Came home to feathers everywhere!

[marie_martin]

But so far only one baby dead. One of the newborn blue orpington babies. A stupid dog attacked my chickens and of course killed one of the newborn babies after running mama off her nest. I was gone for 30 minutes tops and came home to a dog in my run and no chickens anywhere. I found all but one of them. She is still missing. Several have wounds that I have to doctor, but at least most are safe and sound. The dog catcher came and got the dog who has puppies somewhere according to her sagging teats. She was not aggressive and I was able to catch her for the dog cather. It was a mini doberman mix I guess, bigger than most of the mini pins I have seen. About as tall as my westie. She was very hungry though, ate an entire bowl of food before animal control got here. I don't blame the dog but dang I am mad. No collar of course. The last dog that came is dead, animal control put it down because no one claimed it. I am sure that is what will happen to this dog and it is very sad. I bet she would be a good pet to someone who cared. Anyway, the second baby is back with mom and I will keep an eye on it but it has an open wound too so not sure if it will make it. What is best to put on chicken wounds? I put triple anti-biotic ointment on them. Anyway, will keep you updated.

Marie

 

[arlee453]

No winners in this story....except that the damage was no worse as far as your losses.

Sorry about your babies!

 

[redhen]

Sorry to hear about your loss!..i feel bad for the chickens and the dog also...and her pups...did they find her pups anywhere?..Wendy

 

[marie_martin]

No, we are assuming she belonged to someone and that the puppies are at a house? The animal control officer said he would let me know if they find the owner so I can make them pay for my birds if they die. So far I only had one die and one missing but some have pretty deep bites so anything could happen.

The last dog that killed one of my chickens is in doggy heaven. They put it down after not finding the owner.

Marie

 

[redhen]

well lets hope someone claims her....and they may, if she has puppies that need milk...so ..good luck..hope your little guys make it..Wendy

 

[marie_martin]

I have looked everywhere and I still can't locate the last hen. She is just gone. I am hoping she is just out there scared and will come home but it is almost dark and the later it gets the more I realize that is probably not going to happen. I just hope she is not suffering. I would rather lose her than for her to be suffering. I will update if anything changes.

Marie

 

[LuannKeller]

I've had them hide for weeks after a scare like that. When she is thirsty she will come home. I hope she is not hurt. It is wonderful that you can still have sympathy for the killer.

My neighbor's dog grabbed a hen off her nest and all her babies died from the cold. He snuck in our gate at night. It is hard to not wish him a terrible fate. The owner lets him out at night - that seems very irresponsible. When he came back for another I shut him in my fence and terrorized him. I wanted to make it a very bad memory. My kids were begging me to let him go home, but I knew it needed to a really bad scare. I never hit him but I yelled and chased and ranted like a maniac. He hasn't been back and I bet my neighbor wonders why he barks and runs when he sees me in my yard!

 

[redhen]

ooh..i feel so bad for her....and it would drive me crazy not knowing if she was suffering somewhere....my thoughts are with you and her....keep us posted..Wendy

 

[ChickNLittle]

Marie, I am soo sorry. We had trouble with dogs here too. They never got at my chickens, but they were always sneaking in my yard. Heck, we didn't know what they were going to do. One of them was half Pit. He turned out to be a very nice dog, and very pretty. So one day, we locked him in the fence and took him to animal control. Since then, they are finally keeping their fence closed and he got a new home.

I feel sorry for the dogs, as it is the owners responsibility to keep the dog inside the fence, or get their lazy butt up and walk the dog on a leash. Here, we have no animal control so everyone lets theirs run wild half the tme. But since we took that one dog off, all the dogs seem to be inside the house, or inside the fence. I have several dogs, but if they get out, I go get them asap. I have only had one get out because she was little enough to slip through the fence. She dont' chase chickens, and she don't bite. BUT it's my responsibility to keep my dogs in the fence, or go look for them. ) I sure hope you find the Hen. That would sure make me angry. In one way, I hope they find out whose dog it is. In another way I hope they don't. That dog probably deserves more attention that it was getting.

 

[SpottedCrow]

That's so sad and I'm sorry that you lost a chick and a bird...I feel awful for momma dog too..Yes I did say that...If she's hungry enough to leave puppies to fend for themselves, then she's not being taken care of properly. It was probably easiest to try to catch the chicks...even worth a peck or two on the snoot...

I hope they can reunite her with her pups. And I really hope that your lost baby comes out of hiding.