A heavy heart

[Annabel]

Some of you may remember me hatching out two chicks in July (Merry and Pippin).  We had found homes for any cockerels beforehand but decided to keep the only cockerel- Pippin.  He is now 3.5 months and I was wondering whether in fact he had much use despite being gloriously beautiful (saddle feathers were coming in), whatever the case we were keeping him as he is part of the family.

Yesterday (after me explaining to my 9 year old that nothing bad really happens on Friday 13th), our neighbour's dog jumped the dry stone wall and attacked the flock.  First I heard was a hen's alarm call over by the coup.  All the hens were there and then Pippin came running over too.  All his tail feathers had been pulled out and he was bleeding from the rump. He was missing other feathers and where he was attacked, it looked like a feather pillow had been emptied onto the ground.

I just want to say how proud I am of this boy and how wrong I was to be disappointed when I realised he was a cockerel.  I am pretty sure he gave one hell of a fight and allowed the rest of the hens to get away.  After the attack he was so weak he fell over trying to jump onto his low perch.  I gave him Nutridrops and this enabled him to make it up to roost last night and this morning he is down with the rest of them, walking around eating and drinking just looking a sadder state with his missing feathers.

What a fantastic, young little fella.  The girls are lucky to have him.

[Daphne]

I will keep my fingers crossed for you that he makes a full and speedy recovery.  Its what cockerels are meant to do, protect the flock, although I have to say the only time I experienced a fox attack, I lost 4 large orpington hens but not the cockerel.  We found him running down the garden to our house, making a racket, as if to say 'come and save me'!

I'd take the opportunity to do something to the wall to discourage further visits.

And carry on spoiling and monitoring Pippin, obviously, he definitely is a keeper!

 

 

[Beantree]

What a brave little chap! Pleased he survived, as not many do in our experience. Pleased he saved all the hens as well, as he should try to do. As you probably know, the cock is the National symbol of France because of their bravery.

I agree with what Daphne says, you need to improve your security. Sure the dog will be back and it could so easily have been an urban fox.

[Patricia W]

I love Cockerels.  So brave!  Hope he gets better. Yes, up your security 

[Annabel]

Yes they are all locked up today with us working out what sort of wiring we will need for that section of the wall (luckily only a very small bit is low and the rest is over 10ft)... He is an amazing chap - I didn't know the National Symbol of France was the cockerel - but makes perfect sense.  Yes he's had a lot of meal worms, corn, veggies and porridge today to boost him and he seems on the mend but very nervous.  I've had a look at his back and it appears ok - not still bleeding or oozing so we'll see how he does.

The neighbour's dogs are hunting dogs they take with them on shoots so she was doing what she is trained to do and the neighbours didn't seem too bothered about it, even telling me to expect the cockerel to die from shock if not the wounds (which I found a little annoying!) - and also said that it may not be a problem as their dog knows the chickens are there now.  Anyhow, we won't be letting them out now until the fence is sorted and I'm not going to care much if they find it ugly!

Daphne - your cockerel made me laugh!  Perhaps he knew it was a losing battle and legged it!

*may now be a problem as their dogs know the chickens are there

 

[Luvachicken]

He sounds like a very special boy.

I hope he continues to make a good recovery.

When we did our fence in the summer, next door's dog got in through the gap and absolutely petrified my girls, making me thankful that they are in a run. My neighbours didn't even notice their dog had got in our garden.

Fingers crossed that your new fence structure will do the job.

[mullethunter]

What a good boy. I lost one hen to a dog attack (it had escaped from its back garden and broke through my hedge - cost me £300 to get a new fence) in February. As well as killing one, another was seriously injured but the vet stitched her back together and she made a miraculous recovery, and it pulled out all the tail feathers of Duck my pekin. Like your garden it looked as if a feather pillow had been emptied out.

Keep an eye on your boy and his wounds in case he needs antibiotics.

Edited November 14, 2020 by mullethunter

[Annabel]

Gosh that is awful!  I was imaging how painful it must have been to have all the tail feathers pulled out as th ends are so thick! eeek.  

I'm glad the vet managed to save your other hen, poor girl.

Yes I am bracing myself for the cost of this (annoying as their dog and their wall- but of course it won't bother them if the dog gets over so we need to sort it!).

Heyho.

[mullethunter]

I sent the bill to the man whose dog it was.

I felt the same about poor Duck’s tail feathers. She’d managed to squeeze herself through the chicken fence and wedged herself into a tiny gap between the garage and a piece of wood to hide. It took me so long to find her - there were so many of her feathers I was sure she’d be dead when I did - I couldn’t believe it when she wriggled out and came running to me ❤️❤️❤️

[Annabel]

aaaaar poor thing.  One of our hens was hiding and I thought she would be dead.  After the third time round the garden calling for her, after being completely silent, she came out and as soon as she saw me she came running making so much noise in protest!

Glad Duck made it.  Did she regrow her feathers ok?

No such luck with our fence bill I'm sure!

[mullethunter]

Yes her feathers regrew fine. So did Shirleys (the hen who was badly injured) although hers took a long time. 

The man didn’t pay for the fence - ‘just’ the £120 vet bill!

[Annabel]

ouch!  gosh that is a large vet's bill.😕