Farmwife's Journal-April 20th

The past few days have been busy.  I spent one day and part of another at the hospital with a friend.  Our children did an awesome job holding down the fort while I was gone.  All the chores were done well, and they even did some they didn't have to do.  I have great kids! :)
Since I haven't been around much, I don't have a lot to report on about the farm.  One good thing, a near mangled chicken has recovered and was put back in with the rest of the flock.  She almost became lunch for a neighbor's dog (that's a country neighbor...they live about a mile away).  Fortunately Mike and the children were outside working when Jackson starting barking aggressively.  They saw the other dog in the yard, who then took off running toward the chicken coop.  He was fast enough to grab a chicken and then continue running away through the neighbor's field.  Emily was screaming and crying as she frantically chased the dog through the field.  Mike and the boys then hopped on four wheelers and went tearing down the road.  They eventually caught up with the dog....and the owner, who had started walking down the road looking for his dog.  The owner suggested that Mike shoot the dog, which he declined to do.  Although he mentioned that it might have to come to that if the dog does this again.  The owner was very understanding and offered Mike some money, which he agreed to take considering the fact that this same dog killed about 20 of our chickens last fall.
Emily, being completely traumatized, found our chicken along the ditch in a puddle of water.  She brought it home, disinfected its wounds and put it in a separate pen, hoping it would not die.  And sure enough it recovered, thanks to Emily's TLC. 
We are hoping that the owner will be able to keep his dog on his own property, but when a dog gets a taste for chicken it can be hard to keep them away.