After hearing all these theft stories...

[Thegrayeyedgirl]

Ok, I'm not a chicken owner....yet. But I'm doing a lot of poultry research to prepare for the day when I too can begin my adventures with chickens and the maths involved with getting far too many.

During the course of this study, I have come across a number of stories (especially recently) involving the theft of chickens and eggs by human predators.

I am already planning on taking the necessary precautions for safeguarding my flock, but these stories are continuing to trouble me. Especially since it seems like the thieves always get away

So, I'm asking, does anybody have a comforting story where the culprit is caught and justice is served? A story where the authorities care maybe? I think it would serve as something uplifting, especially to the people who are going through this now. It sure would make me feel better...

 

[ColbyNTX]

I do think a bunch of these stories turn out to not be a human predator but an animal or the bird just got out and took off or was eaten. I know some are human. If you get a LSG dog such as a great pyrenees, it won't let anything besides your family take a bird!

 

[tnchickenut]

I had a neighbor stealing eggs (that I was hatching and selling - not eatting) and I put up a booby trap trip wire out, a camera, and a baby monitor. They never crossed the property line again. I hope they hurt themselves and landed face first in chicken sh...... (which I stratigically placed about a "trips lenth" away from the wire. LOLOLOLOLOLOL

But I agree... most the time people jump to the "must be human" thing when even a snake or rat can run off with eggs... that is why I went through the trouble of closing up every gap or hole that a snake or rat could get through (and snakes can climb verticle walls, ya know) and still lost eggs every other day. So THEN I went after the human. Everything is padlocked now, but like I said, she won't even try to talk to me anymore (perfect for me) so it's a unspoken understanding. HAHAHAHA

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

I disagree about the stories being "bunk". I personally know of several instances where silkies were stolen from people's coops or from coops at shows that were NOT visited by anything but a human predator.

The sad thing is the difficulty in finding the thief and/or finding a law enforcement officer that gives a crap. All it would take is one person being caught and prosecuted as a felony and I think it would reverberate around the poultry world.

 

[tnchickenut]

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I agree about the shows... now, that DOES happen and also it happens where people just leave THEIR birds behind. Maybe they forgot (how that happens I don't know) or maybe they just wanted rid of it... but their are alot of birds left behind at shows.

But I disagree with one big prosecution being enough... if that was the case their would be no murder, rape, meth, ect ect. People do what they want to do... trick is making them no want to do it and for some prison ain't enough of a threat.

Luckily I live in the rural south where we "take care" of things ourselves... like my trip wire. Nothing illegal about it when it's on my property. And if they broke their arm falling, what are they going to say? If they weren't trespassing they wouldn't have tripped. LOL!! It's never going to stop being funny to me. I just imagine it.

Oh the other part of that story I didn't take time to type out is that I left my rubber mallet out there where I set up the wire. She must have got mad when she tripped and threw it in anger... I found it about 20-30 feet away towards my house. Can you vision it? She falls flat on her face and then gets POed and mumbling cuss words picks up the nearest loose object and chucks it at my house cursing me. LOLOLOLOL!!!!

 

[GallusGal]

My rooster is a big, tough, aggressive bird, and we used to have some teenagers on our street that were rumored to be involved in animal fighting. I saw some of them watching my bird from the road on multiple occasions, and then one day I heard the roo give out an alarm cry and found one of them trying to open my gate! I suspect he may have been after my bird! Needless to say I charged out of the house with my phone and a baseball bat and told him to get the... fudge away from my birds before I called the cops or called him an ambulance. Never saw them around again. Even if you're short, a little bit of crazy can go a long way in preventing bird theft

 

[ColbyNTX]

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Nobody said anything about all the stories being "bunk"' just some of them. I know their are thief in everything in life, but a bunch are just predators. People here in my area of Texas are not so stupid as to come onto somebodies land to steal a bird or egg without fear of being shot! I don't know a single person who isn't armed. I have 4 houses on my entire county road and we have over 150 firearms between the 4 of us so "come and take it"!

A good pyrenees is also a great thing to have.

 

[QCFChicks]

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That is so awesome and true!!

 

[tnchickenut]

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HAHA LOVE IT!!

 

[Josie]

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So true! I love it!