"It's Always Something..." Part 1 million and 6

*sigh*
Here we go again...

Back to my famous quote "It's always something"...

Let's see??? How to start this one??? My daughter, the absolute CHICKEN FANATIC! Loves her chickens to death. She makes fancy set-ups for her "special" chickens, she hand picks them "special salad" (aka: grass, clover, apple pieces, garden crops, etc...) and hand feeds them to those "special" birds.

Those birds consisted of (notice the PAST TENSE here) 2 call ducks: 1 snowy (looks like a miniature Mallard), 1 white one, 1 Cochin pullet (a type of young female show chicken), 1 Mille Fluer (another fancy rare chicken), 2 Black Rosecombs- male/female, and my hubby's turkey pullet (young female). Not to mention the 4 youngin's that were given to us from a family that hatched out some of our eggs.

Everyone was doing wonderfully fine- Until.....

My daughter got up early Sunday morning to find darn near the entire lot of them DEAD. She was mortified. Long story short... A Raccoon ripped open the wire on the chicken run and had its way with them. 6 dead, two severely wounded. Luckily, she had the Mille Fluer and the turkey already up in the barn in cages. But the rest of them were not so lucky...

I feel so sad for her. It was just the day before when she took pictures of them for her 4H record book, and now the next day... Taking pictures of their dead bodies for her record book.

As a conversational segway, MAN 4H / Farming is a Hard Life Lesson for kids!! It is unreal what these kids learn about life and death. Granted, with all the things that happen around here, she is pretty used to it. But just the thought of it- here one day, gone the next.. Whether it would be an animal raised for market, or her pet chickens- The kids sure do learn how to "get over it" fast.

Anywho,
Back to the chickens....
The two survivors: her white call duck, and the black rosecomb pullet both have suffered severe bites on the head and neck. My daughter naturally started tending to the wounds. At first I didn't give it much thought when it hit me... What about RABIES?? Now, I do consider myself a somewhat intelligent person- But I was CLUELESS when it came to the transmission of rabies. (??)

So, on the informational super highway I went. I wanted to know what percentage of Raccoons were carriers. Back in the day (1970's) it was around 50% of animals studied. In the early 2000's it had dropped to around 30% of animals studied. And I learned that there has only been 1 case of a "human" recovery from Raccoon Rabies- it was in 2004, a girl from Wisconsin.

Then I started to get a little nervous... Young girl trying to be helpful by treating her chickens wounds... Yikes! Then the paranoid mother kicked in! What if she gets the Raccoon's saliva from the chicken's wound into her bloodstream via a cut on her hands, or even an opening though a hangnail. (??)

So I caved and called an "Expert" (term used loosely) the WI D.N.R. I wanted to know if I should cull these birds instead of treating them due to a possible risk. Very valid question I thought. But the "expert" thought my call was rather humorous because it was a "Chicken" we were talking about. Sure, from a non parent stand point- The thought of a "rabid" chicken is kind of funny. Just envisioning it foaming at the beak while having a neurological breakdown all while trying to EAT a person... Yep! That could be funny. But this IS my own kid I was concerned about. I would hate to have a whoops! I guess we were wrong incident.

The only information he gave to me was that the incubation period for Rabies is 2 months (duh- He must have read the same website I did) and said *he* would just let it ride and see how it goes, stating the risk should be pretty slim to none.

So now we have chickens in isolation. I swear, as much weird stuff that happens here- We could open our own 1-800 # and answer questions regarding death / disease of animals! lol.

This is my second night of playing "Annie! Get you're gun!". I stayed up til midnight last night watching.... waiting.... Man I love to shoot things if it is justified! Hell! After watching all this unfold I would rather give this coon a nice slow painful death by blunt spoon than by quick bullet. I even have a live trap set in the chicken run (now empty of course) baited with my hubby's nasty smelling catfish bait. Sure, I'm certain he will be PIST when he learns I have sacrificed his pride and joy stink bait for the greater of mankind, but he'll survive!

Serves him right for making me strap on my big set of balls again. lol.