Advice NOW please...

[Eco-Chic]

Thanks for the good wishes RedThorn, Bernie, Nicos and Hilly. I'll give a status report tomorrow.

I think the gate spring thing is a great idea and I'm going to do that. Currently the gate is so wet and swollen it isn't shutting properly and I've cobbled a loop over it and didn't slide the loop down properly and the dangerous bros. managed to hook it open. I don't know that the spring would have made a difference today, but will do when the wood isn't so sodden. I'll put a sliding bolt on the chook side too.

I haven't blamed Teddy the dog, he was doing his JR thang, and once I'd got him off Myrtle he was miserable cos he knew he pissed me off.

He went on to piss off Bruno dog later. Bruno is less understanding than me and shook Teddy by the throat

I'm on my 3rd large voddie and mango and shall float up the wooden hill to bed soon

[lettucegrow!]

Sorry to read about Myrtle and hope she's recovering.My girls are all fighting fit again now after a dog attack a couple of months ago,Belinda received bites and a broken wing and Betty was grabbed by the neck given a couple of shakes and dropped. The dog in question was new neighbours Staff. terrier.They went off lay and Betty went into a moult but is now laying again and fully feathered. I just kept them very quiet for a few days and they had loads of treats to keep them eating. I was amazed at their resilience but they did look a sorry state for quite a while. I'm sure Myrtle will be fine with your nurturing.Watch your hand though,you should get antibiotics if the dogs teeth have punctured your skin,loads of nasties in their mouths!!

[Hans Mum]

hope she's ok this morning, and your hand is not too painful x

[Dashy]

Oh, how awful for you! Myrtle sounds like a little fighter. I hope she's feeling better. Maybe she needs a blanket like Audrey... Keep us informed please.

[broadway]

Hi EC,

Just seen your post, just a quick "hope things are OK" post.

Your neighbour!

[moola]

my sister was bitten badly by her guinea pigs last week and ended up going into the minor injuries place...... they gave her an antibiotic to fight infection. Her hand had swollen a little...so pls EC watch yours and if it starts to swell get it seen too.

I never used to take animal scratches/bites too seriously until I heard about a local chap who had been bitten by his dog and got blood poisoning and died . ....it made me urge my sister to get hers sorted

[Two_Sheds]

my sister was bitten badly by her guinea pigs

Wow. I've never known piggies to bite, even when sorely provoked (I lie mine on their backs for tummy tickles, but they don't really like it)

[Eco-Chic]

Thanks everyone for the concern about Myrtle and my hand. I was quite shaken yesterday as well as feeling very guilty. Your support has been really helpful.

Well Myrtle is an absolute trooper. She was quietly scratching and rootling about in the coop/run this morning.

Because of the heavy showers I didn't let the girls out as soon as they would have wished. When I responded to the very loud chorus of "I want to be free" accompanied by beaks rattling along the weld mesh, blow me, no Myrtle in sight (Maude and Madge were VERY loud). When she heard me open the run door, Myrtle shimmied out of the coop through the pop hole and down the ramp, ate a few pellets, had a slurp of water and tootled off to join the others.

After all the alarums and scarums of yesterday, she's only gone and laid a pretty egg bless her fluffy knickers. She's still quiet and not her usual cheeky self but I think she will be okay.

During yet another monsoon deluge I went out with a dish of corn to try and tempt the girls back into the sheltered run. Imagine my surprise to see them all in there being sensible and sheltering and DRY. These chooks have brains the size of a planet! Such intelligence must be nurtured so they got the dish of corn anyway.

Bedtime came early because of the darkness and Myrtle was roosting with the back of her neck to the door again. She wouldn't take any corn although I wafted it underneath where I imagined her beak to be.

Maude was in the nesting box and I decided to turf her out and put her on the perch when she upped and went through the pop hole to the run and started scoffing pellets. Pellets? When corn was available? What's more she'd just laid an egg. It was 4pm and dark as Hades. Sensible girl came to the run door for her corn and also got the spills from Madge up in the coop (Myrtle would usually do this too).

My hand is barely swollen today and is only a little sore. Teddy didn't bite me, so bacteria hasn't been forced into the wound. I grazed it on his teeth when I jammed my hand into the back of his gob so he couldn't pick Myrtle up again. I don't know if it is bruised because it's bright purple. I may have overdone the Gentian Violet