Do you ever feel like calling it a day? *Just caught a dog*

[Coralietg]

We've had such a horrendous year when it comes to chicken raising. We lost 7 fully grown chickens in January to a raccoon attack. I was heartbroken. We ordered straight away from McMurray, because feed stores weren't carrying chicks yet. The first box arrived from McMurray, half of the chicks were dead. More died the next few days, until we were left with only 2, out of 28 or so. Another box shipped, most survived. I got chick fever, got some more chicks from TSC a long the way. I had 42 chicks, I was happy with that!
We had trouble with a neighbours dogs in the past, so off I sent my partner to Lowe's to finally get everything for a fence. $1,800 later, fence is in progress around our acre. In the meantime, he put up a metal fence to create a 1200sq/ft pen, because I wanted to let our now 9 week chicks free range during the day, while we were out.

Monday, he left for work. For some crazy reason, he let the chicks out into the pen. Two hours later, I got up, went out to feed them and as I was approaching I saw a feathery lump. And another lump. I don't remember much more after that, but the pen was full of my poor poor dead baby chicks. We had 38 outside, only 4 were still in the brooder in the house (a picked on leghorn, two tiny bantams and a crooked beak bantam).

I stormed up the road in a fury and followed feathers to her property, with her two little dogs running around outside. I have no proof it was them. We have 4 survivors, out of all the ones that were outside. I never thought I could be so sad over chickens, but I'm crushed to the point of insomnia. I'm haunted by the terror they must have been in their last moments.

I apologise for the essay, I just had to get it off my chest, and this is the only place I know people would understand.

I'm really feeling like we should call it a day. We have two little girls who love the chickens, but I feel like a negligent chicken murderer. Other people have said they were "only" chickens, so I should get over it. I miss them all though.

 

[ellie32526]

We've had such a horrendous year when it comes to chicken raising. We lost 7 fully grown chickens in January to a raccoon attack. I was heartbroken. We ordered straight away from McMurray, because feed stores weren't carrying chicks yet. The first box arrived from McMurray, half of the chicks were dead. More died the next few days, until we were left with only 2, out of 28 or so. Another box shipped, most survived. I got chick fever, got some more chicks from TSC a long the way. I had 42 chicks, I was happy with that!
We had trouble with a neighbours dogs in the past, so off I sent my partner to Lowe's to finally get everything for a fence. $1,800 later, fence is in progress around our acre. In the meantime, he put up a metal fence to create a 1200sq/ft pen, because I wanted to let our now 9 week chicks free range during the day, while we were out.

Monday, he left for work. For some crazy reason, he let the chicks out into the pen. Two hours later, I got up, went out to feed them and as I was approaching I saw a feathery lump. And another lump. I don't remember much more after that, but the pen was full of my poor poor dead baby chicks. We had 38 outside, only 4 were still in the brooder in the house (a picked on leghorn, two tiny bantams and a crooked beak bantam).

I stormed up the road in a fury and followed feathers to her property, with her two little dogs running around outside. I have no proof it was them. We have 4 survivors, out of all the ones that were outside. I never thought I could be so sad over chickens, but I'm crushed to the point of insomnia. I'm haunted by the terror they must have been in their last moments.

I apologise for the essay, I just had to get it off my chest, and this is the only place I know people would understand.

I'm really feeling like we should call it a day. We have two little girls who love the chickens, but I feel like a negligent chicken murderer. Other people have said they were "only" chickens, so I should get over it. I miss them all though.

I am so sorry for your loss. I know it won't make you feel better, but I lost my first order of chicks too. It was many years ago and I was young and pretty stupid about chickens. I did not prepare a proper place for my baby chickens and they all died within two or three days. Some froze to death and others were eaten by coyotes. I felt so horrible but I was determined not to repeat those mistakes again so I spent a few months reading and learning all I could about raising chickens before I bought any this time. I know you are frustrated and probably angry too, but please don't give up. Set your mind to learn from this experience and vow that you won't let those things happen again. Of course you can't help it if your chicks are sick or dead when they get there, but maybe there are some other things you can do to prevent the dogs from getting the chicks again. Dogs will be dogs and some dog breeds are natural born chasers. I have seven dogs and we have had to take extra precautions to keep our own dogs from killing our chicks. My sweet dogs turn into crazies when they see the chickens outside in the chicken yard (we gave them their own space), but the bottom of the fence is concreted so they can't get under it, the top is covered with plastic bird netting so owls and hawks can't swoop in and snatch them. They may be only chickens to some people but I care a lot about all my animals, feathered and four-footed alike. I am sorry for your loss.

 

[Keltara]

Oh Coralie. I am so incredibly sorry for what has happened. That is just terrible. Every last bit of it. I can't even pretend to imagine the pain you must be feeling. I know that this is so cliché, but time really does heal these wounds but you have a lot of grieving to do in the mean time. I wish there was something that I could say that would help to take away some of the pain and horror. Anybody who keeps backyard chickens KNOWS that they are not "just chickens", but instead beloved pets. I am just so sorry. I will pray that God help you and your little girls in the grieving process and help all of you to move forward. That He help you to see that this was not your fault, but instead the fault of your irresponsible neighbor. And that most of all, all of those precious chickens are happily chasing bugs and eating greens in the most beautiful place imaginable...heaven.

Kelly

 

[Coralietg]

Thanks so much for replies. It helps a lot, I got all teary (in a good way). When I first found them all, we found two survivors straight away, they had got out of the gate and were hidden under the shed. Yesterday, I found 2 more that had crammed themselves behind stored fencing. As silly as it sounds, finding those 2 really helped.

The chicks have a coop and run, secured with hardware cloth. I asked the other half to put the run up, which is 2"x4" 4ft high galvanized fencing. The "gate" was only made out of a wooden lattice board. They weren't supposed to be in it unattended, after all. My memory is unfortunately hazy as I threw myself into a panic attack, but the gate was pushed in slightly at the bottom.

He is in the process of building a 4 foot wooden fence that will be backed with the same galvanized fencing. This should be enough to keep the small dogs out. I'm tempted to ask him to let them out early on Saturday, and sit around the corner to wait. I'm quite furious with the neighbour. I hate this whole situation.

 

[BGMatt]

The main reason I came in here and commented was to let you and others that experience set backs and think about "calling it a day" is don't, it happens to everyone from rookies to old timers. I have had poultry for 19, going on 20 years (have not hatched anything in the last 3-5, but never not had birds) and have experienced many setbacks. Raccoons killed 300 chicks in one night, that almost caused me to quit, but I learned to make pens predator proof and make sure younger birds can't sleep in piles anywhere a paw can reach through wire. I've had entire flocks of a breed virtually wiped out by disease back in the day when I still medicated, I learned to not medicate and breed from weak genetic stock. I got a nice start in White Leghorn Bantams last year and mysteriously lost them a few a night in what I thought had been a secure pen, that's how I learned we had mink in the area that would dig under a pen and fit through a 4-5" space.

Sometimes bad things happen when raising chickens. The longer you stick with it though you realize that they are just set backs. 9 weeks is very young for birds to be free ranging without adults. Sorry for your loss on birds but you'll learn from the experience. It may be hard to see with the grief but being furious with neighbor does nothing, even if it were the dogs...that's what a dog is going to do, especially most small breeds were bred for vermin control and without training chickens are just vermin to the dog.

Chickens are just that, chickens. They're livestock, and once you think about them as such, you enjoy your time with them more and learn from lessons such as these. Keeping a cool level head will help with the process significantly. And it sounds like you learned a lot with the new fencing and pens, this will make you a better poultry person and look forward to seeing where you go from here.

 

[Mattemma]

Sorry for your loss. I feel frustrated dealing with illnesses and the hawk I can not kill.

You will learn from this as you have from the other experiences. Get more chicks and move on. As for the dogs you are wasting your time with the neighbor even if you did have proof.Anyone who lets their dogs roam does not care what they do.SSS or take them somewhere. I don't give roamers a second chance.Best wishes with the new batch. I am acually thinking of getting a few chicks too.

 

[Coralietg]

Thank you both We've only had chickens since 2009. We would lose one on occasion, but I've never experienced the wipe-outs we've had this year. It's terrible knowing that so many others have been through it.

I went out to check mail today, and two dogs ran out from behind the coop. One from the across the road neighbour, the other one headed across the field to another neighbour. It's infuriating. The chickens main coop is completely secured with hardware cloth so they couldn't get to them. The pen we built, was supposed to be for supervised free-ranging, as the chicks were very young. I don't know why my partner let them out, but I'm not dwelling on it anymore. People make mistakes. I'm finding it hard not to let anger at the neighbour consume me. We've had chickens killed by her dogs before, and she genuinely doesn't care. She actually seemed amused by me being upset when her dog killed a rooster of ours a few years a go.

I put an order in with Meyer for the end of the month. We have chicks brooding in the house keeping our little crooked-beak company

 

[MontanaDolphin]

Shoot. Shovel. Shut up.

The animal control officer here in my county told me that if I catch the neighbor's dogs even ATTEMPTING to get at my chickens, that it is MY RIGHT to shoot them dead. My babies aren't old enough to be outside yet, but we've caught the neighbor's dogs a dozen times near the coop, trash cans, and just making our land their home...and we've only been here since January 19th. It's bad enough that I'm going to have to worry about "natural" predators like coons, possums, skunks, coyotes, and the pair of red tailed hawks that soar overhead...I don't need to worry about a careless neighbor's pets as well.

I have never shot anything in my life. But if I catch those dogs threatening my chickens...they are gonna be six feet under. Period.

 

[shmccarthy]

We lost our first order of chickens, there were about 25 of them. All of them were full grown too a groundhog dug under the coop and into the fence and we didn't notice until it was too late. A raccoon went through the hole and under the fence and somehow got into the shed too. And killed about half of them, it didn't eat a single one. We were so devastated. We filled up the hole and buried the chickens that were killed. The next night he dug back under again and killed the rest of them, including my favorite bantam, snowflake. We still don't know why the raccoon was so determined to just kill all of them and not eat any but it took a lot of work predator proofing the coop.
They aren't "just chickens" either. They're members of the family and it is very upsetting when we lose one.

 

[shmccarthy]

Shoot. Shovel. Shut up.

The animal control officer here in my county told me that if I catch the neighbor's dogs even ATTEMPTING to get at my chickens, that it is MY RIGHT to shoot them dead. My babies aren't old enough to be outside yet, but we've caught the neighbor's dogs a dozen times near the coop, trash cans, and just making our land their home...and we've only been here since January 19th. It's bad enough that I'm going to have to worry about "natural" predators like coons, possums, skunks, coyotes, and the pair of red tailed hawks that soar overhead...I don't need to worry about a careless neighbor's pets as well.

I have never shot anything in my life. But if I catch those dogs threatening my chickens...they are gonna be six feet under. Period.

I agree with you. I live in the woods so I too have a LOT of predators that come for the chickens. A few nights after I put my new chickens in their coop a raccoon visited. Luckily I had the place so locked up, he only got on the roof of the run. The next night he came back, and I shot him dead. I've killed probably 30+ raccoons trying to get my chickens. We have a pack of coyotes that love nearby and one night I went outside, and my rooster saw me. He got excited and crowed. Immediately after, I heard the coyotes start yipping. They were in my yard! I turned my truck on and they ran off.
The only dog in the neighborhood I worry about is the neighbor across the street. They have a border collie and that dog is mean. My younger brother was walking on the road and it ran out of his yard and jumped on him and bit him on the face. I'm an animal lover and I'm going to school to be a vet but if I see that dog anywhere near my yard, it's a dead dog.