Duck Attach - uggg

[smurfboe]

Saturday morning around 6am we had two Golden Retrievers bite their way through the chicken wire on our duck pen. Yup you read that right. We believe the flock leader (we called her little mama) tried to save the other four by taking off across the back yard. She didn't make it. Our little Twirp has a puncture wound and a lame wing. Mohawk has a lame foot. Frick and Frack were our only ones who went unhurt. Needless to say Animal Control was called several times. While waiting and trying to decide if Twirp was going to live or die, the owner of the dogs shows up at our house. He gets out and asks if we had had issues with his dogs. After explaining the horror, he basically says that now his dogs are lame and at the vets to be deskunked. I looked at him and said well, I have two hurt ducks and a dead one. A bit later he says, why would you ever want ducks in the first place. I had to go get my husband at that point or I think I would have landed in jail. He got $100 fine and a threat. The Animal Control Officer told me to go buy a bow an arrow and kill the dogs if they come back. We wrapped the pen in box wire and are installing an electric fence.

Twirp was doing very well by the end of the day on Sunday as is Mohawk but the flock is now confused. They keep following me everywhere and chirping at me. I think Frick (our only male) is now becoming the leader but is determined that I need to be.

We added box wire and an electric fence. Any other ideas? I really don't want to lose another baby. They are only three months old and I raised them all from two days old.

 

[Wifezilla]

Unfortunately, dogs, raccoons and other critters can easily rip apart chicken wire. Adding electric should take care of that.

I use hardware cloth for my secure night pen.

I would submit a bill for the cost of the dead duck to your stupid neighbor too.

 

[rlhbond]

I would send the neighbor a bill for the cost of the fence repair (including you time) and the cost of replacement ducks.

 

[FenDruadin]

Sadly, I have come to believe that occasional losses are part of life with ducks.

Ours have some pretty serious protection--chain link with wire beneath and over the top, and a combination lock on the gate. No gap anywhere larger than 2 by 2 inches. I'm planning to add hardware cloth around the bottom three feet or so to prevent smaller predators from getting in there. During the day, they free range. Still, we have had accidents--roaming dogs are the worst, although since mine have access to a lake and can fly the 50 feet or so to get to it, they tend to stay relatively safe now from that. The latest incident was after we moved the pen and I neglected to secure the chain link to the bottom pole--something, probably a fox, reached right through the fence, grabbed a duck, and pulled her out through the gap he created between the chain link and the pole. I sealed up the holes again, and now they are relatively safe. But it happens.

Anyway, I completely agree with the advice to send a bill for damages. They will probably just ignore it, but maybe they'll be more careful with their dogs in the future.

I also think your pen upgrades are a great idea. I just use cheap chain link dog lots I buy off craigslist or, most recently, I've found a distributor who sells their scratch 'n dent pens for a good price. It's simple, not too expensive, and quite effective (with wire added underneath and over the top).

I'm so sorry for your loss. The first time is always really rough, and it doesn't get much easier. But you do get better at protecting them as you learn what the dangers are in your area.

Heather

 

[DuckHoney]

Is your neighbor freaking serious? What a total jerk. Lack of any moral. I agree with you, if he had said those things to me after his dogs did that I would go crazy.

He probably won't pay for your bills since he seems like a total donkey, but I would still send him the bill. If his dogs ever get into your yard again, you should trap them. Don't kill them, trap them. When your neighbor comes, make him pay for all of your time and bill before you let them go. Or else, take our your arrow threaten to kill his dogs as was told by animal control

 

[Ferngully]

I am so sorry this has happened.

I am really curious.....he stated "he basically says that now his dogs are lame and at the vets to be deskunked"

How did the dogs become lame and smell of skunk?
Did you you detain the dogs or did you chase them off and they returned home that way?

Is there a skunk spray you can hit an animal with kind of like pepper spray? (That would be so cool, owners of at large animals get to clean a stinky dog or cat, lol)

If you chased them off, did they already smell and were limping? Seems to me they were evidently causing mischief elsewhere and with other animals.

Not sure of the livestock rules in your area, if they aren't good ones I would call AC back to ammend the statement to them to include if the animals were already limping and smelled when they were attacking your poor birds, to prevent Mr. Jerk from causing trouble for you. Sounds like the type who would try, wondering if he showed up in the first place to try and get compensation for his vet bills.

UGH, some people. You could try billing him and let AC know that you are, they can't enforce anything, however it goes into their report which is admissable in court if you chose to take him to court. But I seriously doubt he would pay, even with a court order.

I get nervous everytime I drive down our road and see an animal roaming, wondering if they will find their way to my yard and into our pens. Thank goodness AC has really stepped up their patrols in our remote area picking up strays and at large dogs due to dumping, and attacks on people by them (the driver lives out here now, woohoo).