Life has thrown me an Ironic twist...
7 months ago my ex-husband moved to a suburb of Seattle and left his Chesapeake here for me to care for till he "got settled" at which point I was to ship her down to him. We had set June as the time for her to fly down to live with him. This afternoon, I had the adults in the pasture getting some forage time, I checked and rechecked the fencing and gates to be sure no wandering dogs could get in, satisfied that they would be safe I went inside to visit with my friend VickieLee. My two teen daughters were showing us their prom dresses and we were measuring for alterations while discussing the acquisition of a guardian dog to live in the pasture and keep the Icelandics safe when the doorbell rang. DS had a friend over, we thought it was his mom. It wasn't. It was the neighbor kids telling us there was a dog running in the chicken yard.
One DD ran to change, the other kicked off her heels and ran out in flats and a prom dress, Tom, VickieLee and I all ran for boots, no one grabbed a gun. We got to the yard in time to see DD in the dress holding a gate shut and the ex's chesapeak was trying to push her way through. I loooked in the pasture and didn't see a dog, I looked at the chessie and the look on her face said it all. I asked the neighbor kids and they confirmed, it was OUR dog that killed my chickens. DS & DD got the chessie into the house and into her kennel, probably the only thing that saved her life.
Out of 14, 5 were killed. They were scattered all around the pasture. The kids told me a couple had gone under the fence and one had gone over. My Mille Fluer D'Uccle, who won Grand Champion Best of Breed at the fair year before last, who is also my most favorite and most spoiled lap chicken, had flown over the fence, over their horse barn and hid in the weeds under the horse trailer on the far side of their property. We found one of my silkie hens in the weeds just on the other side of the fence and they passed her back to me before going to retrieve my Millie.
As we found the live ones we tucked them back in the coop, being careful to close the door for their safety. As we found the bodies we stacked them until we had all but one accounted for. I lost my blue egg layer, a buff orp, 2 dorkings and a banty cochin. At the end of it all, I realized that a gate between interior yards didn't latch properly due to the ice and snow.
The previous owners had raised boxers, the yard is divided by chainlink fencing into different segments. The chessie was in the dog potty yard, but she dug out under the fence and crossed the exercise yard where she hit the back gate, something she's never tried before because she's only been out there with one of us and a tennis ball, and she's never been out there when the chickens were on the other side of that fence. We never heard a thing.
I never imagined one of our dogs would do that, I never thought to check the interior gates. I always assumed it would be a neighbor dog, attacking from the outside. All things considered I'm glad I went out without a gun, the kids would rather the dog be re-homed. But they all agree, the dog needs to go NOW.
Thanks for listening.
