Danged ole do good neighbor killed my chickens!

[eggboy]

I always keep my chickens in their pen when I am gone, works for me, if something goes wrong I can go stop it. Just yesterday two of my neighbors dogs came and chased my chickens around the house and caught a banty and ripped out a bunch of feathers. luckily I heard them squawking and came out in time. The dogs were very nice to me just not to my chickens.

 

[gibsonride76]

 

[CheekyChicky44]

I feel your pain.

I had the same thing happen to me yesterday. I had three chickens (one Barren Rock, two Ameraucanas) and two Indian Runner ducks. I also have one Jack Russell that I am trying not to hate, that has a doggy door so he can go in and out of the house. The dog pen was closed and latched when I left for work, and the suspect was sitting on his pet bed. I even locked my chickens in their larger run, but they are accustomed to free ranging in my yard so the Ameraucanas jumped out. I came home to feathers everywhere and my dog running lose, the dog pen latched. Someone opened it, let him out, and latched it behind them!

I can’t think of anything else to do but call the police and try to get a warrant for trespassing. I am certain it was one particular neighbor, or her kids. I let her son pet the chickens once when he saw me putting them into their pen. He asked if he could bring his dog over to ‘help catch them’ but I remember telling him that dogs do not go well with chickens, and haven’t seen him show interest in them since. We even have locks on our coop so that no one but us can let them out. I have never left them in their larger run on any other occasion while I was away for more than an hour, and now I have only one lonely chicken.

I am furious with my neighbor and feel bad for my birds. The kids old enough to know what he was doing, and I am disturbed by their lack of concern for my bird’s lives, my property, and my dog’s wellbeing (not that I care all that much for that right now). I swear my Barren Rock was making a sad sound this morning when I let her and the ducks out of the coop.

Now I have to get another chicken for her to roost with, especially since falls coming up. I can either buy another pullet, quarantine her for a while and hope that they socialize easily, or raise chicks again like I did my other girls, but I am getting married in a month and going away for a week after that so that seems like a poorly timed task. Whats the best way to replace my chicks?

 

[inohio]

Good think the OP hadn't just taken in or fostered a dog that might have had a dangerous temperment. That little girl could have been killed going into the garage w/out knowing what was in there.

How is the girl not going to find out? Weren't these birds the 'favorite' of the little boy that lives there. If the 9yo doesn't put 2 and 2 together, she's not very bright.

Sorry that this happened to the OP's birds, but the neighbor needs to teach the little girl to knock and if no one answers, that's that. I've had parents let children waddle up to the back end of horses on my farm. You can believe that the parent's get a tounge lashing over that AND I do it in front of the kid. Kids need to be taught how to not get themselves killed... that's the parent's job.

If the OP demands compensation or not is up to her. But she really needs to let the parents know that their girl could have been in danger going into strange places like that. You could have had anything in that garage with those dogs. What if the dogs just barreled through her and knocked her to the ground to smack her head on a cement walk? How long would it have taken her mom (or anyone) to discover her?

 

[jjthink]

This whole thing is very sad.
I do think the murdered birds who had to endure utter terror right up until they succumbed and died deserve there to be some big lessons out of this for the girl's parents and the girl. Paradigm shift. One person at a time. The only way things will ever get better for chickens. We owe them that.
JJ

 

[Pele]

Quote:
Forgive my amusement, but that's exactly the same song and dance that your parents said about your generation, and the song and dance their parents said about their generation, and so on. Everyone likes to think that the world is just that many inches closer to social apocolypse for some reason.

Give the kid a break, this is an established pattern that the OP and her parents told her was ok. The OP is responsible for securing their own property and establishing rules with the child of when they can be on their property. If they fail to do so, the law holds them responsible, and rightly so. It's the same reason that you would be liable if you failed to secure a pool in your yard, and your neighbor's kid drowned in it because you never made an effort to educate the kid, or restrict access. Rather you welcomed the access.

It's really easy to point fingers at a 9 year old and accuse them of being little monsters, but I find it hard to believe that you've never done something questionable or unintelligent as a child. It's part of being a child, if you skipped that part then you arn't a human. It's how we learn.

I do agree that the child should be told in some way about the consequences though. There's no way she'll learn unless she knows.

 

[ReikiStar]

Quote:
I'm so with you too! You should be compensated AND make sure 100% that little girl knows what she did was wrong-in a nice way. Im truly sorry for your loss

I have no tolerance for children like that--more importantly parents who haven't taught their children boundaries!

X2

I would have told that kid exactly what happened and how it was NOT acceptable to come over and let herself in... Just think of it this way.. if she thinks it's acceptable at age 9 to do that.. what happens when she's 19?

X's 3. The girl deserves to know the consequences of her actions. Her parents should tell her that chickens were hurt that day. Maybe the girl could "work off" some of the damages. Learn about predator vs. prey animals and how important it is to take extreme care about protecting vulnerable animals. This should be a lesson in personal responsibility, not another "let the adults sweep it under the rug because life is ugly enough" moment. 9 years old is old enough.

 

[ReikiStar]

Quote:
Amen!

 

[inohio]

I don't think the 9yo is a monster. I do think her parents are failing her. Kids are going to do dumb stuff. The parent's primary duty is to set boundaries keep kicking them back in-bounds when they screw up.

If you want to get kids to adulthood, then you need to teach them basics that keep them alive and out of jail... Like don't go wandering into other people's homes, for instance. What if she wandered into the stall of a bull because no one was around and she hadn't been taught to stay out of places the belong to other people. I believe what happened a genuine accident, but those are the exact times that you educate them.

Like I said, I've had a parent watch HER 5yo child toddle up to the hind end of a horse, arms open going for a bear hug. I don't care how tame I thought that horse was, I would not let my kid toddle up to a 1000 pound animal, yet that parent laughed and said "aw, how cute". So after retrieving the child, that parent got the toung lashing of her life about animals and unpredictability. Had that child thrown her bear hug on the back leg of that horse, she could have been launched halfway across the corn field. I don't care if the woman hates me to this day, her child has a better chance of survival after the tounge lashing than if I'd just kept my mouth shut.

 

[ParadiseFoundFarm]

I know I'm a little late to this issue, Urban Chaos,
but I can't help but to throw in here.

You showed great restraint and compassion in dealing with the 9 year old trespasser. I applaud you as I know I would not have done so well.

But you have an injury here which needs to be adressed. These irresponsible people let their 9 year old child (their livestock) wander about on other people's property. You can bet that if the dogs bit her, the parents would be up your a**! Somehow, the laws of this country would have found you at fault for not LOCKING your private garage and FENCING your private property to protect tresspassing children!

Gratefully she was not injured. But those parents are as much at fault for the death of your chickens as if they had owned a dangerous dog and it had gotten out and raided your coop area. The child (just as the fictitious dog) tresspassed and caused emotional and monitary distress.

Have them make it right and control their "livestock" from comming onto your property and causing damage and losses.