Advice needed on replaceing my neighbors chickens that my dog killed-

[nzpouter]

Quote:
The chickens have strayed out of their yard, but that's not when and where they were killed. The dog got loose and got in one of the pens on the neighbor's property and killed those.

In that case pay him for replacement and damage to his coop.

Try and see if the 2 of you can share the cost of building a fence on your boundary.

 

[SpringChickens]

I agree with what everyone else posted. I just wanted to say I'm in College Station, and typical price around here for a laying hen is $10-15, with $15 being on the HIGH end.

That said, you still need to ask him where he got them from to determine if they were actually Ameraucanas or if they were just EEs.

 

[sred98]

I agree. Give him the cash and let him find his own. Be sure you get a signed receipt from him, or a notarized copy stating that you paid him X amount. I'm sure he is upset, hopefully he won't cause problems for you.

I also agree that it sounds like your wife needs to take your dog to obedience school. If you have a large dog, you should have it under control, even off leash. Rotties have a bad reputation, and while she might never hurt a person, someone might panic if she runs towards them.

Good luck,

Shelly

 

[la dee da]

The others have given great advise (that I couldn't have given

), but one thing that concerns me is that this could happen again. I suggest you take her to obediance training and use a muzzle and/or head halter when you walk her until she's trained so this doesn't happen again.

 

[ruth]

I'm curious, how did the dog get away from your wife during a walk and have time to break into the neighbors' breeding pen, kill the chickens, and still be there, with the police, before you could catch her? Either your town has the world's fastest police or there's more to the story.

You really don't want to have to go to court. Ask the guy what he wants and pay it. Your dog, in his pen, on his property, killed his chickens - becomes your problem. Stop worrying about what price YOU could buy chickens for, just ask what he wants to settle and pay it.

Next, you have to worry about whether or not animal control will take your dog to court and try to have it put down as dangerous and out of control. Yes, they can do this and it will have little to nothing to do with whether or not you have paid your neighbor. You have two separate issues to worry about in this case:

1. Settling with neighbor on damages.

2. Losing your dog.

 

[Quail27]

IMO, this isn't a time to be cheap.

People put a lot of time and effort into their chickens. They are worth much more than the "going" price.

If it were my dog that killed my neighbor's chickens, I would offer at least twice the amount they were going for... so if they're going for $15 in that area, then pay $30 each and give the poor guy $180.

You don't know how he feels about his chickens. They could have been just as valuable to him as your dog is to you. If your dog was killed and someone payed you $100 because that's the low end of the "going rate" for an adult of that breed, how would that make you feel?

 

[TammyTX]

Yeah, pay the guy for his birds and let him choose.

I was also wondering how long the dog had been left to run. 3 1/2 acres is not very much land and not enough to let a dog run off and not notice it wasn't there. You are actually lucky the neighbor didn't shoot your dog on site which is totally legal in Texas. I'm in Elgin (just east of Austin) and I have lost birds to dogs, it's not pretty. What county were you in? Travis County has a leash law but I think it's just for city limits...Bastrop County has a county-wide leash law.

....on the other hand the chicken owner bears quite a bit of responsibility for allowing his chickens to range off his property.

 

[woodstock]

He got his chickens from a local feed store as chicks. We are in the Austin City limits, so I don't even know about the roaming chicken thing, but she knew the chickens were there all along since right on the other side of her pen the chickens come up to the fence and they come over to this side often. She chased the chickens over to his side after getting away from my wife as I said. No, I don't want to take it to court- but about how much would it cost to raise chicks to laying stage? I found 1 month old americaunas for $5 each, so I would want to know about how much it would cost to raise them to laying stage.

 

[sweetie54]

this is my story!!!! My neighbors dog killed 6 of my chickens too but i didnt get all weird about it and get mad at my neighbor!!! That poop happens sometimes???
What i did was make sure it never happened again so i put some of that bamboo fencing around my chicken pen so the dog couldnt see them anymore and then i bought some rebar (Dont know if i spelled that right) But you know that metal stuff they sell at a hardware store???Anyway i got that and cut it into about 2 foot long pieces and pounded it into dirt along my whole fence line on that side! i put them about 6 inches apart so if the dog tried to dig under again he would just be like he was in jail!!!!!! lol

 

[zippy11455]

In believe in NYS there is a set amount per bird that can be recouped in these dog attack cases involving livestock. It isn't very much per bird for poultry. Might cover replacement costs for hatchery quality birds, but certainly not for breeder quality. I think you should find out the laws for your state.