It’s never a good day when you have to dig yet another little grave in the back yard.
Some critter (we’re guessing a gray fox) managed to pull a section of hardware cloth off one corner of the duck pen during the night. She took Esther, our buff Orpington, and tried to get Barney, our oriental runner, out as well, but he stuck under the fence. Marie has bite marks on her neck and was bleeding. Vegeta was unharmed.
We cleaned Marie up and disinfected the wounds, but since the attack had happened hours before, we don’t know how she will do. The last time this happened, the vet told us they have to get antibiotics in the first couple of hours after the bite happens.
Marie has long been pretty much crippled, and can barely move around. She has always been sickly, with arthritic joints and feet. The attack happened near where she usually sits, so it’s a bit baffling that she survived. It may be that Vegeta did a flying fuss and got her away from the critter, which then went after the others. Esther is usually energetic and can fly, but she’s been moulting and they are always a bit sickly during the moult, and cannot fly.
I must confess, Esther was my favorite ☹ She was spunky and did her own thing; Vegeta thought he was in charge, but she was really the duck who told everyone else what to do and where to go.
So we buried poor Barney and spent the afternoon repairing and reinforcing the coop.
