Flock wiped out

[Sally8]

I am so upset. This morningour three barnvelders were great, right before lunch we looked out to find two big dogs had torn into the coop and killed them all! We have tried to be so careful, and the coop is in our fenced back yard! My hubby is beside himself. Not sure what we will do now... But if we get more we will have to rethink our pen since apparently a large dog can rip right into it!

I'm so very sorry about your chickens. We have chain link (4 ft high) but the top isn't covered. It keeps our dogs out and our dogs keep other dogs out. It won't stop other predators though. We are trying to come up with a better solution but the run is 42 by42 ft square. I thought maybe we could start covering a little at a time. It will have to be fencing of some sort as we can sometimes get a lot of snow.
I'm not sure where you live, but if you are interested, I'd be glad to give you BCM eggs that come from an excellent bloodline. Funny, in the spring I'm going to be looking for quality Barnvelder eggs. As you said, they are difficult to find (locally).

 

[clcarpen251]

I'm so very sorry about your chickens. We have chain link (4 ft high) but the top isn't covered. It keeps our dogs out and our dogs keep other dogs out. It won't stop other predators though. We are trying to come up with a better solution but the run is 42 by42 ft square. I thought maybe we could start covering a little at a time. It will have to be fencing of some sort as we can sometimes get a lot of snow.
I'm not sure where you live, but if you are interested, I'd be glad to give you BCM eggs that come from an excellent bloodline. Funny, in the spring I'm going to be looking for quality Barnvelder eggs. As you said, they are difficult to find (locally).

That's so sweet of you! We actually are quite far away - South Alabama! I'm not really sure yet what direction we are going to go in at this point. Its strange to think you can be almost heartbroken over chickens! I think we may wait until spring if we decide to start over, and not sure if we will continue with the Barnevelders or not. They sure were pretty and we loved them, but we had a REALLY hard time getting our hands on them!

We actually stapled a layer of chicken wire on the top of our pen (my hubby had wood nailed between the support poles at the top, this is what he stapled to). When we had chickens years ago one day we noticed a chicken hawk (what they're called around these parts) stalking our chickens, but once we did this we had no more problems. In fact, several times we caught the hawk sitting on the corner post of the coop, but he couldn't figure out how to get to them, so it seemed to work really well!

 

[Sally8]

That's so sweet of you! We actually are quite far away - South Alabama! I'm not really sure yet what direction we are going to go in at this point. Its strange to think you can be almost heartbroken over chickens! I think we may wait until spring if we decide to start over, and not sure if we will continue with the Barnevelders or not. They sure were pretty and we loved them, but we had a REALLY hard time getting our hands on them!

We actually stapled a layer of chicken wire on the top of our pen (my hubby had wood nailed between the support poles at the top, this is what he stapled to). When we had chickens years ago one day we noticed a chicken hawk (what they're called around these parts) stalking our chickens, but once we did this we had no more problems. In fact, several times we caught the hawk sitting on the corner post of the coop, but he couldn't figure out how to get to them, so it seemed to work really well!

The offer will still stand. People mail eggs every day but I've never bought or sent any. There's always a first time for everything. I love my Marans and I've never come across a better temperament chicken but Rosie our turkey keeps us very entertained. 6 weeks ago we had a hawk swoop down in the chicken pen and she attacked the hawk. We never saw him again. I'm sure its only a matter of time as winter is coming and if we get any snow, that predators will come knocking.

 

[Farmgirl1971]

So sorry for you flock loss.

I would be worried for small children if you have wild/roaming dogs that will tear into a coop for the chickens. Our yard is chain link and then we have our girls in a HenPen that keeps out dogs, and coyotes. We do however have a hawk that lingers and then at night we have opossums and raccoons. So all free ranging must be supervised outings.

 

[KingBardRock]

I feel your pain. I have lost 10 of my flock in the last 2 and a half weeks to a fox that just wont go away. I had 31 total and now I have 20 hens and 1 rooster. I am ordering more so that they will be big enough to go outside once the weather gets nice again in the spring (I live in CT). I hope that you report the dog attack and hopefully you got a good look at the dogs. Maybe you will see them around again and be able to narrow down where they are from.

 

[clcarpen251]

The offer will still stand. People mail eggs every day but I've never bought or sent any. There's always a first time for everything. I love my Marans and I've never come across a better temperament chicken but Rosie our turkey keeps us very entertained. 6 weeks ago we had a hawk swoop down in the chicken pen and she attacked the hawk. We never saw him again. I'm sure its only a matter of time as winter is coming and if we get any snow, that predators will come knocking.

Thanks, I appreciate it so much! I will definitely let you know if we decide to go in that direction - I've always heard marans are a great breed and lay beautiful eggs.
Really wish I could've sene that hawk when your Rosie attacked it! LOL

So sorry for you flock loss.

I would be worried for small children if you have wild/roaming dogs that will tear into a coop for the chickens. Our yard is chain link and then we have our girls in a HenPen that keeps out dogs, and coyotes. We do however have a hawk that lingers and then at night we have opossums and raccoons. So all free ranging must be supervised outings.

Actually, I haven't let my kids out back much since Sunday - my 10 year old I think could fend them off, but not my 6 year old, especially with his broken arm!
The portion of our backyard we use is chain link fenced, but apparently the dogs found a "weak spot"... which just happened to be near the chicken coop. Behind the fence, a big portion of our lot is overgrown with brush, trees, etc. It is definitely time for us to find someone willing to finish cleaning off the rest of that lot so we can see what's back there!