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What, Another Skunk?!

Reader Contribution by Valerie Root
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Morning: There is always a lot going on at the farm …

Wow! Am I accident-prone! I tell you these wildlife creatures are going to be the death of me.

At 3:00 this morning, the smell of skunk woke me out of a sound sleep. I reach over to wake up Russ. He says, “Let’s go find it before it gets any of the chickens!.” It is very dark outside, no moon or yard light. We jump up and off we go. He is way ahead of me, and so I follow along and fall off the deck, sprain my ankle (which is now a cankle) and moan and groan my way off the ground. I see Russ coming out of the chicken yard and take off around the shop. He is hot on the trail. I run toward him with one leg dragging behind me. He gets ahead of the skunk and cuts him off from going home. The skunk turns around and heads straight toward me. I take an instant 90 degrees to the left and run smack dab into a roll of fencing, and now am in possession of three long curved scratches just under my knee. Painful as all get out. I holler as I snag my leg on the wire, and the skunk turns toward the shop and I high tail it behind the tractor.

I have been limping along all day with this throbbing wounded knee and gimping along on an ankle that doesn’t work properly. Poor Russ has had to do most everything today. I come along for the ride. It will be interesting to see what tomorrow will bring. Peace maybe? I vote for that anyway.

We seem to have skunks under every pile and building. This one had moved in under the birthing shed. I am not sure if the one under the chicken coop is gone or if we just haven’t had much trouble with him. I am sure they just wait until my back is turned and find something else to move into.

We have been losing a considerable amount of chickens and ducks to skunks this year. At least once a week we have issues with a wild critter, skunks in particular.

Does anyone else seem to have more then their fair share of skunks? Well at least it seems like it.

Just another day on the farm.

Thanks for reading,
Valerie