As if our dogs weren't enough

[Chickenrandomness]

my dad came in from outside and told me that Esther, our last hen, was dead. Our dogs didn't kill her, it was probably a hawk or owl hunting in the day.

great. just great. all of my first chickens are now dead. Sarah, Tanaga, Penny, Nate, Daisy, and now Esther. she had become so lovable since our dogs killed the others. she loved attention and grapes. now she is dead.

if anything gets any one or all of my 6 chicks, i'll borrow a .22 or shotgun from my friend and hunt that animal down until i kill it.

everything, and i mean everything, is out to kill my chickens

even my own brother who only lets them live because he'd get in big trouble if he so much as hurt one.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

If various predators are killing all your birds, you need to modify thier housing to protect them. It sounds as if they were much too young to be free-ranging, and/or that their fencing and coop/pen are not sufficiently secure.

If there really is an issue with your brother, speak to your parents and let them deal with it. Deliberately harming animals is very bad. (I am not talking about hunting or dealing with predators; I am referring to needlessly harming animals for amusement or anger or other inappropriate emotional reasons.)

 

[Cetawin]

I am sorry for your loss but Sonoran is right. You need to beef up security or keep them confined to a covered run. There is only one owl that hunts in daylight and that is the Snowy Owl....I am fairly positive you do not have one of those around. A hawk, eagle or falcon will get birds during daylight hours. Make sure they have a safe covered place and do not let them free range if they are small and can be easily carried off.

Let your parents deal with your brother...let them know about his behavior and desires to harm them and then trust them to handle it.

 

[Chickenrandomness]

we are planning on possible chain link fence for our next coop (we're going to modify a garden shed) the pen she was in was temporary until we got the garden shed.

hawk-owls hunt during the day to, but they also live more north of me.

my parents don't care unless my bro harms them.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

hawk-owl?

Hawks are daytime hunters; owls nighttime ones. Dawn and dusk you can find both out hunting, but dawn is more likely to be hawks, with the owls heading home to sleep, and the reverse at dusk.

 

[Baymule]

A predator can kill your chickens throught the holes in a chain link fence. You can wrap the chain link with hardware cloth, the holes are small.

 

[Chickenrandomness]

Quote:
this is a northern hawk-owl:

i found out that Esther was in fact not killed by a hawk, but my dogs... AGAIN

 

[ChickInDelight]

I am SO sorry about the dogs. Is it a jealousy problem? My own, precious, Akela was acclimated to the birds at a young age.

I also have a chicken and dog killing Australian Shepherd in my home. She caught one of my ducks one time, but a day long lecture and banishing her from my company seems to have solved that problem.

In short, my dogs have learned that the birds are our friends.

I have had to have a few recent lessons with Akela now that the mallards are flying because it is just too darn fun to catch things in the air.

Perhaps all the animals can live together with the proper training. What type of dogs do you have?

 

[chickenlovefever]

If your dogs were the ones who did it, you could try training them not to.
I started out with 6 RIRs, and then became totally obsessed and had to get more. My birds were 7 months old, free ranging everyday and put up at night. Suddenly, I had 30 some chickens, and a few were gone everyday, another one here, and another one there.......come to find out the neighbors dogs were snatching them, and my dog was homing in on them too. My father "Took Care" of 7 out of 12 of the ranging mutts. So after the neighboring dogs situation slimmed down, my dog was going after them and the next thing i know, i have lost 14 chickens. I would walk around and hold the chickens to my dog, would let them loose and watch him out the window, and everytime he would make any attempt, i would give him a good whack in the head while I was holding th chicken in his face. And after that started working, I had him sitting around the chickens, and the chickens would just peck and pecka t his black spots on his white coat. Now he is scared to death and dares to come 10 feet from a chicken.

But very sorry to hear about your loss, I lost alot of my favorite hens too. Hope this helped.