Am I over-reacting about my Neighbor and his dog who ate my chick? (kinda a lengthy vent)

[Heat]

I've often wanted to let the chickens free roam but we are really close to the highway and a business so I fear for them getting ran over, although I have known of chickens who will go to the road but never cross (because I think the chicken was really lured across the street by bread crumbs). Our long term goal is to fence in the entire acre. Once I have that then I will feel more comfortable letting them free roam (which is part of MY goal for the fence)... there will of course be electric wire going around the top of the fence... I even joked around about putting barbed wire around the top (well... half joked).

Check your local laws about relocating 'nuisance wildlife'

The most humane thing here a live trap does for a coon is make sure the bullet cannot miss-

I am definitely going to take a look into that, or possibly keep animal control on speed dial... but my main thought was the bullet not missing... would feel bad if I just knicked it or didn't get a good kill shot (not to sound morbid).

 

[sumi]

I'm sorry to hear about your troubles. At it being a relative makes it even more complicated. But there's a point at which you must put you foot down and I think you're past that point now.
I personally have zero tolerance for other people's dogs on our property. I don't want them here and that's it. Part of the reason for that is a friend of ours that used to bring his dog round. He knew I didn't like it, but he had some excuse about not being able to leave her at home. So I told him to keep her under control, in sight and away from my chickens. One day he came round with dog in tow and I went out to feed the chickens. They free range all over and when they saw me with the food bowl they came running. I didn't realise the dog followed me until she started chasing them,causing chaos and freaking out my chickens who don't know dogs. (We don't have any). I called the guy and told him to come get his dog immediately and he laughed and said "she's just playing with them". I flipped and yelled something rather rude and to the point about him removing himself and his dog of our property. He got the message. He didn't bring her here again. He told my DH at a later stage that the dog killed a few of his chickens. And he brought her here, to our farm? Knowing that she likes catching chickens?

 

[Heat]

I'm sorry to hear about your troubles. At it being a relative makes it even more complicated. But there's a point at which you must put you foot down and I think you're past that point now.
I personally have zero tolerance for other people's dogs on our property. I don't want them here and that's it. Part of the reason for that is a friend of ours that used to bring his dog round. He knew I didn't like it, but he had some excuse about not being able to leave her at home. So I told him to keep her under control, in sight and away from my chickens. One day he came round with dog in tow and I went out to feed the chickens. They free range all over and when they saw me with the food bowl they came running. I didn't realise the dog followed me until she started chasing them,causing chaos and freaking out my chickens who don't know dogs. (We don't have any). I called the guy and told him to come get his dog immediately and he laughed and said "she's just playing with them". I flipped and yelled something rather rude and to the point about him removing himself and his dog of our property. He got the message. He didn't bring her here again. He told my DH at a later stage that the dog killed a few of his chickens. And he brought her here, to our farm? Knowing that she likes catching chickens?

It is really sad how some people don't seem to understand that they should keep their dogs under control... and they don't know how to. Which is no fault of the dogs but is always blamed on them... shame on their owners

And don't me started on uncles customers who think it is ok to bring their dogs to poop in the front of our property (large dirt area where our vehicles are parked)... Oy!

Cute avi by the way!! That chick is way too adorable

 

[sumi]

Thanks, it was so funny, seeing her like that. Luckily I had the camera at hand.
We lost a much loved hen to dog nearly 2 years ago. The dog broke lose and went hunting for something to eat, because her owner had a habit of going on drinking sprees starting Fridays and he'd only come home late on Sundays, leaving the dog tied up with no food and water. At first I was mad at him and the dog, but I realised the dog was just trying to survive and her owner was to blame.
My DH had a word with the guy (who works for my MIL) and we started taking the dog food over weekends and making sure she has water and shade. Her owner is taking better care now he realised we're keeping an eye on them. We didn't report him to the SPCA, as they routinely put dogs like her to sleep, as no-one wants them and there are too many dogs in their kennels already.
But people like the friend I mentioned...

They really should not keep animals if they're not willing to take responsibility for them. It didn't stop with his dog, his chickens were out of control, getting sick and neglected. We stopped talking to the guy a few months ago, after an unrelated incident, but we heard via the grapevine that the dogs caused quite a bit of damage to his flock. We also heard that he got rid of most of his chickens, thankfully. I did report his chicken situation to the authorities.

 

[Daisy8s]

I've often wanted to let the chickens free roam but we are really close to the highway and a business so I fear for them getting ran over, although I have known of chickens who will go to the road but never cross (because I think the chicken was really lured across the street by bread crumbs).

We live on a road that averages a car every hour or so except "rush" hour when there might be 10 per hour. Not real busy but not a lonely country lane either. My chickens range right up to the road but don't cross it. I think the occasional car scares them enough that they see the road as a danger line.

We also have tons of walkers, who often have dogs. This may be another reason my chickens avoid the road. In fact, last week a walker stopped me and said she's been walking by my house for years and she wanted to know how I trained my chickens to stay off the road. I laughed and said I guess they trained themselves.

All that to say that while I can't vouch for every flock I have found that free ranging chickens are smarter than we give them credit for. Well, let me rephrase. Natural selection culls those that aren't smarter so over time you're left with savvy chickens who pass on their skills to the next generation and you can have a flock that can (mostly) survive if given enough places to seek shelter from various threats.

There are other viable options for raising chickens. If you don't want to invest in hundreds of yards of fencing (you mentioned fencing in an entire acre!?!?!) you could look into a variety of shelters that they can run/fly to when predators threaten. You could also look into breeds that are known to be more savvy about free ranging to begin with.

Good luck. Your first priority is the uncle's dog, of course. Perhaps an object lesson will help your husband understand your stress. Once my husband oh-so-helpfully rearranged my kitchen cupboards so I oh-so-equally-helpfully rearranged all his tools. He got the point and we enjoyed a good laugh together.

 

[joan1708]

Driving around Kauai, you see ferrel chickens everywhere and all along roadsides, but you don't see dead chickens in the road. I wonder why.

 

[Heat]

Well we got a bit of our run done yesterday so now the Chickens are able to come outside (at least while I am home) without me needing to be a hawk watching over them. Yesterday they got come out and sun bathe... it's been awhile since I have heard such happy Chickens

I still need to put a cover over the top {mom is donating the PVC from her hoop house}, that should be done Friday.

It's hard to really see what's going on here, but the white shed is the coop, there are currently 3 pallets on either side of the door extending out. We stapled screen to the outside of both sides.




We ate out by the run {in the sun} so I opened up the big door... about 5 or 6 of them ended up sunning inside the coop in this spot. I walked in (without camera of course) and 5 of the Chickens were sprawled out on their sides with one wing and one leg sticking out.

Fencing in the whole acre is definitely a long term goal... and more for privacy than anything. I will probably have a bunch of hedges and bushes planted before hubby ever gets to his fence anyway.

My main concern right now is definitely uncle's dog... and I had to scare her away from our house yesterday... she didn't get near the coop where we were at the time, but uncle was no where around, so he wasn't keeping an eye on her... didn't feel like having that discussion with hubby right in front of our son so I am planning a long conversation about how important it is for uncle to keep an eye on his dog... especially if he wants to keep peace. If this situation ever improves I would much rather let the Chickens free range. We have a lot of hideaways and coverage for them to seek protection under and in. And there is a large dirt lot between our 'tree line' in he front yard and the busy-ish (50-60 cars per hour) highway.

But until then we continue to build our Chicken {and recently added duck...} fortress... and I continue to battle the war of uncle and his dog.

And thanks for the encouragement and helpful insight. And even the negative, snarky comments... helps a person remember that everyone has their own opinions and will express them given the chance. But I was able to pull *some* insight from them to help with this situation.

 

[Nicole01]

It looks great! I'm sorry it had to come to this. We initially built our run due to the dog across the street not being leashed and almost killing our cat several times. We gave up asking them to tie their dog up even though it's the law. The dog across the street is the least of our worries. It's the other dogs that will bite me too that I'm afraid of.

I still let mine out during the day all day, it's been in the 100F's lately, but I keep a watchful eye on my property. Weekends are the worst when everyone is home for loose dogs. I worry more about the hawks then dogs lately.

Yesterday I hosed a hawk out of the tree 3 times above my flock in a tree. The hawk was actually after a bluejay's nest and I could not get it to leave. It finally snatched a bluejay and left. The determination in the hawk was crazy!

Your run looks great. All the grass in your run will not last long. Which is good, sand or dirt is easy to clean. I take a cat scooper and clean my run daily. If you don't do this, it will build up and really smell when wet. Even our roof doesn't keep the rain out. I had hubby turn over the run, like the compost for fresh sand/dirt. It needs to be done again.

I'm very sorry for your loss. It should of never happened and been delt with differently then your uncle blowing it off. Good luck and your flock is beautiful!

 

[luvmychixandducks]

I saw a photo of a fence like yours in a recent post- and the owner commented that he/she was mixing in ducks (muscovy ducks to be precise) with the chickens.
If your ducks are male muscovy ducks, you may want to rethink mixing the ducks in with your chickens once they are full grown.
Male ducks get pretty physycal when covering their ladies, and male muscovy ducks in particular have been known to kill hens trying to mate with them, in the absence of their own species.
My own male muscovy has only one girl left- courtesy of coyote attacks earlier this year- and she receives all of his attentions- not split three ways as it was before- and she is getting a little frumpy and frazzled looking.
Of course, they are free ranging, and since she can fly and he doesn't, it's not all on him.
With some berry netting over the top, using the pipes you described, your flock should be safe from all but the duck already inside.

 

[Nyowpotopop]

I would be sneaky about it. If the dog is loose and wandering with the owner nowhere in sight.... And you want to "keep the peace"... "Accidentally" chase it into a neighbor's yard (not your uncle's) and call animal control from there. Report the address as your neighbor's and make it an anonymous call. Noboody will be the wiser. It wasn't "just" your yard anymore at that point and any one of a dozen people could have reported it.

I like the trap idea too. Catch the dog in your trap, bring it back the first time. Tell "uncle" the next time it goes to the pound and they'll fine him like $100... And you will do that for every $100 in chickens his dog killed. The state will make him pay up even if you and hubby can't.