
not sure how bad the ducks are
they are so dirty--that's the problem with an injury on their bottom
do you have a dog that would keep watch?...ours kill coons ALL the time
it's awful :(
they got one the other morning over by the coop and a couple days later right out our front door--they seem to really be moving in right now
we got that livestock guardian to take over the work...but, she's still a pup right now
i'm sorry :(
awwww that's tough hon. so sorry. we had a bunny rabbit get caught in our fence the other nite with a stray cat at its rear end and a neighbors dog at its front end. my hubby managed to get it away from them both but it had taken fatal wounds and died during the nite. so sad:(
ReplyDeleteOh, I'm so sorry to hear that. I know just the guilty sick feeling you're having, I can sympathize. But just know that everyone makes mistakes and you'll do better in the future. You'll keep the rest of them safe, I know. Sorry I don't have any advice about your wounded birds. I know you'll figure out what's best though.
ReplyDeleteI feel your pain. We felt so guilty after our hen was killed.
ReplyDeleteOne thing for sure now, we never miss closing them up in their coop at night now. I can't wait until spring when I go pick up some new chicks.
I also noticed that you dried stevia. How do you use it? I tried putting mine in boiling water for tea to extract the sweetness and it wasn't pleasant at all. I felt I was drinking a plant. How do you use yours?