Isolation

I've tried to let Petunia go out and mingle with her sisters as she feels better. Unfortunately, they lack sympathy for the sick and injured. They surrounded her, striking out to peck her wounds as the opportunity arose. This has gone on for a few days, and I wasn't able to leave her with them unattended. I decided to make an isolation chamber for her and divided the pen in two. It's a flimsy barrier, but hopefully effective. The five other girls were very indignant and clucked along the new fence, poking at it and digging in front of it. Petunia was in heaven, kicking the dirt and making herself a nice hole to lie in. I hope this arrangement won't have to continue for long, but I felt that she really needed to get out into the fresh air. We'll see how it goes.

Art Day Painting

Today is the first time we have had art day for several weeks. Sydney has been in the hospital with her recuurent heart problems, but today she felt well enough to have us over. I decided to give the Yupo watercolor paper another shot. I've been thinking about it off and on, and it occurred to me to treat it like a monoprint. I used to love rolling up the glass with ink and then subtracting the image with Q-tips and cotton balls. So I approached this paper the same way, basically wiping out the light areas. It was really quite enjoyable and I wielded my razor blade and paper towels without guilt.

The photo I used for subject matter was taken this morning from the kayak as Toni and I paddled around Deep Cove. What a great life I have..........

The Patient

Here is Petunia taking a look out of the bulkhead after the other chickens were safely in bed. Some of her wounds are visible, but believe me, this is her good side. Still, she's a hardy soul by any standard and I'm starting to think she has a chance to survive. I wish I had a way to put some antibiotic on her. It's hard to believe she can avoid infection with so much exposed flesh.

Return of the Kayaks

This has been such a rainy, cold summer so far that the kayaks have lain dormant in Toni's yard until today. We finally took the giant plunge, so to speak, and took them out on Boyden Lake. It was great to be on the water again.

There has been an unfortunate chicken event since I last wrote. A Racoon got into the chicken house through the door I was making to expand their space. Luckily Diana was spending some time in her house and heard the noise. I slept through the whole thing, including her phone calls to alert me of what was happening. She and Jim chased the racoon away, but it had already mangled one of the chickens. I can't believe that she is still alive, but she is. She has been bitten to a bloody pulp. Part of her rear end is actually missing. Yet she is still walking around, eating and drinking. Jim thought she was beyond hope and should be euthanized, but I couldn't do it. She is isolated in the cellar trying to recuperate. If she were with the others, they would cannibalize her.

The familiarity of the event was all too evident and upsetting.....how often I have tried to make life better for my chickens and ended up killing them instead. How I didn't foresee preditors getting through the new doorway I can not fathom. I covered it so they couldn't get out, but didn't think beyond that. If not for Diana, they would all be dead. It remains to be seen if Petunia survives.

Needless to say, I am abandoning my expansion project.