Trauma...

One of our chickens, our lovely youngest hen, Lizzie, was attacked by a raccoon last night.

Long story, but thanks to our barking dog, the raccoon didn't make the final blow. But, now we have a raccoon who knows how to break into our coop and has the taste of fresh chicken on it's mind.

A few new policies are in place until we can get some extra security put in place. The chickens will be locked up in their boxed enclosure at night. They go in there at night anyway, but the door isn't closed and locked. It will be now. Honestly, I think that raccoon got into the box and pulled her out because the chickens stay inside when it's dark. Also, this morning, the sun is out and the other chickens haven't come out yet. I think they are a little freaked out too.

I'll give some more details later. I have a long day of work, a headache, and a big trip to Home Depot to make my coop like Fort Knox, although I thought it already was.

Lizzie is inside the house in a box. She is quite shaken up, and quite bloody. All the backyard advice I read about says she will probably make it. At four this morning, it was very surreal to figure out what to do for her. Once the sun came up and we could assess her better, we decided to see what we could do.

I couldn't go outside to see her and was trying to picture how bad she was based upon what my husband was saying. His first descriptive words when it first happened was "mangled". I pictured a disemboweled hen. Later on, it turned into "cut up pretty bad but she can walk". Okay, well, let me take a look. He put her in a box and we brought her in. Her head is cut up pretty bad. The coon was going for her head for sure. There has been much bleeding, but it has stopped. I think our barking dog prevented the final bite that would have decided this issue for us. Anyway, she is in a box, in the house, resting quietly.

Get this, the hubbie is going out of town all this week too. Wish me luck!