All my sweet birds are gone. What to do?

[CaramelKittey]

Bad, Bad, BAD idea.
Good way to get shot.
Someone shows up on my door step with a gun in hand I'm not going to feel intimidated I'm gonna feel like protecting my family from an immediate threat.

Lol! I’d probably show up with a gun and probably get shot lol.

 

[MissChick@dee]

Do not have any more personal contacts with these people in any form. They have been put on notice simply by you and police and ac showing up. They should have been told the consequences of animals at large whether or not ac or cops did anythong about todays incident.

Any further contact by you may be seen as harassment or provocation. A good county agent will send them the articles of compliance/ state laws regarding dogs and livestock, their responsibility as owners and your ability and responsibility to act to protect your livestock on your property.

I am not a legal council, but I did stay at a holiday inn once.

Sad but true... those dogs killed for fun. They will kill again.
No matter where you live you can shoot a dog in protection of yourself. Especially these dogs. No questions should be asked.

 

[MROO]

This morning I woke up to a pack of big husky looking mixes and pitbulls chasing my horses. I ran outside to see that they had already torn the entire side off of my chicken coop that we had thought we built so securely (my fiance is a builder by profession). All of my ladies, my ducklings, and my sweet rooster were dead. I asked around and found out who the dogs belonged to and paid them a visit. Sure enough the dogs were all loose in their yard with blood & feathers visible on the Huskies. The owners were young boys in their 20s and did not seem to care AT ALL. Not an "I'm sorry". NOTHING. I asked if the dogs could be kept on a chain or indoors and explained that my neighbors and family have very small children and the dogs seemed dangerous. The owners just walked inside.

I called animal control and the police and both came. They, too, did not seem to care. They said the blood & feathers werent really evidence and that I needed photos of the dogs attacking. We borrowed some trail cams and put them up in case they come back.

I'm at a loss. This pack of dogs is terrorizing the neighborhood. I warned all the neighbors not to let the small kids get off the bus alone. And I miss my little birds so much. I want to rebuild but how the hell does a dog rip the side off a shed?

Anyway I'm just venting. It's been a terrible day and I'm out of tears.

Words just aren't enough, but I am SO sorry you had/have to go through this! I'm with the people who say document and keep records. Let your neighbors - all of them, not just the dog owners - know you are doing it. Others may join you. If not, at least they'll be forewarned to look out for their own pets and children. It's a shame you didn't get pics of them chasing the horses. And it's an even bigger shame that the horses didn't nail the buggers in the teeth as they ran!

 

[muddy75]

my chicken area is a converted dog run and one of my dogs is a digger! our solution to the diggin was to dig a footer about 6-12 in deep the entire perimeter of the fence and pour concrete. we just repeated that same thing along another fence we had to rebuild after a windstorm. I would say that as of now over 50% of my yard has a concrete perimeter. (to keep my dogs from digging out and predators from digging in). so sorry about your flock!

 

[Mannyromano]

So sorry for your loss.

 

[Helloworld]

Call your local news. You gave the proper authority’s notice now put them in the spot as to why they could care less about obviously dangerous dogs. Your story should not focus on your chickens yet the entire neighborhood witnessed acts done by them. Explain to them that you have been watching this pack of dangerous dogs terrorize the neighborhood, begged the police and animal control to take notice but when kids started becoming their objects of desire and now your chickens, someone has to do something and then let the public chew up the kids who own them.

I hope you took pictures of the carnage and I am so sorry for the pain you feel. You got this. Civil court for livestock and building repair may also be something the irresponsible owners may need to see in order to suffer a consequence, something not many 20 somethings do these days and share some of your pain.
Don’t give up... a new day is coming ok?

 

[The Dapper Duck]

There were a few eggs in the coop when it happened and I'm going to try my hand at incubating while we rebuild everything. I had some in the fridge too which I read is not ideal but I'm throwing them all in an incubator tomorrow after they're room temperature. Maybe I'll get a little surprise. They'd be Cochin x leghorn crosses and Cochin x Wyandotte but I don't care. Even one is worth it.

I had my very first rooster stolen, along with my best hen, and the first thing I did was borrow an incubator and took all of the eggs out of the fridge and put them in. It took me a while to source decent chickens on that island in the first place and I wasn’t going to wait again. I ended up with about 60% of them hatching healthy babies! Chin up, you’ll make it through this.

 

[Doublete]

That’s awful!
My two German shepherds have that in them... so on my property I have my horses contained via no climb wire and my chicken coop is inside a pasture.
And I never let them out of my sight.

 

[microchick]

I've been skimming through this heartbreaking thread and haven't seen this suggestion pop up.

Many years ago my parent's city home was plagued by feral cats. They wound up borrowing two live traps from the local animal control and by the time they were done, captured over 50 wild cats and a few house pets that were let run even after neighbors were warned that they would be trapping and all felines would be sent to animal control. They hated it but the animal control officer just laughed and after the owners had picked up their pets and said that they would keep their animals pinned up now because paying out money spoke volumes.

So sorry for your loss. Try not to hate the dogs. They were just being dogs. It's the owners that have issues.

 

[ChemicalchiCkns]

All of 15 IC 20 (Animal Control) is about dogs: http://iga.in.gov/legislative/laws/2018/ic/titles/015#15-20 as previously cited. Possibly also tell your State Police barracks. If they have a mail box on site, ask yr Postmaster if the letter carrier has experience.

I do not find the animal cruelty provisions, but did find out it is unlawful to colorize chicks or rabbits.