Porcupine attacks my ducks

[Alex Clark]

The other night my dog Heidi got a load of quills in her face from a porky...

Then last night the ducks and chickens went nuts out in the chicken coop/yard area.

Today I found one of my ducks loaded with quills.... She had them buried in her chest, wings and even had a dozen of so stuck all the way through her legs...

The big nest that the ducks and chickens had made inside a big wooden box, was destroyed and all their eggs were gone..

This is the first time I ever heard of a duck getting nailed by a porky,,, and I had no idea they would go after eggs... I thought they only ate tree bark..

So I pulled out the quills but she is bleeding like a Frenchman after an English long-bow attack... She may not make it...

[cabinflyer]

A duck with quills sticking out of it :yeow:

In northern Minnesota we call that a shish-ka-bob :D

Sorry hope it wasn't a pet. Those quills have barbs in them so be careful pulling them straight out backwards.

I've never known one to eat anything other than trees and the insulators off power poles. Maybe it was just sniffing around the eggs and mother duck tried to defend the nest. To a porcupine I guess attacked is being attacked.

Steve

[T. Parsons]

You might try a stypic pen or something like that. It is recommended for slowing the bleeding on pet birds, like if you clip the toenails to close.
Pretty bizarre encounter! Tony Parsons

[Alex Clark]

We have had that duck, an Indian Runner, since she a hatched back in 1993.. It is amazing she lived this long. All the other old ducks were nailed by coyotes, eagles and the local stray dogs.

There were three eggs in the nest before that night and now they are gone... So who knows.. I always let them stay an extra day and mark them, so the birds lay more eggs on the same nest.

[Big D]

Porky quills barbs are retractable. If you cut about 1/4" of the end of the quill off that was attached to the porky the barbs are relaxed and you can pull it out with out any more damage than the hole that it produced going it.

Nice to know when you have a hunting dog in the bush and a long trip back to the vet!

D

[Alex Clark]

The duck being much older than the dog, just sat on my lap while we clipped the ends and pulled out the porky arrows...

The 90 pound dog was not cooperating at all, the entire family had to dog-pile on her and hold her down while we ripped those quills out without clipping the ends...

Sh was not a happy German Shepherd....

[Snert]

Alex
I used to roll my dog up in a carpet and put a belt around it to keep him from thrashing around while the quills were being pulled out. It didn't make for a happy dog but was safer for me.

[cruiser]

My wifes family had a shepard/lab mix that got into porcupines on a regular basis. They also had a tree out back with a couple of branches that formed a vee at a convenient height to support the dogs head and neck for quill removal. Now you would think that the dog would smarten up after a while, but no he would just wait at the tree for someone to come out and remove the quills.

[Tim]

I had a porky eating the bottom board on my cabin. I chased him away twice, but the third time I sent him to porky heaven :D

Tim