Chickflick29
Chirping
- Jun 9, 2020
- 18
- 21
- 71
I’m hoping you all can help me - my beloved Polish bantam hen Dandelion was torn apart by something yesterday.
I live on a small amount of acreage that is very open and not normally trafficked by many of the critter culprits I’d expect to go after chickens (raccoons, possums, skunks, etc.) We do have an issue with hawks this time of year - however, Dandelion was found at the very back of a lean-to shed for our horses with no signs of attack or struggle anywhere else on the property that we could find after searching.
She went missing yesterday, she was seen at 9:30am and then around noon I noticed her rooster without her, she wasn’t found again until this morning when I peeked in the shed.
I’m very worried it was our neighbors’ dog. They have chickens of their own and their dog has been around them without much issue, but I do know the dog has killed some of theirs on one occasion. Because it is a rural area, it is an outdoor dog that roams without supervision. Unfortunately, I am still working to put up gates their dog can’t get through (it’s a small dog and we have multiple entrances to our home/yard area) so I spend half my days sending it home again. I don’t want to believe it would go after our hen, but I’m not quite sure what else would get her so close to our home/LGD in the middle of the day in an enclosed space.
Does anyone have any ideas? I don’t want to place blame if it probably isn’t warranted! We love our animals very much and I am trying to figure out which direction to turn to keep them safer. I’ve attached a pic of what was found and the shed Dandelion was found in.
I live on a small amount of acreage that is very open and not normally trafficked by many of the critter culprits I’d expect to go after chickens (raccoons, possums, skunks, etc.) We do have an issue with hawks this time of year - however, Dandelion was found at the very back of a lean-to shed for our horses with no signs of attack or struggle anywhere else on the property that we could find after searching.
She went missing yesterday, she was seen at 9:30am and then around noon I noticed her rooster without her, she wasn’t found again until this morning when I peeked in the shed.
I’m very worried it was our neighbors’ dog. They have chickens of their own and their dog has been around them without much issue, but I do know the dog has killed some of theirs on one occasion. Because it is a rural area, it is an outdoor dog that roams without supervision. Unfortunately, I am still working to put up gates their dog can’t get through (it’s a small dog and we have multiple entrances to our home/yard area) so I spend half my days sending it home again. I don’t want to believe it would go after our hen, but I’m not quite sure what else would get her so close to our home/LGD in the middle of the day in an enclosed space.
Does anyone have any ideas? I don’t want to place blame if it probably isn’t warranted! We love our animals very much and I am trying to figure out which direction to turn to keep them safer. I’ve attached a pic of what was found and the shed Dandelion was found in.
