dog killed a bunch of my chickens

[pammy63]

I really need everyone's help. the neighbors dog came down and killed 8 of my prime chickens, 1 silkie rooster, 2 silkie hens, and 2 barred rock hens, 1 cochen hen, 1 brahma hen, and 1 airacona hen. they were from 11 mon. to 18 mon old. all were laying. I was getting 12 to 13 eggs per day and now I am getting 3 to 4 eggs per day. just one of my customers was buying 8 to 9 doz. eggs weekly and now she apparently has gone somewhere else so besides the loss of my precious birds just the loss of the one customer has cost 64.00 per month! my issue is that this happened on two seperate occasions. the first time it killed 5 birds, my husband caught the dog with the bird in its mouth. it also severly injured 4 hens and a rooster. so I also had a vet bill, and two of them I kept in the house for nearly two weeks caring for them daily, my husband followed the dog to its home and talked to the owner he said that he would keep the dog tied up and to let him know how much it cost. then two weeks later the dog came back and this time killed 3 chickens, needless to say I am angry. I called the sheriffs dept and they talked to him and told him he would be getting a bill. today the dog was back, so no more nice neighbor!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! please help me determine how much my birds were worth so I can take the bill down to him. I also need the value for court should he refuse to pay. thank you so much for your help

 

[jetdog]

After reading this it sounds like they are priceless to you, I would shoot the dog or put a couple of strands of electric wire around the whole thing, some people have to learn the hard way, not much help with a dollar value.

 

[WalnutHill]

The same thing happened to us in November. A Malamute that lived about a quarter mile away tore into our coop through the wire, and killed 23 laying hens and two of my breeder turkeys, and scattered the survivors for hundreds of yards. The poor girls were terrified.

It took a month before the survivors quit panicking at the sight of anything moving, and three months before they started to lay decently. Out of 125 surviving hens, we were getting 10-15 eggs a day. They are laying about 110 a day now.

You generally have the right to kill the dog if in the act of destroying your property. The Malamute in our case came back for seconds, and if it had come back a third time, it would have been its last.

We had contacted the police, the officer followed the dog back to its home the second time, and we went to District court and received restitution for the replacement cost of birds. No allowance for the loss of production was allowed, only the fair market (Craigslist/BYC etc) value of the birds. In our case, started production red pullets can be bought for $10 each plus gas cost to Ohio and back in the truck, and that's what we got.

Good luck, and don't let the dog leave your yard again. It will continue to come back at every opportunity.

 

[Big dreams]

Where do you live, I live in Washington state, if a dog goes to the Humane society, costs the owner about 200 dollars to bail them out, all said and done. They give them shots, flea meds etc. then charge the owner. If the dog has no collar, or chip. It might help the owner decide to keep their dog home, or maybe they won't go get them. Just a thought. So sorry about your chickens I know it's so sad when that happens, and makes you so angry. Good luck.

 

[blucoondawg]

Your best bet for pricing is to find breeders or hatcheries depending on what quality of stock you had and get pricing for laying pullets, I would find the most expensive ones possible, and add on for shipping or whatever mode of transport. I too have heard you usually won't get anything for lost production.

As for the dog it would be dead next time it ventured in my yard, and I love dogs, have 3 of my own but that sort of thing is not tolerated around here and the pound is a joke, would maybe charge 20 bucks and tell them to get a rabies shot if it didn't already have one. After shooting that problem dog I would then figure out what I had to do to prevent the next problem dog (likely to be owned by the same a-hole neighbor) from gaining entrance to your chicken area, and keep a rifle handy incase it breaches your perimeter anyways.

Sorry you have to deal with this, it is totally disrespectful and ignorant of your neighbor. They won't take the loss of your chickens seriously until it hits them severely in the pocketbook or their dog disappears, and then they are still going to be "just chickens"

 

[pammy63]

thanks and yes they are very special to me, I raised them from hatch-lings, the silkies and brahma would follow me around esp when they didn't want to be bothered by the roosters they would run to my feet for protection. I cried like a baby. I know that might sound retarded to some but thats just the way I am. the poor hen that got it the worst had hudge holes layers deep you could see everything, three of the wounds were as big as the palm of my hand!! and so so many puncture wounds! broke my heart!!!~~ I cleaned and cared for her every day for two and a half weeks before she could go back out. My husband told me that I was the only person he knew that would resserect a chicken!!! lol. everyone that seen her said she wouldn't make it and I needed to put her out of her misery. but she is now out with the others and doing great. pretty scarred though. oh by the way does anyone know where a person can get cheap chicken saddles?

 

[pammy63]

believe me the next time I see that dog it will be the last. I really love animals but I cant tollerate that. the thing is that my chickens are free range and I have had birds here for almost 2 years so I dont understand why all of a sudden the dogs wont stay away. I have to keep my babies locked up and I hate that. I did call the sheriffs dept and the deputy that came out was awesome!! he went and told the neighbor that he would be getting a bill from me and suggested he pay it because the next time I call in they will file charges with the prosecuting attorney for animal endangerment, and he told them that I would be filing in cival court, I was hoping that would fix the matter but seen the dog on the edge of the property today. the guy lives about 1/2 mile from me and I guess other neighbors have had issues with the dog attacking their animals. so, so long dog if I catch it here again!

 

[afarhat8]

pammy63, first and foremost, i'm really sorry about your loss. i suspect that everyone who reads your post will be able to relate to your situation, since most of us have been there, or at least know of someone who has been there. blucoondawg gave a really good answer above. go to a hatchery like murray mcmurray or strombergs, and see what they sell their started birds for, and don't forget shipping and handling. as some other people have mentioned, the courts' objective in a situation like this is to "make you whole", and not allow you to profit from the incident. the problem with this goal is that it does not take into consideration any factors other the cost of the dead birds, such as the loss of egg production in the surviving birds, or the fact that you may have raised your birds from day old chicks, named them, and got untold enjoyment from them. all down the pipes.

having said that, though, i'm concerned about the people responding to your post that would shoot the dog. i think the owner of the dog would benefit more from a little buckshot in the behind than the dog itself would, but that's my personal opinion, and besides, it's not a viable option. but i wonder if there's not some way to get it through the dog owner's thick skull that this is a very serious issue, and he's going to lose his dog (to sanctioned organizations) if it happens again. there's another issue here, and that is if you shoot someone's dog, they may retaliate, and there's a lot of crazy people posing as neighbors.

just my 2 cents worth.

 

[blucoondawg]

pammy63, first and foremost, i'm really sorry about your loss. i suspect that everyone who reads your post will be able to relate to your situation, since most of us have been there, or at least know of someone who has been there. blucoondawg gave a really good answer above. go to a hatchery like murray mcmurray or strombergs, and see what they sell their started birds for, and don't forget shipping and handling. as some other people have mentioned, the courts' objective in a situation like this is to "make you whole", and not allow you to profit from the incident. the problem with this goal is that it does not take into consideration any factors other the cost of the dead birds, such as the loss of egg production in the surviving birds, or the fact that you may have raised your birds from day old chicks, named them, and got untold enjoyment from them. all down the pipes.

having said that, though, i'm concerned about the people responding to your post that would shoot the dog. i think the owner of the dog would benefit more from a little buckshot in the behind than the dog itself would, but that's my personal opinion, and besides, it's not a viable option. but i wonder if there's not some way to get it through the dog owner's thick skull that this is a very serious issue, and he's going to lose his dog (to sanctioned organizations) if it happens again. there's another issue here, and that is if you shoot someone's dog, they may retaliate, and there's a lot of crazy people posing as neighbors.

just my 2 cents worth.

First of all, most "sanctioned organizations" will do nothing. I have contacted organizations such as my state chapter of the American Humane Society and inquired about my neighbors problem dogs on the grounds that they historically have not been properly cared for, no food, no water, etc. They basically did not care. If you catch a dog and take it to a pound the owner will get it back in short order and likely only pay a menial fee if any.

The Sheriff's office responded to the op's incident however in my mind they did not do their job, the dog already killed livestock/pets, charges should have been filed immediately and/or measures taken to put down the dog if that is possible by law in their area, the op shouldn't have to wait for another attack on their animals to get law enforcement involved.

As far as shooting the dog, you are right, the owner is causing the problem, but it is not legal to shoot or beat the hell out of a dog owner for allowing their dog to roam, it is however legal in many areas to shoot and kill an attacking dog, in some areas animal control will tell you to shoot the dog if you call them, it is the normal way of dealing with such situations in rural areas. If you shoot the dog you have 2 options, call the sheriff's dept. and tell them "I just shot my neighbors dog whom I caught attacking my chickens" they will then have another incident on record and also know that you had justification in killing the dog, or you can shoot the dog and bury it or throw it off in the woods somewhere and nobody is the wiser, which is what many on this forum say is best. I however would go the route of calling it in to the Sheriff's Dept. so they can come out and see what happened and hopefully levy a fine against the jerk who owned the dog. As far as retaliation goes the most likely form would be them buying another dog and continuing to let it roam, sure there may be a few nut jobs around that may do something idiotic but their actions will be illegal and land them in jail, our actions in killing a livestock attacking dog are not illegal, this is also why I prefer to report it if a dog needs to be shot.

 

[maizefield farm]

You can't blame a dog for being a dog....However, if a raccoon or a fox posed the same threat to livestock it would be dealt with. I have yet to put my girls outside yet, as they are only 3 weeks old, but the 12 gauge is next to the back door with some bird shot. I'm all for a "warning shot" (bird shot to a 50+pound dogs backside will most commonly hurt and scare but not kill), but if your local animal control is worthless and the neighbor doesn't seem to care enough about the pet and there is a return visit, I say dig a hole and keep your mouth shut! Ok, rant over! Good luck!!