Help! Neighbor’s dog killed chicks!

[jspeese]

Hello friends. I was horrified to find a neighbor’s dog INSIDE my metal brooder. (110 gallon metal stock tank) I am in OK and recently moved to a locale I just learned offers ZERO protection for losses of livestock to privately owned pets. My only recourse is to shoot the dog if it returns and file a civil lawsuit which would be a small claims case with no attorneys and only a $60 filing fee. But who wants to sue a neighbor and kill their dog?!

I am fairly certain these folks will not restrain their animals so does anyone have advice for how to best keep them away AFFORDABLY? P.S. That dog MASSACRED TWENTY NINE chicks and even when beaten over the head with a metal feeder, would not MOVE. I am totally inexperienced with this situation so advice/tips on any point will be much appreciated! Thank you!

As others said, building a predator-proof brooder and coop and run is essential. That should solve the problem, but there are some really aggressive, mean dogs that can tear into anything. If the neighbor is reasonable, talking helps. But you said you are certain they probably won't restrain their dogs. Been there, done that! My advice in that particular situation is the 3 S's (shoot, shovel, shut-up!). If you talk to them and they are unreasonable and don't do anything about the dog, and then if you are forced to do something about the dog, they'll have a pretty good idea who did it! I wouldn't bother to try to collect damages from them for the same reason. The dog sounds aggressive and mean as well as destructive; in my opinion eliminating such a dog is no loss! Although there are some noble, wonderful dogs out there, I'll admit that I'm not fond of the species in general and have no problem dealing with them if, in spite of reasonable precautions, they come on my land and kill or tear up stuff.

 

[Vicker]

We live outside the city limits under county jurisdiction. We've had dogs from two different "neighbors" to kill our chickens. Sheriff said shoot them. Animal control says we have to bring them in ourselves. We took one dog, that hadn't killed yet, to the pound twice. After the owner had to go pick it up twice, he stopped letting it run loose as often. These dog owners were not to be reasoned with and denied that their animals were on our property. We told them that the dog will be shot if it steps on our property again (Not saying we could bring ourselves to follow through). Telling them we will shoot has been the best deterrent for repeat offenders. They think we're being cruel, but we never liked them before, so no loss. A friend who saw one of the dogs carrying my chicken told the dog owner what she saw. He paid us for one chicken. We have an electric poultry fence to deter some of this and only allow free range when I can be out there with them.

 

[Bob 1313]

It is always best to try and find a friendly solution to avoid long term conflict where you live. I would definitely go to the neighbor and tell him what the animal did. Tell him in an email if you don't want to stand in his yard and tell him.

If you buy just a few posts at a time could you afford to Install a fence?. I like wood posts because you tack the wire on with staples and it is harder to lift it up at the base. But Wood at corners and for breaking long runs combined with metal posts would work too if your wire was good. I use Red Top woven no climb horse wire and nothing has pushed under that wire. My chicken wire was easy to break down by other animals.

Electric fences are great unless they get shorted out with grass then they stop working. So you are looking at devoted maintenance. I've seen animals use their whiskers to test the fence. (But it is so satisfying to watch an unwanted animal hit it the first time!) They are not cheap if you get a solar charger. Electric plug in are not too bad cost wise.

Living in a "free-range" State, a leftover from the "wild west", I have always wondered why it is up to innocents to keep other's animals from destroying their property. The "innocent" gets no benefit from the neighbor's business. No share of the profits, no free milk or meat, but it is still up to the "innocent" to contain the perceived threat.
Same thing with dogs. We have coops and runs to restrain our chickens and I can't see why it should also be up to us "innocents" to foot the bill for the neighbors's shirking their responsibility and lack of respect for others. They should have to make at least an effort to contain the dog. It is their animal, NOT yours!
Shoot 'em, but make it clean shot. The dog should not suffer unduly for their "master's" stupidity and uncaring lifestyle.
We started with the electric fence but the costs and/or upkeep just kept going up. First found that the ground here is too dry to complete the circuit for a one wire set-up. Either had to keep the ground wet near the fence or go with a two wire installation which is a bit more expensive and requires more maintenance to keep the two wires from touching each other in the very windy conditions we get here.
We have spent thousands of dollars to house feed and protect our animals while the neighbors expect a "free ride". Just turn them loose, buy a bag of Old Roy dog food occasionally and let mother nature clean-up the poop. I have no sympathy for jerks like that.

 

[LJHC]

So sorry to hear about your loss of chicks!

 

[jennihouse326]

Hello friends. I was horrified to find a neighbor’s dog INSIDE my metal brooder. (110 gallon metal stock tank) I am in OK and recently moved to a locale I just learned offers ZERO protection for losses of livestock to privately owned pets. My only recourse is to shoot the dog if it returns and file a civil lawsuit which would be a small claims case with no attorneys and only a $60 filing fee. But who wants to sue a neighbor and kill their dog?!

I am fairly certain these folks will not restrain their animals so does anyone have advice for how to best keep them away AFFORDABLY? P.S. That dog MASSACRED TWENTY NINE chicks and even when beaten over the head with a metal feeder, would not MOVE. I am totally inexperienced with this situation so advice/tips on any point will be much appreciated! Thank you!

I've had that happen to our chickens. 2 different neighbor's dogs have killed our chickens (4 of them in total - that or scared them off to the point that they didn't come back - they were free-ranging - but it's nothing compared to your 29 - ). Now, we have had to build a much larger chicken run for them to "free-range" in and we will be building a fence around our huge property (5 acres). It sucks that we have to do that, but since we live in a neighborhood that's so large, we can't go to the neighbors & tell them that their dogs have killed our chickens - because we don't even know who the dogs belong to or who the neighbors are themselves (the dogs traveled pretty far it seems like...

So unfortunately, you might have to build a fence around your property. I know it sucks, trust me, it does. But that might be a solution??? Not sure.

Anyway, I hope no matter what that you are able to figure out this situation - what works best for you & yours.

 

[lobolinda]

I'm so sorry this happened. A predator proof enclosure is the safest thing in the long run. My birds are only semi free range, for the same reason, dogs. MIne have a fenced range area, as well as a completely enclosed run and coop, because I am also rural and people are not always responsible with their animals. I have trapped them on occasion and taken them to the shelter myself or had them picked up. Since they had to pay to get their dog back, they were more careful after that. I also threatened to shoot one neighbors dogs after speaking to them more than once. The threat was enough to make them keep them home. But you can't take anything or anyone for granted, secure your animals as best you can because you cannot always predict what will happen. Since we are so rural, dogs get dumped out here also, they just show up. My current family dog was dumped in a ditch at about 6 weeks old, and we kept him.

I classify feral dogs & loose country family dogs as part of the predators in myy area. ANY Farm barn, pen/paddock I build, must keep out ALL predators for that farm animal... from hawks, ravens & owls overhead to canines wild or domestic like weasels, foxes, dogs, coyotes, wolf hubs turned loose... & felines wild or domestic from feral toms right on up to cougars & then Bear-types; Martin's, Coons, Wolverines & Bears. Your chickens outside in a trough are fair game for everything. Put the brooder/trough inside a secure garage/barn, shed or at least a sturdy dog pen with a Chain link top added or a roof built strong enough not to collapse if a large animal jumps up on it.