Homesteading comes with not-so-pleasant moments. The fox is back. Maybe he/she never left? Our 17 year-old daughter took King out yesterday afternoon. On a leash.
She rounded the big barn, and through it, she heard a noise and saw the fox on the other side. King freaked out, pulled backwards, completely freeing himself from his collar.
The chase was on. King barreled after the fox, as she watched the weeds sway. She screamed and screamed, then sobbed horribly.
King ran straight into the woods.
After moments of shear panic she had lost her "baby" he ran back out of the woods to her.
We've now switched from collars and leashes, to harnesses and leashes. The fox has to find a new home.
I'm hoping the chase has run the fox completely off this time, but he/she seems to come around when the chickens are out of their coop and in their run. When they are inside there is no sign of Mr. fox.
We'll be staking out the big barn. We can't have our dogs getting hurt, bit or even chasing a fox out into the highway. Chickens will remain in the coop for a few more days.
Speaking of chickens, I found a new poultry butcher closer to home. I need to give them a call and get prices.
As for me, I went and got myself sick. Not sure how, but spent most of the day yesterday in bed (Yikes!). I started out cleaning the bathroom sink and mirror, and started to feel stomach issues. I cleaned a bit more, and that was it. Some sort of virus (had a slight fever), so I downed my mullein tincture (anti-viral) and sipped hot ginger tea. I regret not stocking up on club soda, as I really wanted to sip cold ginger-ale. I was about to try anise seed tea next. Either way, I learned my lesson in emotional exhaustion. Don't let it happen. It becomes physical. What's on the to-do list? I'm making myself a a few new different tinctures. Just to make sure we have things covered for the winter.
7 comments:
How many meat chickens do you raise each year? Hubs and I have been thinking of how many we would need for just the 2 of us and some guest a few times. We have so far came up with 26. But we would dispatch them ourselves.
It is amazing how quickly our immune system can flounder when we're under stress. As it's almost impossible to go through a day without any, be sure you take care of yourself FIRST. You have a whole lot riding on your well-being. I feel for your daughter. Lovey did the same thing and I totally freaked. She came back (good girl), but that's too much trauma for me. You may have to hire a trapper, if you can't get him into a live trap. A neighbor had some success by baiting a HAH with a raw chicken leg. Good luck!
So sorry to hear you are ill - a heartfelt GET WELL SOON!
Kim, the first year we raised the cross-rocks. I think we ordered 25 or 30 and we lost a few. The next time we raised the white rocks, and same amount, but will be smaller. If I do it again, I won't have to order as many, and will again raise the white rocks. The cross rocks had gained weight so fast, they would break legs or have heart attacks, and just didn't seem natural. Now that we have only 3 meat eaters, I might cut it down to 15?
Thanks Susan, you are right about stress. I will be checking the big barn and if we see him again, I'm calling in the game warden to set a trap. I just worry about the barn cats. For years one would go inside the raccoon trap and we catch her instead, ha ha! Then we used marshmallows and she stayed out thankfully.
I'm glad the fox didn't bite the dog. I hope the fox headed for the hills and doesn't come back.
One evening last week, we had a pack of coyotes go through the property. Their caterwauling is awful and easily recognizable. Luckily we had all the cats in, and the dog, and the chickens are completely fenced in, - top, bottom and sides, cause from the sound of it, there were several coyotes of many ages, and you know they had to be hungry.
They usually stay down at the pond a block away, and hassle the geese that land there each evening (we can hear the geese honking upset). I hope they don't come back through here again, cause Bro Tom and I often walk the grounds after dark. We'll have to be careful doing that from now on.
Hope everyone has a great weekend planned, and that it's a safe one too.
God bless.
RB
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Thanks RB, I hope the fox has headed off to a new destination too. Yeah, King was lucky not to get in a fight with that fox.
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