Poor Dora (or it could be Dougie but it looks too pretty) flew into our bathroom window yesterday evening and fell onto the back door step. To add insult to injury she was then set upon by 10 angry chickens determined to finish her off!
Alan caught Dora whilst I shut the velociraptors back in their run and we inspected the damage. Poor thing had a nasty looking wound over her breastbone - either from the impact or chicken damage, I'm not sure which. Plus she had lost all but one of her tail feathers. We both agreed that it would be best to put her out of her misery, but gutless cowards that we are, neither of us had the heart to wring her neck. So I made her a nest in a laundry basket, added some mealworms and a bowl of water with poultry tonic and shut her in the shed for the night.
This morning I opened the door expecting to find a dead dove, but no - she seemed to have rallied a bit! Her wound looked a bit dryer and she was standing and looking quite bright eyed. And she had eaten some mealworms! Thinking that she may be getting stressed shut in the shed, I took her to the birdtable at the bottom of the garden and put her there under the cover of the trees. She seems to have gained strength throughout the day and by evening she was motoring round the garden, pecking at bugs and drinking. I went out as it was getting dark and she was hiding under the shrubbery. I caused her a bit more stress as I had to catch her with a fishing net (big improvement over this morning when she just sat and let me pick her up) and I parked her on a branch in the conifer tree at the bottom of the garden (don't want next door's cat to finish her off!). I've just been out with a torch and she has managed to climb a bit higher and is now roosting.
What a little fighter she is! I really hope she makes it!
