All gone except 6

[Moonwalker]

I heard the dog I had tied near the coops barking and looked out the window and he was chasing something and I saw my neighbors dog. When I went out I saw one of my turkeys dead and he was dragging one of the pullets into the dog house. The other dog was gone. I looked in the coop and there were dead bodies everywhere. Apparently, my neighbors dog, a wire haired terrier/feist dug a tunnel under the coop and killed them. I know it wasn't my dog because if he had been in the coop his leash (15 ft) would have been tangled around everything. The owner had said that another neighbor was accusing the dog of killing his chickens and geese. She (and I) didn't believe it, thought maybe another dog or coyote had killed them and he was just dragging them off. This dog is the size of a chihuahua.
There were several birds missing and we found 6 of them. One of the Buttercup roos is missing. Hopefully, he is hiding in the grass like the others we found alive were and I can find him in the morning.
I went to bed with 38 chickens, 2 turkeys and 6 ducks and now at 1:30 am I have 9 chickens(3 were the bantys I brought back in the house after one disappeared) I blamed MY dog for the banty disappearing, but now I wonder. I didn't see Casper (the neighbors dog) yesterday, but that doesn't mean he wasn't there.
Except for one or two, the birds were't bloody at all. It looked like he either broke their necks or shook them.
If he comes back tomorrow, I am going to take him to animal control. If I had a gun, I would shoot him. He is now a confirmed multiple time livestock killer, so he will be put down one way or another.

So now I have 2 EE's, 2 BO's (a third probably won't make it through the night), 1 Fayoumi roo, 1 German Spitzhauben ( I found her huddled up on the bank of the creek)and the 3 bantys.
He didn't seem to have tried to get into the duck pen. Hopefully, he won't come back tonite, becasue I brought the chickens in the house, I don't have anywhere else to put the ducks until I can rig something tomorrow in the daylight.

 

[QueenieBee]

Oh no! I am so sorry to hear that!

I don't blame you about calling animal control on the dog. In my experience, once they do something like this they keep doing it.

I hope you find your other babies safe.

 

[babyboy1_mom]

I am so sorry for your loss. That is horrible. Once a dog kills, then it will be back to do it again, IMO.

I had something similar to this happen to me years ago. I had 2 dogs and my female was a chicken killer. My male didn't pay them any attention. They would eat out of his bowl and everything. He didn't care, until my female got loose and started chasing and killing them. I guess, in all of the excitement, he started killing them. (If they were close enough.) Between the 2 of them, they killed every chicken that I had. Needless to say, the female was rehomed and I didn't have chickens for quite a few years.

Moral of my story: Watch your dog, just in case. Like I said, my male never bothered them until my female started.

Dorothy

 

[Moonwalker]

Yeah. The dog I had tied out near the coops to keep coons and such away was dragging one into his doghouse, but I'm not sure if he killed it. He was raised on a farm with all sorts of animals, but in the excitement....I know he's not the one that went inside because he is on a long leash and it would have tangled in the roost, knocked over the water, etc. And the hole dug was a bit small for him. I don't doubt he may have killed the one he took, but at least HE was planning to eat it!(he always takes his treats into his doghouse)the others were killed for sport.
SO he will be confined back to the pen with my wolf, who was a cat killer after he was starved almost to death. I don't trust him around any small prey type animals.

 

[tx_dane_mom]

That's so awful

It's DEFINATELY that dog...almost shocking to believe you/your neighbor thought otherwise from the beginning just b/c of the breed. Such a shame. Once you get rid of the dog & get your coop fixed up, if you'd like some more ducks/chix, I'll be happy to send you eggs for just the cost of postage. I have rouens & now my barred rocks are finally coming up fertile. (And I have 1 EE hen in there w/my BRs).
HTH & the rest of your birds do well,
Kristi

 

[QueenieBee]

It makes me angry when something kills mine and then leaves them there. We had something a year or so ago get into the coop and get a couple of our chickens and just kill them and leave them there. I was so angry. I hate them getting my chickens at all but I could kind of understand if they ate them afterwards not just kill them for fun.

un

 

[horsejody]

Moonwalker,
Have you talked to your neighbor? Tell her what you saw. Maybe then she will believe what her dog is capable of. Tell her you want restitution for the birds and that she needs to confine her dog.

 

[Ericasl]

Moonwalker
So sorry about your loss, it just sucks neighbor dogs that dig under the fence are bad!! I live next to one who has killed twice, they said they would put it down 3 times. Well lets just say she is still alive, I have a good fence but this dog could dig to china. It is so hard to leave because I worry about what will happen if I am not on watch, next time the dog will not leave my place alive, we have done the nice neighbor talk twice. No more nice gal for me!!

 

[warcard]

Terriers are very prey oriented, and were bred to go against badger, fox, otter, groundhog, etc. They will take on things many times their size, they go after almost anything that moves, but if it is well fed at home it probably won't eat what it kills. She needs to confine the dog for your sake and her own, before it gets run over chasing an animal across the road, or shot for killing livestock.

If it's on you property again you have the right to kill it for killing your livestock.

I love terriers. I have three Cairns who are obedience and agility trained, but I don't trust them around my birds unsupervised. They did help with the rat problem at the last place (favorite way to kill is the hard shake to break the neck), and had oh so much fun doing it.

My girl especially just can't help herself when they start flapping about, we have to put her up when we are catching anything, it's just too much excitement.

Very sorry for you loss.