Neighbor's dog

I live up a hollow in the mtns so ALL my neighbors are family. There's good and bad in that. The good is obvious, the bad..... I have 15 chickens (soon to increase to over 50). There are two dogs who each belong to two different neighbors. Dog one isn't too much of a bother, only comes around when his owner does, but I have caught him in my chicken house and snooping around all around my barn. I haven't actually CAUGHT him with any eggs, but I don't doubt that he eats them (you don't get 8 eggs one day and 1 total for the next 4 days). Now, dog two has been caught in the act of eating eggs. I caught him walking in my backyard with an egg in his mouth (dog one was with him but didn't have an egg). So, I tell both my neighbors. 4 days later they put dog two up. I get 6 eggs, then 8, then drop back to 1. The day I find one, I see dog prints in broken egg yolk. Dog two is put up so I know it isn't him but I don't know for sure that it is dog one. Well, I came home last night to see both dogs running loose together!! Second part of my story. Last fall I had 26 babies that I hatched out. NONE of them made it to the spring. I didn't think too much of it since it was late when I hatched them, and one of the chicks I bought got really sick and the others were exposed. But, the more I thought about things that went on last year..... Another neighbor (not kin) told owner of dog one that their dog was eating another neighbors chickens and bringing them to their house. I just assumed it was really the other set of chickens that are close by. But the more I thought about it, that guy keeps excellent records and accounts of his chickens and would have known if any were gone, he has banties and my babies would have looked like banties so I'm now thinking that dog one ate all my babies. So, I asked the neighbors to put him up.....he's still running loose.

What would you do in this situation? I would love to fence my land in, but that would be much to expensive at this point. As for giving them a run, that would be hard to do. Their house is at the end of my land, connected to a barn that all the FAMILY uses and fencing it in would require fencing in the driveway over.

Sometimes I wish I'd NEVER EVER moved here!!

I worry about this same thing when I get my chicks in May...I have a neighbor right accross the street and she has two dogs who LOVE being in our yard and we don't have any problems with that at all...they are very sweet dogs but even sweet dogs can enjoy a chicken dinner! I love our neighbors and they are great people so I really don't want to start anything with them so I PRAY taht their dogs won't bother the chickens. Maybe I can invite them over to visit with the chickens. They know we are getting chickens but their dogs were here first All I can do it hope that they will be ok with them. We do plan on free ranging out chickens. And we have NO fence around our yard.

My chickens were here before both dogs, but my neighbors were here before me .

I too hope the dogs leave your chickens alone. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.

Paintball gun...
It will show the people that their dog isn't where he's supposed to be...

You're gonna have to talk to the dog owners about what they're up to and to make sure that your babies are gonna have to be safe if the dogs are around.

Paint ball gun is a good idea. Do you give eggs to your neighbors/family? If so, let them know you won't be able to continue doing so due to their egg-eating dogs. If not, you may want to start, but let them know it rides on their dogs not eating the eggs. If your girls go into the coop to lay, perhaps making something that can be put over the entry way that is large enough for the hens to get through but not the dogs (you didn't say how large the dogs are - I'm assuming they are larger than your hens). Good luck - it's always difficult dealing with neighbors, especially when they're family!
Liz

I agree with the paintball gun thing. It should also sting enough that it might teach the dog to stay away. Dogs are the reason that we are planning the protected run thing.

I understand the family thing, and possibly the they were there first thing, but the fact of the matter is that if it is your land they should endeavor to keep their animals off of it if you don't want them there.

As a horrible suggestion that I personally would never do (well, very well might, the more I think about it), but would be effective, put some fake eggs in the nests that will make the darned dogs really really sick if they eat them.

"Gee, I'm sorry your dog is sick or died, but I had to make sure my hens were laying eggs in the nests so I put these fake eggs in there to remind them where to lay the eggs at. It's not my fault that your dog went in there and ate them or that they are poisonous. Perhaps if you kept it leashed or fenced, you would have been able to make sure it didn't eat anything detrimental to its health."

26 babies can really turn into a lot of cash, and loosing them is something that should never happen for those kinds of reasons. McMurray's sells started pullets at about 11 bucks each. That's $276 dollars if you look at it that way. Even more if you think about the life time of eggs that you lost from it.

Personally, I think that type of thing is inexcusable. People are supposed to take responsibility for their pets, both the animal's health and its actions.

Maybe the dog should just "disappear." It doesn't matter who was there first. Your land is your land. If they choose to keep dogs, they need to keep them on their own property.

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I would tell the owners of both dogs that they must keep the dogs safely secured away from my chickens and if not, dogs will meet with some painful harm. Then I would load a shotgun with rock salt and pepper their butts! I do mean butts too...rock salt will sting and burn and provided you are not too close to them when you hit them, it will not inflict serious damage. The negative side...if the skin is broken and the wound not attended, they could get an infection. If you hit them in the face, blinding is possible. I am an excellent shot and would have no problem dusting their backsides but you need to know how well you can hit them.

The way I see it, every pet owner, regardless of the type of pet, has an obligation to be responsible for their pet. That means keeping them on a leash when the law states, confining them to your own property, keep them from being a nuisance or destructive to others' property. if they cannot help you in confining their dogs, you have an obligation to your flock to get rid of them.

The other option and one I would suggest doing anyway, contact local animal control and file a complaint. Get their input and find out what your rights are. In some states, you can kill the dog for being on the property and getting the eggs or chickens.

I would not tolerate someone's dog messing with my chickens or eggs...nor would I tolerate it of my own dog. Your chickens have rights too. hehehehe

That's what a few people have said....."make them disappear", but that's hard for me to do......plus, they'd know it was me, I'm the only one without a dog and the only one complaining. When I mentioned it to them before, they said "your chickens come on our land....."