Bad Dogs! Bad Owner!

[Firefighter Chick]

The owner is me. This is what happened.
My dogs, who have been allowed with the chickens in the yard for weeks, caught a pullet today and ripped the feathers from her neck and back. I heard barking and came out to see a pile of feathers and one dead-looking pullet cowering by one of my dogs. I flew out of the house and picked her up and she started squacking. I scolded my dogs (lab mixes) to their kennels and quickly set up a hospital crate in the coop with fresh bedding, some towels to lay on, some vitamin water and food. I trimmed up the surrounding feathers and blukoted the areas. She looked pretty shocky, but did eat and drink. I feel SOOOOO guilty that I didn't see this coming. My younger dog is only a year old and she was barking and hopping around. I'm thinking she was trying to "play" with her buff colored feathery squeek toy. Needless to say, they are staying in their coop/run from now on when the dogs are out. So far my dogs hadn't touched the chickens, just chasing them from time to time...which i SHOULD have clued me in to future trouble.

My three year old was with me at the time and saw what happened. He loves his chickens, picks them up, and cuddles them. he was very concerned about this pullet. When I first saw he I thought how am I going to explain that I have to put her out of her misery. Hopefully she pulls through. I already had blukote (I bought it for THE DOGS!) so I didn't have to go out and get anything. I also put a blanket over the dog kennel so she can get some rest. I'll keep you all updated on her. I hope this pit in my stomach goes away. I should be happy, I got my first egg three days ago and have gotten one egg a day since. DARNIT!

 

[KandiandJerry]

I'm sorry that this happened....hope she makes it....

 

[melodie_a]

That is a hard lesson to have to learn.

Good luck with your injured hen, I hope that she recovers nicely.

 

[EMAW]

Good luck with your hen.

 

[mrpekinduck]

Oh I hope she pulls through!

I'm glad you punished the dog that did it but it was just doing what dogs do. Good luck with you're hen!

 

[dainerra]

you can start training and can likely get the dogs to ignore the birds when you are there to supervise, but dogs are animals and chickens are fun. Even though I trust Rayden 110% when I am nearby, I never let any of the dogs around the chickens unattended. One moment of temptation can undo years of training and result in dead birds.

"Leave it" and a good solid recall are the 2 things every dog should know.

 

[heatherindeskies]

I'm glad you told us about this... maybe your honesty about it can help others who have dogs that are playful toward the birds! It may prevent another attack. Good luck with your bird. I'm going to the Faribault swap meet this morning!

 

[jay83]

Hope your chicken gets better soon.
Your not on your own, i was at work and my other half went out to feed the chickens some worms and our younger dog went out with him, he was happy just looking at the chickens, then the next minute jax had the Betty in his mouth but once adam got hold of him, he drop Betty, betty was ok, just a bit shaken up, Bettys starting to gain trust gain.
As you can imagine i wasnt happy.
Now both Betty and Doreen are doing really well, there like round fluff balls, lol.
So we was taught a big lesson that you can never trust another animal, no matter how placid they maybe.

 

[lvchicken]

While I was training my two Dobermans to know that the chickens are pets, not food, one of the dogs, Xander, decided that he liked all of the chickens, but the rooster. He would chase that poor rooster all over kingdom come. And once, Xander caught him. He picked him up and took him to the back of my yard.....and licked and drooled ALL over the poor guy....needless to say that my rooster was completely soaked. But not one bite mark. I bet yours will pull through, chickens are very tough.

 

[Mommy 2 Wee Ones]

I hope your chicken recovers.

My Chiu/Jack Russell mix (Sophie) got a bit exuberant today and chased Clara my Light Brahma. Owl our roo heard her call & came to her rescue, and chased Sophie. Sophie knows to stay out of Owl's way when he is not happy, but he has no problem sharing treats with her in the yard. So for Sophie's punishment, she has to wear her collar (which she hates & gets all mopy when she has to wear it.)

So she is laying somewhere outside, by herself.

What I think is odd though, the older 10 chickens will let Sophie eat with them & not chase her away when treats are given. But if any of the 5 younger come to get treats, they are chased away. There is 2 weeks & a month age difference between the older 10 & the younger 5, and they were all together for over a month before we got Sophie, who was 7 weeks old when she was introduced to the chickens.