I am so angry I was not careful enough

[BigBlueHen53]

I'm sorry too. Have you spoken to the owner of the dog? If it were my dog, I would want to know, and would offer to pay for replacement hens. I would REALLY want to know that my dog is not to be trusted around chickens! You'd be doing her a favor, even if she doesn't offer to make it right.

 

[Matejka]

Everything likes chicken.. many times, dogs see chickens as fluffy play toys, other times as food. I NEVER trust any animal around chickens.

 

[wamtazlady]

I do have some good news. I kept the herding dog here for the night just in case I needed her. Let her out this morning and she started to bark and bark which is not normal for her. Told her to "show me" and she led me to the rooster. He was outside the fence. I opened the gate and told her to get him and she did!! She is a great herding dog. Randy is now locked up in the run with his remaining hens.

 

[wamtazlady]

I'm sorry too. Have you spoken to the owner of the dog? If it were my dog, I would want to know, and would offer to pay for replacement hens. I would REALLY want to know that my dog is not to be trusted around chickens! You'd be doing her a favor, even if she doesn't offer to make it right.

Kind of a strange situation here. The son of my neighbor and owner of the dog is a kind of relative. He is Gary's, my late significant other's nephew. He won't be paying anything but when I need chores done around here he will be called. He knows he owes me.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

I do have some good news. I kept the herding dog here for the night just in case I needed her. Let her out this morning and she started to bark and bark which is not normal for her. Told her to "show me" and she led me to the rooster. He was outside the fence. I opened the gate and told her to get him and she did!! She is a great herding dog. Randy is now locked up in the run with his remaining hens.

Is the herding dog a border collie? If not, do u know what breed? I have "classic" lgds that guard my chickens, but also a cattle dog that is my best protector of all. She is 13 now, has arthritis and has lost her hearing, so im in the market for another herding dog type. Probably gonna go with border collie, but interested in your input. Dogs can be a chicken's worst enemy, but can likewise be their best protector, thats for sure.

 

[cmom]

So sorry for you loss. I'm glad your male is safe. One of our daughters moved where she wasn't allowed to have pets so we took her walker hound. She never bothered the birds but did keep the predators away. After she passed we saw more and more predators and had some losses. I beefed everything up for protections from predators. I'm not interested in getting another dog. Most of our life we have had dogs but now we're at the age that a dog would probably outlive us. If I was younger I probably would. Good luck...

 

[wamtazlady]

Most of our life we have had dogs but now we're at the age that a dog would probably outlive us. If I was younger I probably would. Good luck...

In Montana there is a rescue group called Tails As Old As Time. They only deal with senior dogs. The organization also pays for all the medical bills of these senior dogs. You supply the love. Many of their dogs come from people who pass away before their pets or need to go to a nursing home. I worry about the dogs outliving me. They are 3 and 4 years old. I have to last at least another 10 years. If I had known about the Tails As Old As Time group sooner I would have gotten a dog from them rather than another rescue.

I had to have a dog or go crazy during the long Montana winters. My Significant Other passed away 4 years ago. The house gets awfully lonely sometimes. I tried not having a dog for 1 winter. I can not imagine doing it again.

 

[wamtazlady]

Is the herding dog a border collie? If not, do u know what breed?

Zip is a Hanging Tree Cow dog. I like her and she is the only herding dog I have ever met that I really do like. She lives to herd. Since her owner sold her goat herd Zip has been rather sad. The only thing she gets to herd is putting my chicken back in the coop after their couple hours of free ranging the yard. She is upset if the chickens have gone back into the coop before I get out to lock them up. Zip visits me regularly and knocks on the door to let me know she is there for a visit. When she is done I open the door and let her out. Then I call her owner to tell her that Zip is on the way back.

 

[Jajika]

Lost 2 of my birds yesterday, a hen and my rooster. This area has a lot of predators. After a few rebuilds on the coop I made it predator proof, except for a bear if a bear would want in it. Coop has a run that has a roof and a 3 foot hardware cloth apron. Yesterday a neighbor was here. Her son's dog knew where she had gone and came over. I didn't think much of it. The dog is very calm, had been here once before, and he was raised around chickens. I let him go out into the yard. The chickens are let out around 6 in the evenings to they can have some free range time and locked up at 9. Yard has a 5 foot fence around it.

I went outside to put the chickens in and was met with a yard covered in feathers. The Leghorn lost 2/3 of her feathers but she is alive. She made it back to the safety of the coop. The Speckled Sussex had little damage. We found her on the porch behind a piIe of wood. Found my poor EE hiding next to the fence and behind a lilac bush where she thought she might be safe but she was dead. Randy the rooster is gone. Did not see any of his feathers in the yard. There is some hope that he made it over the 5 foot fence and is hiding. Had a neighbor's herding dog that has often herded the chickens back into the coop for me look through the bushes and tall grass. She could not locate the rooster at all. She's a good girl and actually found the EE for me.

I trusted that a dog that was used to chickens would be okay with my chickens. I thought wrong.

Over the years I have dealt with the loss of my birds. This I did not expect. I thought I had done everything I could to keep them safe. Just made the one bad decision to let a dog that had only been to my house once before go out into the yard when the chickens were out. Other neighbor dogs have been in the yard without a problem and have never messed with the chickens. Anyway, this is a remind to myself that there is always room to be more careful.

That sucks! No other way to say it. FYI--my first chicken yard was made with chicken wire and chicken netting. Big, big mistake. I lost several girls to hawks and raccoons. Tore it all down and rebuilt it with hardware cloth, top, sides dug down a foot and flared out. I have a door that locks and their coop are in the yard. The yard is 75 x 25 x 15. I also let them our onto the grassy part for a few hours every day. Lesson learned. I call it Chicken Alcatraz.

 

[McChooky]

Lost 2 of my birds yesterday, a hen and my rooster. This area has a lot of predators. After a few rebuilds on the coop I made it predator proof, except for a bear if a bear would want in it. Coop has a run that has a roof and a 3 foot hardware cloth apron. Yesterday a neighbor was here. Her son's dog knew where she had gone and came over. I didn't think much of it. The dog is very calm, had been here once before, and he was raised around chickens. I let him go out into the yard. The chickens are let out around 6 in the evenings to they can have some free range time and locked up at 9. Yard has a 5 foot fence around it.

I went outside to put the chickens in and was met with a yard covered in feathers. The Leghorn lost 2/3 of her feathers but she is alive. She made it back to the safety of the coop. The Speckled Sussex had little damage. We found her on the porch behind a piIe of wood. Found my poor EE hiding next to the fence and behind a lilac bush where she thought she might be safe but she was dead. Randy the rooster is gone. Did not see any of his feathers in the yard. There is some hope that he made it over the 5 foot fence and is hiding. Had a neighbor's herding dog that has often herded the chickens back into the coop for me look through the bushes and tall grass. She could not locate the rooster at all. She's a good girl and actually found the EE for me.

I trusted that a dog that was used to chickens would be okay with my chickens. I thought wrong.

Over the years I have dealt with the loss of my birds. This I did not expect. I thought I had done everything I could to keep them safe. Just made the one bad decision to let a dog that had only been to my house once before go out into the yard when the chickens were out. Other neighbor dogs have been in the yard without a problem and have never messed with the chickens. Anyway, this is a remind to myself that there is always room to be more careful.

I had a Husky that killed anything and everything when he got loose so I rehomed him.The funny thing is he never killed mine.