I Just Lost my ENTIRE flock:(****

[riverchicks]

I'm so sorry for your loss!

 

[Chickenberry]

Ugh, I'm sorry to hear this too! The word I felt was "violated" when coons took 4 of my hens a month ago. I was pretty angry to say the least. Our little jack russell terrior thinks she would like to get the chickens but anytime she harasses them, she gets a spanking. I know that dogs are being dogs, but they can learn. Recently one of our newbie hens flew out and was in the yard, Bella had her cornered but wasn't trying to hurt her (it didn't seem)... I tend to think if we hadn't have been trying to train her since she was a puppy that chicken would have been a goner! There were some great suggestions on here on how to "toughen up" your coop for the future. Please don't give up!! They are SO worth it!

 

[MMwallace02]

Thank you all so much! i knew I could find support here! You all are wonderful. I traipsed through the woods a good bit more today with no signs of them. Our back yard is very thickly over grown and really there could still be some lurking around. I was only able to find about 7or8 spots where a chicken for sure perished so I am holding out hope that they are hunkered down under the briers somewhere and will resurface soon. I put some more food out for them so i guess we will see. I am keeping the dogs inside for now.

To better clarify my dogs actually chewed through the electric and then the chicken wire. I see now hardware cloth would have been a better investment in the beginning. I never knew of anyone doing anything but chicken wire.

My dogs are a lab mix, a mini pinscher mix and a blood hound/walker hound. The walker will literally check the fence several times a day. not just to get after the chickens but to try to climb the fence and get out. Walker hounds are notorious climbers, we even had to electrify the gates. Its like a federal penitentiary back there! The pinscher is pretty persistent as well. The lab mix seems to always allow the others to get her into trouble but sometimes I have a sneaky suspicion that she is actually the one instigating the madness! She is, after all the alpha.

These are such good ideas you all have come up with. I am going to start laying out plans for the re build. Our run actually has a top as well. We have lost a few when they were smaller to hawks when we let them out in the yard so a top was essential.

Thanks again for all of your support and I am still curious if anyone has had good luck breaking dogs of killing chickens.

 

[Noymira]

Quote:
I'm very sorry for your loss. I would be very upset as well.

I'm glad you can take the advice and support here and make another try at it. You have been given some great suggestions and hopefully they will help.

I know I've seen threads on here about training dogs to not kill chickens, even after they've done so, do a search and you should find them.

Best of luck to you!

 

[NYRIR]

So sorry for your loss

I'm glad you are trying again. It's trial and error and a learning process. Hope all goes well with the new flock

 

[NannaD'sCrazyCoop]

I feel for you - I lost ALL of my first ones to predators...I now have 15 and all are doing well. Using the drop cloth is the best ever. I am anxiously awaiting for our hens to start laying - Any day now!!!
Good Luck!

 

[pdbantam]

Chicken wire is mostly useless if you have any kind of threat of predators. Once dogs have experienced a killing spree it is unlikely you will ever convince them it was a bad thing. Get some hardware cloth and build again. We have all kinds of critters where I live. Coyotes, raccoons, dogs, hawks... you name it. My chicken pen has hardware cloth on all sides including roof and floor, held up by posts set 2 ft in the ground. The only thing I worry about is a snake.

Sorry for your loss

 

[Iowa Roo Mom]

Sorry for your loss...

The solution is training, training, and more training. My dog, an American Pit Bull terrier, got along fine with my birds, and you know what people say about bullie breeds, especially pits.

Anyhow, if you want to restock your flock, I would definitely put some time into training your dogs.

 

[ladyride]

We have 5 dogs they are fenced to the front yard they have just over an acre. The chickens have the back yard they have Fort Knox coops & runs , hardware cloth everywhere chainlink you name it . We decided to spend the money up front , but we did have a predator hit us 3 weeks ago made off with 5, but they were free ranging unsupervised we have since learned better. There has been coyotes & fox around here some are no more the neighbors generally take care of them . They still free range but are supervised now with my little shotgun handy .
Rebuild but use diligence use the hardware cloth , keep an eye on that fence electric, make an apron .
so sorry you are going through this

 

[jpcode]

I remember what my grandfather did after my dad's black lab puppy killed a chicken. he tied the dead chicken to the back of the neck and head of the dog for a couple of days in such a way the dog could not get it off. Ater that the dog would not go near a chicken. I am sorry to say but chickens are a little low on the food chain. I have lost chickens to pigs, cats (when they were small) horses, especially welsh ponies, rats, racoons, possums hawks etc.
I am sorry to hear that you lost the entire flock, but I would expect that they did not eat all of them. Chickens will travel a long way. We have wild bantaams that I see that I see from time to time that cover a 4 to 6 square mile area around us.