Irresponsible dog owners=dead chickens

[Cheep a'lil Talk a'lil]

Because of irresponsible pet owners my family had to deal with the carnage their dogs bestowed upon us Easter day. The chicken coop and run are in the our fenced garden area; we let the girls out of the run and free range in the garden. I take much of the blame for the dogs getting in. I had not finished a proper gate and just had a big piece of the fencing wired onto the fence. But these dogs still had to climb and bend 4 foot livestock fencing.
They took out 6 of our 8 hens. We all know that they are not "just chickens", they were pets. The kids (and I) loved and took care of them. They were so fun to watch, each with their own personalities. This has just broken their hearts.
It looks as if the dogs just chased and killed them, just for fun. No eating or chewing or tearing apart so I guess I can be thankful that my kids didn't find that. What was the hardest is when the kids found them two of the girls were still alive but gravely injured and my husband had to put them down.
We didn't see the dogs but found two different sets of tracks all over the garden, and our dogs are never allowed in there.
Why?

Why have people become so inconsiderate? I'm sure when they let their dog out they never thought it would go off and kill some ones chickens. But they HAVE to know it's going to pee and poop in someone elses yard and it's just rude!
We have two big dogs that will run off if they get out, we will chase them down and make sure that they don't bother anyone. But for some reason in this town people think they can just open the front door and the world is their potty, their playground. When I take my kids to school in the morning I count a minimum of 5 dogs running around town, in the road, other people yards..., we live on the edge of town where the homes are on more land and seem to REALLY not bother fencing/chaining. UGH!
It was not a good day!

 

[nanaluvsgps]

I'm very sorry to hear about your hens

 

[theoldchick]

What a difficult situation for Easter. Sorry.

 

[mixitup]

It's sad and disheartening to hear of something like this. Unfortunately, some people just don't care enough and think the laws don't apply to them and law enforcement, whether is be SPCA, Cops or Border Guards, don't enforce the laws either. Pets generally just kill for fun-not food. That is why you have the carnage. While sometimes hungry dogs will kill, they will do it to eat. Pets are fed, so they aren't hungry, just destructive. Too bad you couldn't have caught the dogs. Hope you have better luck in the future.

 

[jak2002003]

So sorry that that happened to your chickens and your family. Dogs should not be allowed to roam free without supervision from their owners. I am from the UK and no dog is allowed to be off lead without someone taking care of it. If a dog is seem wandering around the streets without anyone with it, it will likely be caught and taken to the dog pound.

Just one question for you: are you sure it is not your own dogs who did it? Please make sure, because if you get more hens, they will do it again. My small dog lived in harmony with my chickens for 2 years, and I used to leave them together in the garden when I went to work. Then one day, I came home to find one chicken dead. I could not believe it was my dog....so forgot about it. A week later I came home to find my dog in the process of killing another chicken. Once she saw me she let it go and ran back to her basket pretending she knew nothing about it.

Now I never let the chickens free range if my dog is outside.

 

[minpinmama]

I'm about two hours from you. I have a bunch of Lemon Cockoo Orps and Black Copper Marans.
In about 3 months (I know that's far off) I'll be matching up my trio's and quads and finding
homes for the rest. If you work on getting your coop area more secure I'd love to gift you with a trio
if you like either of those breeds. It's heart breaking to lose any animal but to dogs really chaps
my toosh. Let me know and we'll keep in touch and maybe when the time comes we can meet
mid way like Port Townsend. PM me, I would be blessed to be able to gift some to you.

 

[blitz1027]

Sorry to hear that happened. The same thing happened to me a couple months ago. The dog killed or nearly killed all but one of my birds just for fun. The hardest part was having to mercy kill the girls that the dog didn't finish. I wanted to cry when I walked up to one of my girls and she looked at me because she knew what was coming. We caught the dog a couple days later and took care of the that problem and warned the neighbors to keep they're dogs off the premises.

 

[b.hromada]

I'm very sorry for your loss.

Yes, they are our pets. Why don't people take responsibility for their dogs??

 

[Gunmama]

We live in a neighborhood with several loose dogs. I have dogs myself and love our animals but I get my pellet gun out and shoot these wandering dogs with it because they always harass my chickens and stress them out. They also harass my dogs through the fence. I have one dog that isn't fenced but he is an inside dog and when he goes outside he is either on our property or my parents property across the street. If he goes anywhere other then that he is with me or my husband. It gets frustrating!

 

[Cheep a'lil Talk a'lil]

Just one question for you: are you sure it is not your own dogs who did it? Please make sure, because if you get more hens, they will do it again.

Yep, I'm sure. There is no way it could have been our dogs. They are never allowed loose outside and they are walked from the house to the kennel.
Thanks, everyone, for your replies. I love the BYC family. I know I can come here and vent and get the support I need. Thanks so much!