Help ! my flock was killed

[Terrip598]

Hello! I could use some info on reestablishing my flock I walked out of my house yesterday to feed my 15 week old chickens in their new coop. I hadn't gone far when I saw a pair of yellow legs, it was.1 of my red stars brutally attacked. I kept walking and eventually found 11 other bodies all mauled in the same way. I hurried to my "baby" chick coop and found my neighbors 2 terriers digging, trying to find a way into the coop. They saw me and ran. I went to my neighbors house and I was told their underground fence had failed around midnight. It was now 9 am. She called and kenneled her dogs, both of which had blood on them. Now what I don't get, is if they are kenneled trained, why weren't they in their kennel if the fence was down? It takes time to kill 11 chickens and from what remained of my roo, he put up a hell of a fight. I later found 1 survivor, a black star who is still extremely upset. She called and called for the rest of the flock all day. It was heartbreaking. I thought she might need company to help her calm down. So I moved 5 of my 9 week old chickens into the coop with her. They are BR,and BO both large birds. About dark she allowed them in the coop, but would not roost with them, she eventually settled in a nest box. Today she is not allowing them to eat, drink or be in the coop, she chases them out. My questions are: 1 should I just allow her to be alone and remove the other birds? 2.My husband wants me to also move my 9 week old Austalorps into the pen. He reasons she can't chase them all, all the time. 3. How long should I give her to calm down? I have't seen any signs of pecking, or feather pulling.My big concern at this point is my younger birds( the BR,BO,Austrolorps) are all very gentle anf friendly. I'm worried her behavior will make them skittish. Any ideas will be appreciated.

 

[lightchick]

That's horrible! I'd keep the new chickens in there with her and put more of them in with her.
It's true. She can't chase all of them at once.

 

[heartsizedfarm]

I think I'm sort of with your husband on this one. She won't like the new flock for a while, but it would be worse for her to be alone. And in time she may come to enjoy being the Devil wears Prada type madam, where she can boss them with a look and doesn't need to chase them anymore. If she's looking too harried maybe put a cat crate in the coop where she can sleep on her own. That's what my oldest girl does. She's nine and past roosting wars.

And I hope your neighbour will be compensating you for the loss of your flock! What a horrific experience for you!!

 

[Terrip598]

Thank you for the advice! We filed a report with the sheriff. And at my husbands insistence we were paid for the flock. But not what they were worth. I raise chicks and once they start laying well, I sell them. These chickens were about 3 weeks from laying. I usually sell them for $15-20 for a laying hen. didn't get near that. But I got some new chicks, my first polish, and look forward to a new group. (sigh) I had the prettiest RIR roos too.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

I am not making light of your loss, far from it. Your Black Star however has made a remarkable recovery. I say this because she is now acting like a completely normal chicken. A normal chicken imposes its will on the younger and weaker flock members. It is called the pecking order.

 

[lillieegg]

Really sorry about your chickens

 

[Terrip598]

There is a sorta happy ending to this story. We put the Australorps in with my lone survivor, now renamed "Lucky". She immediately started chasing my EE Amy. But Amy is spunky and pecked her backed. She walked over to each Australorp and looked at them. She did not peck any of them. She then walked over to the scratch I had put out and started eating and softly clucking. We finally realized she had 4 black(star) sisters. At last check they were all on the same roost, but Lucky was still apart from the rest. Thank you all for the good advice!

 

[donrae]

I think you need to pursue things further with the neighbor for reimbursement. I also sell point of lay hens for $20 and would expect to be reimbursed that amount if they were killed. I'd also be ready to SSS if those dogs show up again.

 

[crazyfeathers]

SSS is quite drastic in this situation. I am sorry for your loss. I hope the dog owners took this seriously and were sincerely apologetic. As a dog owner and chicken owner I would do everything possible to make sure that my dog was leashed, kenneled, or whatever it took. I wouldn't want to have strained relations with my neighbors and I can't imagine unless they were really sorry for what happened and were happy to reimburse you that they will keep their dogs under control. One chance is all these dogs should get. You could also reinforce your side of the fence or take other precautions in order to keep your chickens safe. Best of luck with your new flock, I hope you and your neighbors can get past this incident and still be respectful to one another.

 

[3riverschick]

Hi

I'm so sorry for your losses. happy that you have found a place to continue!
I have been trying for a while to find out what poultry were worth at different ages. One writer
opined $4.00 for every month one has them. of course that depends on hw much one has into
a rarer breed, etc. But as a general rule for regular fowl, what do you think?
Best,
Karen