I am so angry I was not careful enough

[cherrynberry]

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.

We have a husky (we think she is a mix) she attacked our chickens. We ALSO have a border collie and a mix terrier who are so gentle to chickens. So I agree with you there. Although none of our chickens were killed, but that was because we noticed fast enough, or they would have been.

 

[cmom]

I have chicken wire and good heavy duty netting covering the pens and I have lost my share of birds in the past, but I also have electric wires around my coops and pens and the predators know the hot wires are there. I have heard a predator test the hot wires in the past but it's a rarity. With the netting I ran short and didn't have enough of the good netting for the end pens so I bought some cheap netting online and put it up anyway thinking it would still deter any aerial predators and it seemed to work until an owl decided it could do right through it. I replaced it with some good netting and the owl tried again but this time got caught in the netting. We managed to get it into a cage and a wildlife rescue came and got it. I have posted these pictures previously.

It may not be too pretty but it works.

 

[oldhen2345]

I have a dog that loves to kill chickens- I did not know that she would. i used to take her out to the chicken yard on a leash to acclimate her. She slipped the leash and killed a hen within 5 seconds. She was so determined, I literally had to lift her off the ground by her scruff and pry the hen away from her. now, there is a dedicated dog yard and a secure chicken yard. Never the Twain shall meet.

 

[McChooky]

We have a husky (we think she is a mix) she attacked our chickens. We ALSO have a border collie and a mix terrier who are so gentle to chickens. So I agree with you there. Although none of our chickens were killed, but that was because we noticed fast enough, or they would have been.

Sorry for your loss. Hard to believe your neighbor doesn't know the dog kills chickens.

I have a dog that loves to kill chickens- I did not know that she would. i used to take her out to the chicken yard on a leash to acclimate her. She slipped the leash and killed a hen within 5 seconds. She was so determined, I literally had to lift her off the ground by her scruff and pry the hen away from her. now, there is a dedicated dog yard and a secure chicken yard. Never the Twain shall meet.

I'm in the process of building a larger run out of pallets and scrap lumber for 5 pullets and a cockerel (144 sq ft)and having to dig deep in my pockets for the materials to build it with. My own dogs would kill my chickens if I didn't make them predator proof.I'm putting cinder blocks around the bottom and 1/2" hardware cloth on the sides. Their coop and run is predator proof but its only 84 sq ft .

 

[McChooky]

I'm so sorry for your loss. I had some chickens free ranging once, and a neighbors dog got out and attacked an Australorp named Jasmine. She luckily made it through, despite nerve damage and almost being put down by the vet. I am now very careful with dogs and chickens.

One of my dogs, a mini poodle named Oliver, is fine with all the chickens except for the silkies. I guess the silkies just confuse him a bit.

Maybe if you cut their hair ?LOL

 

[oldhen2345]

Sorry for your loss. Hard to believe your neighbor doesn't know the dog kills chickens.

I'm in the process of building a larger run out of pallets and scrap lumber for 5 pullets and a cockerel (144 sq ft)and having to dig deep in my pockets for the materials to build it with. My own dogs would kill my chickens if I didn't make them predator proof.I'm putting cinder blocks around the bottom and 1/2" hardware cloth on the sides. Their coop and run is predator proof but its only 84 sq ft .

I have a 4 ft fence and had to put wire spikes on the 4x4’s to keep the hens from jumping over. I clip their wings, but they can jump that high. I have one determined hen who jumps out, walks around then jumps back in her yard. She is so lucky Penny hasn’t caught her. Maybe put capstones around the bottom so they don’t have added height to jump from.

 

[Kittys Coop]

So sorry for your loss. Horrible to have to find

 

[McChooky]

I have a 4 ft fence and had to put wire spikes on the 4x4’s to keep the hens from jumping over. I clip their wings, but they can jump that high. I have one determined hen who jumps out, walks around then jumps back in her yard. She is so lucky Penny hasn’t caught her. Maybe put capstones around the bottom so they don’t have added height to jump from.

Thanks for the suggestion! I was planning on making it 4 feet taller in the middle using landscape timbers and 2 x 4's then running a steel cable from one end to the other to support any wire or netting I use.We get a lot of snow so I'm hoping it'll have enough pitch to shed snow if I add a tarp on on end. /\

 

[Clarity1210]

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.

Oh no!We had a dog come into our yard a few years ago and kill all of our chickens accept for 2 of the youngest ones who flew into our neighbors yard.Ever since the drama it has become their special place flying over every day teaching the youngest ones to follow the example!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Oh no!We had a dog come into our yard a few years ago and kill all of our chickens accept for 2 of the youngest ones who flew into our neighbors yard.Ever since the drama it has become their special place flying over every day teaching the youngest ones to follow the example!

Clip one of the wings on every bird so they can't fly over. When they molt and get new flight feathers, do it again. After that, they should have "forgotten" that they could fly, but if not, do it the third time. Good luck!