Dog problems and animal control is not helping.

[RMBGKY]

Electric on the outside of your run and coop is the cheapest option. You can usually find used stuff on craigslist. One wire about 12 inches off the ground should do it. If it were me I would try to trap them and I would take them off to the pound. If the owners were to retrieve them then I would trap them again and take them to the next city. Killing them sounds good and would be an option if you were not in a city.
You can't control predators and you can't go killing everything that comes on your property. It is your responsibility to make sure your animals have a safe place to live.

 

[Zootopia]

Living in town any kind of shooting is out of the question, except the water pistol with food coloring, I like that idea. I think electric fence would be your best and longest lasting solution along with adaquate fencing.
Sorry for your loss

 

[JenellYB]

For the first few years after I moved out here to rural Liberty Co, Texas, started keeping chickens and other livestock, I found the dog problem but found they were never ending...get rid of some, wasn't long you go out one moring and there've been new ones on a murder ramage through your chickens or other small livestock.And if it wasn't dogs, it was coyotes or bobcats or fox or possums or hawks or even big feral tomcats....always something! 40 yrs later, its still that way out here. I regularly hear packs of at least a dozen coyotes at night, not several hundred yards from my house. A bobcat took my young pet kitty right out from under my house 6 mos ago, and I've walked out on it at not 15 ft from my back porch steps one night when taking my housedog out to pee. Garbage cans require lock down for the endless supply of possums and racoons.
There's no peace of mind for it, but in building adequate housing and fencing, reinforced with electrc if neccesary. Chickens and other poultry are best locked up at night in a predator secured building/coop. That's just all there is to it, when you have those problems. You can't keep them from coming, endlessly, you just have to protect your animals with a fortress!.

 

[JenellYB]

Though for years, I did have some good outside yard dogs that didn't mess with my livestock, or that were kenned near them and could watch over them, that did help keep predators at bay....I don't have that anymore, just a house dog....that can be the answer for some people, too.

 

[Eggcitedpeeper]

No, you are allowed to protect yourself from physical harm, whether it is a person or animal trying to do you harm. This is just as true within the city limits.

By the way, who is underage?

That is a BAD idea. Whatever happens, do NOT shoot the dogs. Its not their fault, that's just what their instinct tells them to do, it's probably in their blood. There are lots of other options. Catch them, tie them up and wait for the police/animal control. Tell them to do their dang jobs and get out there or you're reporting them! Or, another thing you can do is next time they show up, chase them off, follow them home, and tell their owners to control their dogs because they're killing your chickens and if they're show up again your calling animal control (which, you've already done but they don't know that, lol). Also, you might wanna fix your coop up... Sorry about the dogs getting your chickens! I know how you feel...

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

Quote: It's not very realistic to think the dogs are going to allow anyone to catch them.

What I would suggest is call the Police Dept, or Sheriff's Office, and tell them the problems you're having.

They will advise you if shooting the dogs is legal

Asking someone who "works for the City" is a wasted effort since they seldom know the laws, but won't TELL you they don't really know

 

[SouthDakotan]

I do NOT use "chicken wire" Its not strong enough for the weakest of dogs! It is only good as a reinforced mesh along the bottom of wire panels or something of that nature to reduce the spacings of current material. Its fine behind wood slat fencing, but you can't depend on it to keep any predator as large as a dog out of your poultry. The worst name they could give that stuff was "chicken" wire!

My grandmother used it to hang on her yard fence, along the bottom to keep her hens from getting into her flower beds and the yard. But that was the full extent of us using it on the farms.

 

[SouthDakotan]

It's not very realistic to think the dogs are going to allow anyone to catch them.

What I would suggest is call the Police Dept, or Sheriff's Office, and tell them the problems you're having.

They will advise you if shooting the dogs is legal

Asking someone who "works for the City" is a wasted effort since they seldom know the laws, but won't TELL you they don't really know

I wonder, if its legal to paint ball a loose running dog? That way animal control could immediately identify the dogs involved. Especially if the paint ball gun was rigged to a lower pressure so it didn't bruise the dog, but still marked it. Can you imagine the owner then trying to say it wasn't his or hers!

Mind you I had similar issue with an owner claiming their male dog wasn't coming to our yard, trying to break into our female dog's kennel! But the animal control officer didn't buy the claims, since we knew the dog's name, not just that it was a "Big dog". The nit had the only large brown lab in the area!!! And the dog knew us, and we knew its name and behaviors. It had torn up one of our kennels before, so we weren't in the mood to have it done to another kennel and called animal control. They finally gave the owner his final warning that he keep his dog under control or it could be shot. Amazing how the dog could find its tie-out cable after that!

 

[fernwoodj9]

electric fence invest in a good fence charger if it will keep a bull in it will keep dogs out

 

[SouthDakotan]

That is a BAD idea. Whatever happens, do NOT shoot the dogs. Its not their fault, that's just what their instinct tells them to do, it's probably in their blood. There are lots of other options. Catch them, tie them up and wait for the police/animal control. Tell them to do their dang jobs and get out there or you're reporting them! Or, another thing you can do is next time they show up, chase them off, follow them home, and tell their owners to control their dogs because they're killing your chickens and if they're show up again your calling animal control (which, you've already done but they don't know that, lol). Also, you might wanna fix your coop up... Sorry about the dogs getting your chickens! I know how you feel...

Placing a few of the dead chickens at his door step when you follow his dog home can have amazing reactions too Something about dripping blood on their porch.

Animals that kill livestock shouldn't be tolerated. Sorry, but if animal control takes a full grown dog, what do you think is its fate? Its likely going to be put down.