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

[gg706]

My neighbors are like that too. We have had issues with their dog trying to dig under my fence to gain access to my free ranging chickens. He has killed chickens before at a house down the road and some guinea fowl down the road the other direction. We have called them 3 times telling them their dog was trying to get in the yard, each time they say "sorry, I will keep him home" It is fine for a couple of days or a couple of weeks then it is right back to the usual. I don't think they really want to mess with taking care of a dog that needs to be kept at home. So they just let it out and make it everyone else's problem. I do not understand the problem...it is called a fence, it easily keeps dogs where they belong...but they have never bothered to fence their property. Money is not the issue, they just don't care.

 

[Coralietg]

My acting like a paranoid rooster behaviour is paying off, just spotted one of her beige and white dogs coming down our second driveway and sniffing around. I'm keeping my DSLR next to the window from now on, to try and get a picture of her dogs on our property. Chicks are safely in their coop. I'm letting them out into the run when we are physically out there (as I had planned it to be)

 

[Mattemma]

Roaming dogs disappear all the time.

Do you think your neighbor will keep her dogs home if you show her a picture of her dog in your yard? I don't think she will care. If she did she would not let her dog roam in the first place. I detest pet owners like this one!

Sorry you have to deal with this. Me, I would need to end it,because I would get way to upset pleading with a neighbor to be a responsible pet owner. I just don't get people. I won't even let my dogs bark more than a few times.Roaming? Forget that!

Yeah,being outside is a good idea.Dogs can get into stuff,or cause a lot of damage trying!
Frustrating as it is I would trade my hawk problems for your dog ones.

 

[Coralietg]

We've only lost one to a hawk before, so I can't imagine what you are going through! Hawks are protected, right? All we need is a fence and a gun and we should be good, hawks sounds like a trickier problem altogether.

You're right too, she wouldn't care if I had a picture. It wouldn't change anything.

 

[NickW1]

If your AC Officers are not doing anything about this then they are not doing their job. Document the number of times you have called AC and contact your local politician. Trust me he/she wants your vote, make a direct complaint to him/her. Make sure you know the law too.

 

[blucoondawg]

If you want an inexpensive gun find yourself a good Ruger or Marlin 22 long rifle or even any of the older single shot 22s you see around are good cheap shooters, ammo is hard to find right now in my area though. I don't recommend a pistol unless you are an experienced pistol shooter, they are much harder to hit your target reliably. As for the dogs I would shoot them, especially if you have called Animal Control multiple times with no result. The previous suggestion of calling local politicians is a good one and may get results, I would suggest reporting the neighbor to the Sheriff's Dept. as well and presenting you pictures to them, she may get a fine for violating a nuisance or leash law. I have a neighbor who is constantly causing nuisance with loose and barking dogs, our sheriff's dept is our animal control and they won't do much of anything and act like we are being petty for calling in complaints, it is very frustrating. Now I have washed my hands of the Sheriff's Dept. I will take care of it with my rifle. Keep records of all the dates and times the dogs are in your yard or harassing your chickens so you can use that info to defend yourself if need be, also keep track of all the times you report to AC or the Sheriff so you can prove shooting the dog if need be was a last resort in response to AC refusing to do their job.

 

[littleoak]

I had a neighbor about a mile away with a roaming dog. I notified him several times about the dog bothering my chickens but nothing changed. I caught the dog and took it to the animal shelter as a stray. The neighbor never asked about the dog, proving to me that he really didn't care. Your dog owning neighbor is probably the same. I the dogs disappear maybe nothing will be said.

 

[Krayfish57]

I know exactly how you feel! All 3 of my chickens were killed in the middle of the night by either a raccoon or a fox. I couldn't believe it. The first night one was missing and I thought a human stole the bird because nothing was amiss. The next night the other 2 were gone and my neighbor saw a big raccoon with one and a fox with the other one. I cried all weekend. Blamed myself. Felt like I didn't do a good job securing the coop. Didn't do my homework before buying the chickens. They had names. I would hand feed them. I really loved those birds. Now my husband is building me a "Fort Knox" chicken coop and this time we are doing it right, but because we live in north Florida there is a lot of wildlife 12 months of the year roaming around here. I just plan to do all that I can to prevent another mass causality. I don't know how some people leave their chickens free range and they never have a problem? Maybe they are just lucky.

 

[MontanaDolphin]

I know exactly how you feel! All 3 of my chickens were killed in the middle of the night by either a raccoon or a fox. I couldn't believe it. The first night one was missing and I thought a human stole the bird because nothing was amiss. The next night the other 2 were gone and my neighbor saw a big raccoon with one and a fox with the other one. I cried all weekend. Blamed myself. Felt like I didn't do a good job securing the coop. Didn't do my homework before buying the chickens. They had names. I would hand feed them. I really loved those birds. Now my husband is building me a "Fort Knox" chicken coop and this time we are doing it right, but because we live in north Florida there is a lot of wildlife 12 months of the year roaming around here. I just plan to do all that I can to prevent another mass causality. I don't know how some people leave their chickens free range and they never have a problem? Maybe they are just lucky.

That's my biggest fear...that I haven't made my coop secure enough. My babies are going out to it next week or the week after...I'm a first time chicken mom. I can free range my chickens, but I am petrified to do so...what if something gets them? I love all six of them, but would be devastated if I lost my two favorites...Zeus and Athena. Pixie is a meanie, so I don't think I'd be as upset if I lost him. Regardless, the thought of losing any of them to a predator scares the poopoo out of me. Plus they are still so small! They are Barred Rocks, and I know that they will be decent sized birds when they are full grown, but that's months from now. They are small enough now that a hawk could just swoop, grab, and soar...without taking a breath! I have a feeling I will never get anything done around my house because whenever they are out of the coop, I'm going to be so worried that I'll never leave them alone outside!

I'm sorry you lost our babies...I hope time helps heal you loss.

 

[Debstar1204]

I'm so sorry for your loss I too lost my flock of 7 this week to my own dogs I only had them for 4 days before the dogs broke into the coop. I was devastated ( still am) I reinforced the coop BEFORE putting my new girls in it. Well obviously it wasn't strong enough. My dogs completely ripped the door off its hinges. I'm still shocked they did it ( 2 dogs) I have spent all weekend rebuilding, changing & reinforcing the coop all over again. It's absolutely predator proof now ( well I hope). I also bought 3 new silkies today but I am a little nervous. I have locked the hens inside their house & won't let them into the run/ coop part until I can watch & make sure all the cage is secure like I think. I too wasn't going to buy more as I felt like I'd let the hens down. The silly thing for me is my dogs have lived with hens for the last 6 years and never wanted to get to them. As soon as I bought NEW young chicks and bantams, the dogs were more then keen to get in.
Chin up and learn from these mistakes. I wish you all the best and hope you DO get more little ladies.. I love having hens and really can't imagine not having any...
Deb