Sunday, January 25, 2009

SKUNK UPDATE:

Two nights ago, the skunks got into the chicken pens & killed one of the chickens. They dug under the fence, that is buried in the ground. We looked around & assumed they left the pens for the day. John fixed the fence, & put chicken wire over the chain link fence areas. Last night he came back from checking on the chickens & said he had a big problem. Both skunks were in the pens & the assumption was they had been in there all day, since John thinks he got the pen fixed so they couldn't get back in. They weren't in a mood to leave, so we took the blind chicken that had been in the pen where they killed the other hen, & put her in a carrier in the house for the night. Locked all the other pens & left the outside gate open. Sure enough they were gone this morning, actually John just saw one in the back yard........tonight.....!! I hope when he goes over to the chicken pen tonight, they haven't figured out another way to get in. I wish they would find another place to "shop". They even dig in the manure piles, looking for grubs.

This morning when everyone came in from Burroland, Judy the mule came in almost 3 legged lame on a front leg. I cleaned out her hoof & tried to check her leg. She seems to be trained to raise her leg if you touch it, which makes it difficult to know if she is reacting to your touch or just being a good girl & raising her leg because you asked her to. She has no swelling or heat in the leg I can find, although she seemed a little touchy around the elbow. She has a history of foundering, but her feet are the same temperature as everyone else, so I don't think that's a problem. She had to stay in her pen today, so I could watch her. She didn't really seem to mind, especially when she got some extra hay this afternoon. Usually when she's out during the day, she doesn't go very far away anyway.

I called to see how Gus is doing in his new home. They said he's settled in & he & Leo the horse are usually hanging around pretty close to each other. That should be a great home for him. We have a couple more that are looking for good homes, although we're not looking very hard.


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