Dogs!! Help!

[OvertheHenHouse]

Pip's chicks :

yes the next house is far away from where I was shooting! LOL I woud never be unsafe with a firearm...but I do feel bad killing a dog that is just being a dog when I feel it is the owners responsibility!

Good to know about the neighbors

And I'm with you about the dogs - they're just doing what comes naturally...I sure would feel bad about killing them...​

 

[harveyhorses]

Electric fence. It is not the whole answer, but it certaily discorages things.

 

[nzpouter]

Pip's chicks :

I went out with a pistol and shot in the air to scare it away and it did, but noticed it had ripped a whole in the chicken wire. Then this am again the dogs went nuts and I thought the dog was back.......well it was two different dogs looking at the coop trying to figure out how to get in??!? My question is what can I do to keep these predators out!! Any suggestions or advice would be much appreciated.

aim lower...​

 

[Ksane]

Hot wire gets my vote also. It's cheape and very effective. You can make a perimeter around the chicken pen/run and use 3 strands. You'll be able to easily step over it but coons, dogs and foxes will get the zap they deserve if they try to get to the chickens.

 

[dainerra]

Arkansas law is pretty straight-forward. Dogs that attack livestock/poultry can be shot on sight. A lot of areas in AR don't have leash laws, so it is legal for people to let their dogs roam at will. Verify with you local police to be sure that you don't have any local laws against discharging a firearm.

 

[9Catsz]

I had a couple of dogs attacking my chickens every morning for a week like clock work. Running them off did no good so I coaxed the smaller beagle-type one to me and attached a note to his collar:

"If I see these dogs on my property again, you will NEVER see these dogs on your property again."

This was in May..... I guess it worked because I've never seen those dogs again. OF course, someone else could have shot them because some of my neighbors also have chickens and they asked me if I'd seen these particular dogs.

 

[Marion565]

Pip's chicks :

..........but I do feel bad killing a dog that is just being a dog when I feel it is the owners responsibility!

I felt the same way, until they took out my whole flock. And then they came back for the three that got away the first time. These dogs will be back!​

 

[Queen of the chickens]

I feel your pain. Only it's my own dog who is the problem. If we are with her she doesn't even go near the chicken coup, but every few months she will sneak out when someone comes in the house unnoticed and then she goes into killer mode. It only took her 2 or 3 attacks last year to annihilate our entire flock. I was angry, sick and frustrated and vowed to not raise anymore chickens until we found the dog a new home. Since I really love the dog, I resigned myself to an empty nest.

However, my DH decided that all we needed to do what build a better coop/pen. We enlarged the pen and built it out of cattle panels. We then lined the panels with chicken wire and zip-tied the chicken wire to the fence. We built sturdy gates and when the locks proved insufficient (RIP little White Crested Polish and Pearl Leghorn) we double latched them with safety latches. We even covered the top of the pen so that the chickens can't fly out and coons, owls, hawks, etc. can't fly in. We were feeling pretty confident as the pen was predator proof until this past weekend. That's when the dog was accidently left outside for around 45 minutes.

When I realized she was missing, I knew right where to look. Sure enough, there she was in the pen. I must have caught her just as she got in there as all chickens were still sleeping on their roosts. We looked all over to figure out how she got in. She didn't dig under, or push through a gate, or somehow climb the fence. There was one spot in the corner where she had pushed the chicken wire back. That means that our 50 lb., very furry Samoyed managed to squeeze through on of the squares in the cattle panel. We measured it. It was 7.5 inches by 4.5 inches. I still can't believe she did that! If I hadn't seen the proof myself, I never would have thought it possible.

We will be adding electric around the coop and pen in the very near future!

 

[ca]

Pip's chicks :

Yesterday my German Shepherds that are inside the house went nuts....the chicken coop is visable from inside...to find a black lab diggin at the chicken coop!! I went out with a pistol and shot in the air to scare it away and it did, but noticed it had ripped a whole in the chicken wire. Then this am again the dogs went nuts and I thought the dog was back.......well it was two different dogs looking at the coop trying to figure out how to get in??!? I was so upset and just thankful that I was home and caught it in time before my beloved babies were killed. My question is what can I do to keep these predators out!! Any suggestions or advice would be much appreciated. I can barely sleep now knowing that 2 days in row I have had to scare dogs away. Thank you.

I lost 13 roosters to a canine attack. After that I installed a low impedence electric wire at the bottom of my whole coop & run. This will keep any predator from digging under my 6ft tall no climb horse fence. It delivers a good shock (just to scare them off)! May they come! It will be their last attempt at ever getting to my chickens again.


(sorry, I am not having a splendid spelling moment)​

 

[hensofhallora]

I have always found a hotwire or electirc fence to be a great dog stopper. you can buy a small, solar powered unit for a few hundred. depends on what you want to spend and how much piece of mind you want. Once a dog has had a good shock they will always remember. If you are not at home for hours a dog has got a long time to spend trying to work out how to get into your girls. I tried all sorts of heavy duty wire and ended up spending the money on the energizer anyway.... good luck