I went out this evening-- wait, last night now-- to warm up the car so I could go pick up my son. I then went over to the yard/pen gate to go check on my chickies. Ever since the opossum incident, I make sure there are only four chickens, safe in their coop, no squatters, and that the little pen is closed up. [We have a coop with attached run, and about a quarter of the backyard around that, as a fenced in yard, so they can free-range without pissing off the woman who lives next door, who made it quite clear last summer that she didn't "want (my) chickens to come onto (her) lawn EVER again, because I've lived here for twenty-seven years, and I pay taxes!"] I walked the path through the snow around to the gate, and as I reached for the gate, I heard-then-saw something. (I had the same half-second of disoriented disbelief as when I saw the 'possum in the nest box, but this was worse.)
There was a DOG, a Husky-type dog, in my chickens yard! I hesitated reaching for the gate; I know that dogs can bite strangers, and it didn't know this is MY yard. But it didn't bite, in fact I think it sorta licked my hand as I unhooked the latch and it let me continue. I think I howled or maybe even screamed when I saw my Red and Penny, (my Rhode Island Reds) dead in the snow outside the little pen. "You killed my chickies!?! Nooooooo!" I wailed to the dog. I looked beyond, and thought I saw Henny, my Barred rock, lying in the pen, but I wasn't sure about Kallie. That's when I ran into the house, hysterical, and scared my other half -- he thought at first maybe I had been attacked or something. He followed me out, and back to the chickens. We both looked, and realized that yes, all four of our chickens are dead, two in the outer yard, two in the inner one. None were in the coop, but I think the dog may have even gotten in there, as the board covering the three nest-boxes (where they've perched at night) was askew, like maybe it had been bumped, pushed out of alignment.
So many emotions: Sad (my poor babies), bereft (all gone), confused (where did it come from,who let him out?) angry (darn mutt, , with no registration tags!) guilty (I didn't check on then make sure they were safe earlier in the evening), and more. But now I'm like a wrung out rag, and it's only a few hours until the police officer (animal control) comes on duty. I had called our P.D. to ask if it is a crime, an unregistered dog killing someone else's pets.
There was a DOG, a Husky-type dog, in my chickens yard! I hesitated reaching for the gate; I know that dogs can bite strangers, and it didn't know this is MY yard. But it didn't bite, in fact I think it sorta licked my hand as I unhooked the latch and it let me continue. I think I howled or maybe even screamed when I saw my Red and Penny, (my Rhode Island Reds) dead in the snow outside the little pen. "You killed my chickies!?! Nooooooo!" I wailed to the dog. I looked beyond, and thought I saw Henny, my Barred rock, lying in the pen, but I wasn't sure about Kallie. That's when I ran into the house, hysterical, and scared my other half -- he thought at first maybe I had been attacked or something. He followed me out, and back to the chickens. We both looked, and realized that yes, all four of our chickens are dead, two in the outer yard, two in the inner one. None were in the coop, but I think the dog may have even gotten in there, as the board covering the three nest-boxes (where they've perched at night) was askew, like maybe it had been bumped, pushed out of alignment.
So many emotions: Sad (my poor babies), bereft (all gone), confused (where did it come from,who let him out?) angry (darn mutt, , with no registration tags!) guilty (I didn't check on then make sure they were safe earlier in the evening), and more. But now I'm like a wrung out rag, and it's only a few hours until the police officer (animal control) comes on duty. I had called our P.D. to ask if it is a crime, an unregistered dog killing someone else's pets.
