I lost one of my favorite hens last night, a white cochin, to a dog that got in my coop. Our yard backs to a park, (where there is a leash law) where there is usually a large rowdy group of people playing some sort of ball game until late at night. I was sitting at the kitchen table when I heard my hens in a panic. I ran out to find a dog IN my coop, with 2 birds in his mouth, and one dead on the ground. He was in the middle of a relentless attack when I grabbed his collar and hauled him off my birds, prying one out of his mouth. He was frantic to get ahold of them, and I struggled with him for over 5 minutes to get him out of the coop. My kicking and cutting off air supply with his collar did surprisingly little to deter him. He was even snatching them out of the air as I was dragging him out.
As I held onto him out in the yard, trying to catch my breath and yell for my husband to come help, I hear his owner calling for him over in the park. Stupid "Rexxy" puked up feathers and the rest of the contents of his stomach on my feet as I yelled for her to come get him. She was not aware of the destruction he had caused, and called to me to let him out of my yard and she would call him. I yelled back that he had killed my chickens, I was not going to let go of his collar unless he was dead and she had to come get him.
When she got to my yard, and picked up on how upset I was, she kept saying "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. BAD dog Rexxy!" I handed the dog over to her, telling her she was lucky he was still alive, and I wanted compensation for my birds. She acted like she didn't understand, so I invited her, rather rudely, to come take a look at the aftermath. She put the dog outside my gate and followed me to the coop. Her dog beat us to the other side of the fence and attempted to get BACK in the coop by pushing under the chain link. I ran inside the run and had to kick his face to keep him from getting under the fence again while his owner yelled at him to come to her, which he did not. I finally told her I was too upset to be cordial, and my husband got her phone number. She told us she would come back and pay for the birds today when we called her.
My question is,assuming she DOES come back, or that the number she gave us is legit, how much is reasonable to expect her to pay? The birds were 20 weeks old, and had not started laying yet. He killed my white Standard Cochin, injured my buff Brahma, (Not sure how. She is lethargic and breathing heavy, but I do not see any open wounds. She is missing a lot of feathers.) and has 2 other birds bleeding at the feet and wings, but I would expect them to recover.
I wanted my husband to get his rifle, but I'm sure that shooting the dog would have been viewed as excessive, even though I don't feel it would have been. His owner obviously did not view the life of a chicken as equal to her demon dog.
BTW, I have a dog myself, and I realize that it is their instinct to prey on birds. My problem is that the dog SHOULD have been on a leash, and it SHOULD not have come into my yard, and it definitely SHOULD not have killed my hen. And I want to be compensated for her lack of control over her dog.
As I held onto him out in the yard, trying to catch my breath and yell for my husband to come help, I hear his owner calling for him over in the park. Stupid "Rexxy" puked up feathers and the rest of the contents of his stomach on my feet as I yelled for her to come get him. She was not aware of the destruction he had caused, and called to me to let him out of my yard and she would call him. I yelled back that he had killed my chickens, I was not going to let go of his collar unless he was dead and she had to come get him.
When she got to my yard, and picked up on how upset I was, she kept saying "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. BAD dog Rexxy!" I handed the dog over to her, telling her she was lucky he was still alive, and I wanted compensation for my birds. She acted like she didn't understand, so I invited her, rather rudely, to come take a look at the aftermath. She put the dog outside my gate and followed me to the coop. Her dog beat us to the other side of the fence and attempted to get BACK in the coop by pushing under the chain link. I ran inside the run and had to kick his face to keep him from getting under the fence again while his owner yelled at him to come to her, which he did not. I finally told her I was too upset to be cordial, and my husband got her phone number. She told us she would come back and pay for the birds today when we called her.
My question is,assuming she DOES come back, or that the number she gave us is legit, how much is reasonable to expect her to pay? The birds were 20 weeks old, and had not started laying yet. He killed my white Standard Cochin, injured my buff Brahma, (Not sure how. She is lethargic and breathing heavy, but I do not see any open wounds. She is missing a lot of feathers.) and has 2 other birds bleeding at the feet and wings, but I would expect them to recover.
I wanted my husband to get his rifle, but I'm sure that shooting the dog would have been viewed as excessive, even though I don't feel it would have been. His owner obviously did not view the life of a chicken as equal to her demon dog.
BTW, I have a dog myself, and I realize that it is their instinct to prey on birds. My problem is that the dog SHOULD have been on a leash, and it SHOULD not have come into my yard, and it definitely SHOULD not have killed my hen. And I want to be compensated for her lack of control over her dog.
