Four days ago we came home to find two of our Ameracauna hens (Apollo and leopard) dead outside the chicken run, they had apparently flew out. This has happened before, but they had always waited by the pen for someone to come and put them back in. Leopard had had her neck snapped, and Apollo was near death, with a massive bleeding neck wound. She died in my 13 year old daughter's arms.
The very next a.m., there was a jack russel terrier barking at our rooster (who lives in a dog kennel r/t his amorous intentions with the hens). My husband ran out and followed the terrier to the neighbors house about 1/4 mile away. We had no proof, but told them what had happened to our girls, and they said the dog would be put down or given away immediately. We made plans to heighten our fence on the coop, cover it, and trimmed all the girls' wings.
Yesterday we came home to find my precious, favorite hen dying from a massive bleeding neck wound. She is in our icon, our Fayoumi, Ray. The darn dog was outside the fence, teying to claw his way in, barking at our hens. We again followed the stupid dog to the neighbor's, this time carrying my now-dead beloved hen in my arms, and the neighbor told me she knows how i feel....right.
Now our stupid neighbors refuse to get rid of their rotten dog, saying it would break their 5 year old daughter's heart. I am so angry, I want to kill that darn dog. We now have to get the sheriff's office and animal control involved, and cannot let our hens out of the coop until we have a cover on their run. These birds are everything to us, and have become special pets. When the first two died, I kept thinking, thank God it wasn't my little Fayoumi...and now she's gone because of my stupid, meth-addled neighbors.
Just wanted to share this with you all, knowing several BYC'ers would understand how bad this hurts us, and I cannot stop crying. This is our first time with chickens, and we have NEVER had a predator problem until now. The hens always get locked up well before dusk, and on the rare occasion when they got out, nothing tried to get them until our neighbor's had to get their precious daughter that darn dog. What about my daughter, who has put her heart & soul into these birds for the last 7 mos? Who has now had to find 3 mangled hens, 2 of which died in her arms?
The very next a.m., there was a jack russel terrier barking at our rooster (who lives in a dog kennel r/t his amorous intentions with the hens). My husband ran out and followed the terrier to the neighbors house about 1/4 mile away. We had no proof, but told them what had happened to our girls, and they said the dog would be put down or given away immediately. We made plans to heighten our fence on the coop, cover it, and trimmed all the girls' wings.
Yesterday we came home to find my precious, favorite hen dying from a massive bleeding neck wound. She is in our icon, our Fayoumi, Ray. The darn dog was outside the fence, teying to claw his way in, barking at our hens. We again followed the stupid dog to the neighbor's, this time carrying my now-dead beloved hen in my arms, and the neighbor told me she knows how i feel....right.
Now our stupid neighbors refuse to get rid of their rotten dog, saying it would break their 5 year old daughter's heart. I am so angry, I want to kill that darn dog. We now have to get the sheriff's office and animal control involved, and cannot let our hens out of the coop until we have a cover on their run. These birds are everything to us, and have become special pets. When the first two died, I kept thinking, thank God it wasn't my little Fayoumi...and now she's gone because of my stupid, meth-addled neighbors.
Just wanted to share this with you all, knowing several BYC'ers would understand how bad this hurts us, and I cannot stop crying. This is our first time with chickens, and we have NEVER had a predator problem until now. The hens always get locked up well before dusk, and on the rare occasion when they got out, nothing tried to get them until our neighbor's had to get their precious daughter that darn dog. What about my daughter, who has put her heart & soul into these birds for the last 7 mos? Who has now had to find 3 mangled hens, 2 of which died in her arms?
