Raccoons

If you are a long time reader, you are aware of out ongoing battle against the raccoons we inherited when we bought the Big Ugly House. It took years before we had finally managed to get the house raccoon-free. 

We have been free of raccoons for many years now. It was lovely. Then a couple of weeks ago we started seeing raccoon evidence outside. This was not met with joy, I can tell you. Then, this morning, when I entered the kitchen to get the day's first cup of coffee, I found L. in the middle of making a hearty breakfast and looking as though she had been awake for a while. 

This was because she had, in fact, been awake for a while. She had been awake since 5:00 am, when she was awakened by some very loud sounds from the chicken coop. Being a good chicken carer, she rushed outside grabbing a shovel on her way. The shovel was a good idea because when L. got to the coop, she discovered a raccoon INSIDE the coop. It escaped through the wire roof when it saw L. coming after it with a shovel. It seems the raccoon was being kept at bay by Duck and one of the new hens. There were a few feathers on the ground, but there didn't seem to be any casualties. 

And what was Zorro the rooster doing through all of this? Sitting on his perch inside the coop making a lot of noise. This is hardly decent rooster behavior in my book. I'm not pleased with him. 

While we thought everyone came through unscathed, after L. in investigated, the new hens who was with Duck seems to have suffered some significant damage. Her skin under her wings is pretty lacerated. She's had antiseptic put on and is now in isolation to save her from the other hens. We have no idea of her prognosis because it looks pretty bad. I'm not sure we're even at guardedly optimistic about her at this point. 

J. has now reinforced the roof to the pen and no raccoon should be able to get inside. It seems the war against the raccoons has been reignited. 

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