Guilt ridden over deaths

[furbabymum]

My husband received 6 white rock chickens for his birthday in March. Since then we bought 21 chickens and 2 turkeys to make a total of 30 poultry. Every night I would go out and close off the "coop". I was doing it more to keep the chicks warm than to keep anything out. To be honest the thought of anything getting my poultry never crossed my mind. We have 4 big dogs who have made such a sanctuary of our property we are having massive problems with rabbits, birds and ground squirrels. The past week had been warm so I'd not been closing off the "coop". Friday night was pretty busy. I went out around 8pm to check the chickens before going to bed. Several were clustered into the smaller dog house that sits in the pen and I moved them over and put them under the light with the others. When I left I closed the top gate latch but didn't bother with the bottom. They were officially too big to fit through the crack left by not closing it. I went back inside and cracked the windows to get some fresh air. I then went to bed.

During the night our St Bernard (must have) opened the window enough to fit out. He and the Great Pyr were found outside the next morning. My son and I went out a bit later with a bucket of chicken feed. When I rounded the corner there were corpses everywhere. They hadn't really eaten anything, seems they just killed them for fun. 3 survived by hiding underneath the "coop".

It was ALL me. If I hadn't moved those few into the main coop they would have survived as the dogs couldn't have gotten into that one. If I had closed the coop they couldn't have got to the chickens. If I had closed the bottom gate latch they wouldn't have been able to push it open to get to them. If I hadn't cracked the windows the dogs couldn't have jumped out. I'm still devastated about this. Seems so silly. My husband keeps telling me we were going to kill them all eventually anyway. I just keep thinking about how terrified they must have been. I can't even look at my dogs.

 

[furbabymum]

Our "coop". It is the dog run and dog houses that existed before we bought our property. We have plans to build a coop ASAP.

 

[PamelaTX]

Don't be so hard on yourself! We all look back at times like this and say.."If only...". I agree with your husband. Don't worry. Just take it as a lesson learned and try to be forward looking. And don't be angry at your dogs. They were just acting on instinct. They weren't being vicious are even doing anything to displease you. I'm so sorry this happened to you. I do understand. I'm sure it was VERY disturbing to find the chickens that way. But you must quit beating yourself up about it. Best of luck to you and listen to your husband!

 

[bj taylor]

gosh, really sorry about your chickens. i know exactly how you feel. because of me, my one year old german shepherd killed 10 of my 14 birds. while i knew it was my fault (i forgot to close a gate), i was still so mad at her. i didn't want to see her or talk to her for a couple of days. i wasn't sure i would ever feel the same about her.
i've gotten over it. the funny thing is that she has not gone near the coop since that happened. not that i trust her, i don't, but before, she was always sniffing around the coop.
i've since gotten five more to replace what i lost. i'm in the process of trying to integrate the two groups - that's another story.

these things just make us more diligent. lessons learned.
good luck with your future w/chickens. forgive yourself & forgive your dogs.

 

[CarolJ]

It happens. Don't be hard on yourself. We've all done stupid things when it comes to our pets and chickens. Not because we don't care but because no matter how much we read and learn about it, there is still a lot we don't know. Consider it a learning experience - and move on.