A very very sad day

[beckster]

First I want to say I really enjoy all the stories and advice on BYC. I mostly just "lurk" here but I thought I would post my story from today.

My chickens free range during the day where I board my horses. A fairly large property a couple miles away from where I live, so I am not around all the time, but guy who owns the property is there during the work day, so I didnt' have much reason to worry about my chickens. Besides that, the closest neighbor is half a mile away, so the chickens certainly don't bother anyone. I lock them in their coop at night when I go down to feed the horses, but most of them spend most of the afternoon in the coop anyway. When I showed up tonight to feed, I discovered to my dismay that someone had locked a PITBULL in my chicken coop (both latches were secured so I know it was intentional) with 9 of my 16 chickens. It was a masacre. I later found another chicken outside the coop that fell victim to the dog. So now I am down to 6 chickens. I lost both of my roosters, and I was supposed to be collecting eggs for my mom to give to her broody. I just cannot fathom why someone would do such a thing. It just makes me sick. There is only one other tenant who runs cattle on the property and he wasn't around to see any of what went on. Whoever did this was a trespasser.

This act was cruel, not only to the chickens, but also the dog. Whether she was a chicken killer before or not, you lock any dog up in a 12 x 12 coop with 9 chickens and they will probably start killing. Now animal control will be putting her down (because as upset as I was, I couldn't bring myself to pull the trigger myself).

Besides losing a couple of really great roosters, some laying hens, and some pullets that were getting ready to lay in a week or so, now my plans for hatching eggs have changed. This may be a question for another topic, but I figured you all might know how long my hens will be laying fertilized eggs? Looks like I might also need a crash course in incubating eggs so that I can hatch them for myself instead of sending them to my mom.

What a terrible day.

 

[Cetawin]

Oh I am so sorry. I myself could have pulled the trigger...no doubt about it. But...from the time to rooster fertilizes the hen, the fertility is supposed to good for about 2 weeks. They say a rooster must only mate every 2 weeks to keep fertility up in that hen.

I would try some incubation immediately and you should be good to go.

 

[Sunshyne276]

That is HORRIBLE, I am so sorry for your loss. That is beyond cruel, I hope they "brag" about what they did, and get caught and prosecuted for animal cruelty. I will never understand the mentallity of some people.

 

[FowlLanguage]

I was just thinking about scenarios like that... I would take a real sweet looking picture, make a "Found" poster, and when they call, sue them for every penny. You can sue for money lost to replace them, any damage to the coop, and personal grief. I don't think I would let anyone else kill that stupid dog; I would sleep a lot better with the satisfaction of plowing its brains all over the pavement.

 

[Mahonri]

So sorry for your loss. What a heartless, cruel act.

Your eggs should still be fertile for 1 to 4 weeks.

 

[heatherindeskies]

What a horrible, horrible thing to do. so sorry for your losses. whoever put the dog in that situation, knowing what would happen should get many counts of animal cruelty, not just one.

 

[joletabey]

I am SO sorry- it's so unfair to that dog, too, to be set up like that. A horrible situation all around. I really hope you find who did it and prosecute to the fullest.

DO try incubating those eggs-

 

[Msbear]

I hope they try to find the dog's owner before putting her down. Things happen but, some one is to blame. The dog was being used. Maybe it's someone's dog that got loose and was a stray. What a shame.... and, Im so sorry about your birds. When I read the first line, I knew something was going to be terribly wrong. My birds are a few steps from my house and drama happens from time to time.. a hawk, stray dog, etc... It's best to keep them within earshot.

 

[beckster]

Thank you for the words of sympathy. I will be visiting the Incubating and Hatching Eggs forum to get some tips. I hope I can gather up enough eggs from my two remaining laying hens to make it worth hatching. I don't have a whole lot of time as I am studying for the bar exam. We might just have to recruit my mom's broody after all.

I went to check on my girls this morning. After the tragedy last night, I could only find 4 hens. I went back out to check on them at dusk, and one more had shown up. There is still a sussex pullet out there somewhere (I know she's alive because I caught a glimpse of her yesterday) but she is so flightly anyway, and now I think she is scared to death. I hope she comes back to the coop today. In the mean time, the rest of my hens will have to spend the day inside the coop. They seem to be doing just fine.

But now I am parnoid...and I made a trip to the store at 6:00 this morning to buy a whole mess of padlocks. Heck, if this person would do something like this what's to stop them from just opening the gates and letting my horses out. So, everyone is locked in and safe and sound for now. Now back at home for a day of studying.

Thanks again for all of your kind words.

 

[Msbear]

just a note: being that school is out and the fact that some bad soul would have worse things to accomplish if they had a driver's license, I would say the perps (definitely more than 1.. boys like to impress eachother with their nastiness) are in between 13-16, male and within walking distance to the barn. If anyone you know fits that description, I would pay a visit to momma and let her know what happened and if she knew who the pit belonged to.