Free range troubles

[helene2198]

For the past 9 months I have free ranged my birds on our 2 acre property. Occasionally a hen or two will wander over towards the neighbors yard. Really, occasionally and really only 1 bird maybe 2 go down there. Recently its been snowy here and our birds rarely have left the coop... Today my neighbor asked if we could keep the birds out of his yard and we said yes.. we were going to clip their wings as soon as the weather got nicer... He said that in the last few months, his dog has had bacterial infections from eating chicken poop... and it cost over 500dollars in vet bills. We immediately clipped their wings today.. but I have to ask... should I offer to pay some of the vet bill? The dog is always on a leash,, and with the weather being bad.. Im not sure that the dog could have been exposed to a lot of feces... I feel bad,, but we also have 5 dogs.. some of which have eaten poop... which we stopped immediately of course,, and we've never had problems.. I do not want a bad relationship with the neighbors,, but I cant say for sure that our birds caused this,,, what should I do?

 

[TheTwoRoos]

I don't think the dog got a infection from it.Your's didn't,but his did?It had to of gotten it from something else.

 

[helene2198]

Thank you,, I thought the same thing,, but ... you know how tedious these things can be.... I figured if it was a sure thing ,, they would have told us sooner too... Im guessing he just doesn't want them in his yard anymore.. which we have remedied..(except for one bantam E.E who keeps eluding us..lol)

 

[b.hromada]

I don't think the dog got a infection from it.Your's didn't,but his did?It had to of gotten it from something else.

I agree with you too. My dogs eat the poop too, and nothing has happened.

 

[poorfarm]

Dogs are known for that. When I first had a dog in with my sheep I was concerned to notice that she followed the lambs around waiting for them to *ahem*. I remember asking a little old lady who trained and sold Border Collies about this, and she just twinkled at me and said "Milk duds.) Also watched a video about Maremma livestock guardian dogs in Australia, and at one point the guy said "they do eat a lot of feces". So it's normal dog behavior. Since my Maremma has lived his whole live with my poultry and hasn't ever had any bacterial infections from it, I really doubt your chickens are involved, and I would not offer to pay for the bill.

With that said however, you really do need to find a way to keep your birds on your own property or you will end up with all sorts of problems starting with losing your chickies. Chickens are death on gardens and flowerbeds, which will not endear you to your neighbors, and if you have roosters going visiting, beware the first really, really angry mother whose toddler got jumped on and spurred, or even just scared.

Best wishes

 

[helene2198]

It says in the original post that we clipped their wings.. We dont let them eat peoples gardens,, and we dont keep roosters that flog people.. Im not new to chickens.. or common sense for that matter,, I just had to ask about the dog because i havent had any problems with mine.

 

[Spookwriter]

While it certainly appears POSSIBLE that eating chicken dung can cause
an infection in a dog, so can any number of other things.

So yes, I would go with "POSSIBLE" as an answer.

But also unless that vet is physic, I see no way to say for sure, beyond
a doubt as to what actually caused the dog's illness.

I wouldn't worry much about it. But I would make every effort to keep your
animals on your property, as I'm certain you do.

Just makes good neighbors.