- Jun 26, 2008
- 9
- 1
- 62
I wanted to post a story about something that happened to my flock earlier this month.
The fence between a neighbor and I is a 50-60 year old dilapidated wood fence. I had not really thought much about it, since the tenant who lives next door does not own a dog. The owner of the house next door is really cheap, and it had probably not occurred to my husband to urge him to go in on a new fence. After all, it was difficult enough to get him to trim his huge trees.
Anyway, one day my husband was getting ready to go to work and he let our hens out of the coop. Everything was fine for a couple of minutes until he heard the chickens making a racket in the back yard. He ran outside and found two dogs attacking our chickens. One, which appeared to be a pit bull, had one of our RIR hens pinned and was attacking her with his mouth. My husband chased the dogs off and they ran back into the neighbor's yard. The dogs had broken down the fence in order to get into our yard. After inquiring with the neighbor on the other side, she said that the tenant was "dog watching", she was concerned because later that afternoon when she was in her front yard, the dogs were in the front yard too (apparently they had broken through another dilapidated fence) and were barking at her and her children. I was very upset because I had no idea that two dogs, especially a pit bull, was living next door. A different neighbor's pit bull attacked a lady last year. I am just amazed at these happenings. My family has lived here for over 50 years, this is a very nice neighborhood and this is my first experience with this sort of thing.
The owner apologized to my husband and has nailed boards and other materials to the fence to close the gaps in it. He and my husband agreed to go in on a new fence. He promised that the dogs would be gone soon. I believe they were gone by the next day.
This was a real close call. The lesson that I wanted to impart to you all is that if you have a dilapidated fence in between you and a neighbor, and haven't really given the safety of your hens much thought because you believe the neighbor does not own any animals, you must have a discussion with the subject of your hens' safety with the neighbor! The neighbor probably didn't realize that the dogs would do what they did. She was innocent but thoughtless. She's been living there for years and should know that the fence was practically falling down in the place where the dogs eventually broke through.
The hen that was pinned is still missing most of her tail feathers. The whole flock was traumatized but the next day seemed much better.
The fence between a neighbor and I is a 50-60 year old dilapidated wood fence. I had not really thought much about it, since the tenant who lives next door does not own a dog. The owner of the house next door is really cheap, and it had probably not occurred to my husband to urge him to go in on a new fence. After all, it was difficult enough to get him to trim his huge trees.
Anyway, one day my husband was getting ready to go to work and he let our hens out of the coop. Everything was fine for a couple of minutes until he heard the chickens making a racket in the back yard. He ran outside and found two dogs attacking our chickens. One, which appeared to be a pit bull, had one of our RIR hens pinned and was attacking her with his mouth. My husband chased the dogs off and they ran back into the neighbor's yard. The dogs had broken down the fence in order to get into our yard. After inquiring with the neighbor on the other side, she said that the tenant was "dog watching", she was concerned because later that afternoon when she was in her front yard, the dogs were in the front yard too (apparently they had broken through another dilapidated fence) and were barking at her and her children. I was very upset because I had no idea that two dogs, especially a pit bull, was living next door. A different neighbor's pit bull attacked a lady last year. I am just amazed at these happenings. My family has lived here for over 50 years, this is a very nice neighborhood and this is my first experience with this sort of thing.
The owner apologized to my husband and has nailed boards and other materials to the fence to close the gaps in it. He and my husband agreed to go in on a new fence. He promised that the dogs would be gone soon. I believe they were gone by the next day.
This was a real close call. The lesson that I wanted to impart to you all is that if you have a dilapidated fence in between you and a neighbor, and haven't really given the safety of your hens much thought because you believe the neighbor does not own any animals, you must have a discussion with the subject of your hens' safety with the neighbor! The neighbor probably didn't realize that the dogs would do what they did. She was innocent but thoughtless. She's been living there for years and should know that the fence was practically falling down in the place where the dogs eventually broke through.
The hen that was pinned is still missing most of her tail feathers. The whole flock was traumatized but the next day seemed much better.
