Chicken killing dog

houdanqueen

Chirping
Jun 8, 2016
41
33
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I feel absolutely horrible :(.
I usually let the chickens out in the back yard to forage during the day, as its fenced in and quite large. Two evenings ago, I put all the hens back in their coop early so I could let the dogs run around. I must have counted one of the hens twice, because two seconds after I let the dogs out, my dal grabbed a hen that was hiding under the deck. She only had it for a second, and thank goodness her leave it command is starting to improve as she did drop it right away and it ran off screaming.
Looked the bird over, and didn't see any obvious damage besides a few missing flight feathers, so figured I got lucky.
Unfortunately I came home from work today and that hen was dead inside the coop :(. We're doing a chick-topsy on her tonight, but I'm guessing she had internal injuries.
I feel just rotten about the whole situation and need to get it off my chest.
We also lost our favourite hen, Chickoletta last night. She's the only hen that free ranges the property, as she's a Houdini. She didn't come back to her coop last night, and I haven't seen her since. Have a sneaking suspicion some fox had one heck of a meal :(.
What a crummy day today has been!
 
That's a hard loss. My daughter's dog has killed several of our chickens over the last 4 years...and it never gets any easier.

With your second loss, those are the worst because of the not knowing...here's hoping that she turns up.
 
I'm really hoping she just went broody and is off in the woods somewhere, but it's not likely as she's never gone broody before and is 3.
We knew this was probably going to happen eventually with Poor Chickoletta as she's not protected like the others, but it's still a big loss. She was such a sweet chicken and so very friendly :(.
 
Oh my goodness!!! Chickoletta came back today!!!! :)
Not sure where she's been, and she looks a bit ragged and is scared, but no obvious injuries.
I was out working in the yard, turned around, and there she was!!
We've decided to keep her in the barn until we can build a covered area for her. She's an escape artist, and the other chickens hate her for some reason, so she has just been roaming the yard lately. We really don't want to lose her again.
What a great day it's been!!
 
Happy to be home!
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