As my words want to burst through my fingertips, I have to admit...I am a TRUE blogging delinquent. Cardinal rule for blogging..."if you can't keep up on it, don't do it". Well apparently that's been the fact since April. Now-to my thought processes' credit, I didn't think I was 'that' far off, because I have so many things I 'mean' to post on my blog. So moving forward from tax season, six weeks of traveling for little league, end of school CrAzInEsS, four summer birthday's, summer camps, 4-H fair, 22 animals, four kids, a construction company, a weekly column, camping in our Awesome mountains, a garden-which is actually producing edible products, tonsils out for one kido, a rapidly approaching family reunion, school closing in-deep breath, oh and throw in about 100 loads laundry, meals, four children and a husband...but moving forward it's all good 'cause that's the beauty of the summer and writing for your own blog! Yee-Haa!
One a side note besides being a blogging delinquent...here's a picture of one of our lucky hens. She flitted, fluttered, and fluffed herself farther from the coop than usual. And why is it she's lucky? Well, she's 'lucky' our Corgi didn't ring her scrawny, crooked chicken neck. See...he's gotten a hankerin' for chicken, and because of his taste buds we're down to two hens. Now to remedy his eating disorder we've been told to tie a dead chicken around his neck and let it hang there until there's nothing left. I for one couldn't see how that would be beneficial; a. he'd probably continue gnawing on the dead chicken, b. it would probably make him mad-der and he'd want to kill more, c. it's just a plain ol' disgustingly nasty idea.
So in my illustrious wisdom, I decided to borrow a remote shock collar. My friend said if you're going to shock 'em, may as well make it count. So I turned it on high, and waited. I snuck around our farm with the remote tucked in my pocket like an FBI agent searching out a thief. I was anticipating just the right moment to ZAP him without his knowledge of me being the Zapper, but I waited. And then I waited, and waited...oh did I say I waited for DAYS. Did he ever come close the our last remaining chickens? Never.
Well it came time for me to give up on using the collar. It had been on about a week. When I reached for him, and unhooked the collar's latch a vile stench came from his neck. I peeled the collar away from his skin. Fur, pus, and infected liquid from his neck overwhelmed my senses. After a moment of pure disgust, I felt his neck, pulled fur back for a serious look and was immediately nervous. It looked a dog vampire had attacked him. The two shock prongs were longer than our perimeter collar we used on him as a pup. I didn't give it a second thought when I put the remote collar on him. I wish I had. The prongs had dug deep into his neck, and it was badly infected. I felt horrible! He had shown no signs of discomfort. He is always in tow of myself and our children, and it's not like he's isolated. He's with us all the time! I immediately called my vet, and got him in within the hour.
Thankfully it looked worse than it was. His infection was serious, and once she shaved around the area I could actually see the damage. But he didn't require tubes inserted in his neck to drain the fluid. It was extremely swollen, red, and pus still oozed from the vampire marks. Our vet told us she's had to euthanize dogs because the remote collars spin around and get lodged at the base of the neck and spine because they're on too long, some infections have been so bad-it killed dogs, and one dog had gone missing for several days wearing a remote collar and was hung up on a fence. When the owners found it, the dog was alive, but barely.
So my chicken eating dog. Oh my chicken eating dog. What to do about a chicken eating dog? NOTHING! Buy more chickens! And build a better fence! I could have bought 50 more chickens at $2.99 each for the price of the vet visit. Which I'm not complaining about the vet bill. I'm so glad she was able to help our little corgi and that's just what it costs. I totally understand! And would gladly pay it two-fold again if need be. But I would've saved him the pain and suffering of the whole darn thing! Let alone the guilt on my part!
So moral of my story...
1. Think twice about free range chickens if you have dogs,
and tying a dead chicken around your dogs neck.
2. ALWAYS remove a remote shock collar after using it with your dogs
3. Can't fault a dog for having a hankerin' for chicken!
Until next time, The Delinquent Blogger