I have learned the hard way that I can’t let my chickens run loose. I do let them out occasionally if I am feeding or working right where they are. The fox around here are not shy and will come right up to the house. Most of my hens are too big to fly out of their pen but I have a couple of game hens that can.

This morning I was sitting and looking out my window and saw one of the game hens run by with a fox right on her tail. I went flying outside but could not find my hen or the fox. I kept looking around and saw Tess over in the woods staring right at me. I headed her way and sure enough there was the fox with my chicken in it’s mouth.

I hollered at the fox and it dropped the hen and took off. Tess stayed right where she was and helped me find the injured chicken. At first I thought the chicken was dead because she was laying limp under a cedar branch but when I picked her up I felt her breathing. I rushed up to the office and grabbed the homeopathic remedy, aconite. After spilling half the bottle of pellets all over the counter I managed to get some in water and into my hen’s mouth. Her head was still hanging limply but she did swallow.

My poor hen’s neck was black and blue from being chomped on by the fox. After a few doses of aconite, I changed to arnica to help with the soft tissue injury. It was amazing to see the change over only a few hours as the blood resorbed back into circulation. Still my hen looked really bad. She had enough energy to flop out of the nest I made for her but she could not raise her head. I wondered if the run from the fox had used up her energy reserves so I made up some blue green algae and Xango juice to syringe into her mouth. Amazingly she swallowed it.

Right now my hen is stronger but I don’t know if she will make it. In the past, I have found that prey animals who are attacked by predators often “check out” and never recover even if their injuries are not fatal. I am hoping that some rescue remedy will stabilize the nervous system enough to allow the spirit to come back into my hen’s body.

I don’t know what made Tess leave the other horses and come up to where the fox was. Being a Jue Yin horse temperament she may have wanted to join in the hide and seek game I was playing with the fox. Tess has never showed any particular interest in my chickens and as a young mule she often enjoyed the game of sneaking up on chickens and stomping right behind them and watching them shriek and fly in the air. To my knowledge she never actually killed one. The goldfish Tess plucked out to the water trough, however, did not fare so well.

Regardless of her intentions, Tess was quick to come to meet me as I headed out to give her some extra treats. She certainly did seem to appreciate that she was a hero in my eyes. Madalyn