Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[drstratton]

My heart breaks for you. And yes, almost all my losses have been when we are away. It’s frustrating.

Thank you!
It's extremely frustrating.

 

[drstratton]

In general she will get compensation of ~$5/bird. They are considered livestock by the law and you only get compensated for the cost of a generic replacement chicken.

Kill someone's dog though......

Yep, they really can't/ won't do much and we also just have no idea who's dogs they are. One day the owners will wonder what happened to them, if not us, someone else will take care of it.

 

[drstratton]

I’m coming up with names for the game bird clan.
-Chick-fil-a
-Gizmo
-Elsa
-Esther
-
-
Work in progress

Love those!

 

[rural mouse]

In general she will get compensation of ~$5/bird. They are considered livestock by the law and you only get compensated for the cost of a generic replacement chicken.

Kill someone's dog though......

3 S principle.

out in the woods....

 

[ChicoryBlue]

Thank you! Yes, it's just so senseless and avoidable. There are so many 5 acre plots around here, we have no idea who owns the dogs. Sadly over the years there have been some that never made it back home. It sounds like at least one of these was very aggressive and growled at my son and came towards him, he was finally able to chase them off. He and his family are staying with us for a few months. My DIL is a travel nurse. He grabbed one of our shotguns when he realized what was going on, but grabbed one that wasn't loaded. He's prepared now if they show up again. Our grandbaby's are 5 & 2, they like to play in our yard. We can't allow aggressive animals to be there.

I’d like to encourage you to get after the dogs. The word will spread.
We had two dogs repeatedly come through here a couple of years ago. A big wire haired German hunting dog with a Labrador pup in tow. We too have a lot of small plots around us, so I began a perimeter search and just kept asking everyone. Finally got to a house of a homesteading family where the husband is very serious about hunting and trapping. The wife took the livestock issue seriously too, so they wanted to be responsible. I think the kids probably let the dogs out unwittingly. Haven’t had a problem since.

 

[Ponypoor]

In general she will get compensation of ~$5/bird. They are considered livestock by the law and you only get compensated for the cost of a generic replacement chicken.

Kill someone's dog though......

Farmers are permitted to deal with ‘feral’ dogs as they are for here. My neighbour has dealt with many such dogs. Tough lesson for city people to learn of their Shepard is out chasing the dairy herd.

Or my horses.

 

[Ponypoor]

3 S principle.

View attachment 4176672out in the woods....

View attachment 4176674

Yep.

Burn the collars

 

[ChicoryBlue]

I’d like to encourage you to get after the dogs. The word will spread.
We had two dogs repeatedly come through here a couple of years ago. A big wire haired German hunting dog with a Labrador pup in tow. We too have a lot of small plots around us, so I began a perimeter search and just kept asking everyone. Finally got to a house of a homesteading family where the husband is very serious about hunting and trapping. The wife took the livestock issue seriously too, so they wanted to be responsible. I think the kids probably let the dogs out unwittingly. Haven’t had a problem since.

@drstratton I’ll add this: going around telling all your neighbors about this problem advertises that you’re serious about people keeping their dogs under control. That can help prevent future losses.

Also, dogs are a danger to people - as you mentioned, particularly small children. Where a township has animal control laws, uncontrolled dogs present insurance issues if a town does not enforce them.

I did something like this around our bicycle riding years ago, when dogs seemed to be loose in every other yard, roaming all over the hill, and giving chase. It was an incredibly common and accepted practice here to not control one’s dogs. Every ride, we had to either speed away or stop and dismount on an emergency basis usually, and sometimes fought off dogs with our bikes. Then one day I got bit. Dog bites are dirty, with deep punctures difficult to clean, and a crushing component which is very painful. I went to small claims court for the ER bill and got compensated by the homeowners insurance.

For the next two riding seasons we warned folks who came out to their yard after the dog(s) about the danger to people - and to the dogs themselves getting killed by a car while pursuing us, which happened to my partner on a motorbike - and told them they needed to control them. Then I followed through and did call the animal control officers (multiple towns) on repeat offenders. Where the dogs were alone and particularly vicious I just went right to calling the officer. They gave warnings out, and nobody had their dogs confiscated that I know of, but it was an effective campaign. Haven’t had much of a problem since then.

Even if you get tiny compensation for your poor chickens, a town court appearance might light a fire under the town board, especially if they get proper advice from the town’s attorney & insurance agent, who are probably all local people too. They should take action before a kid gets a bite in the face.

Rant tax:
Everyone wanting to eat a bit before I hang the feeder.
Isabel / Lizzabel is the darkest one, she's at about 2 o'clock here. Still holding her own and growing. Her buddy is about the same size as her, I think she's to her right, at the top. In fact she may have a bigger frame than the buddy. The other three are all bigger.

 

[TOMTE]

Beauties! Orchid appears to have a rose comb

Glad I read ahead I figured you'd have the answer

This is a relatively common "defect" (?) with the rose comb, isn't it? An inverted spike or something like that?

 

[Sylvester017]

Ya don’t they all - and seems to cross the species boundaries also doesn’t it?!


A young Roo I rehomed - Sir Shirley
View attachment 4175908

Don't you mean Sir SURELY I won't forget this sweetie