Rant #2
Since I moved all but a few chickens in December, I have had nothing but trouble. I moved close to 25 chickens. All my birds are healthy, thankfully. We made it through the Dubois County A.I. problem and did great over the winter. I don't even remember my exact number of birds, since they were moved as I could grab them at night from my parent's house. Some birds were a year, some were two years, and a couple roosters were around 3 years.
Sometime in Dec/Jan I had a coyote problem. If I wasn't home to lock up the coop, I would end up losing a bird or two. One night about 5 went missing. Some nights I work until 9:30-10. I put up a trail camera to see what was going on, watch patterns, etc. My DF brought over a trap and I set that every night. Since then I hadn't lost any at night. A large male fox had been coming around, but I think he figured out he can't get to them and has moved on. During the day, if I am home, I definitely know when a hawk is around...there is a ruckus outside! They have plenty of cover, so that isn't a huge threat.
Roxy, my good girl, (sorry, for gushing on her, she is just really starting to get into the whole LGD thing and loves it!) barks and chases off anything that breathes. Sometimes in the middle of the night, it drives me crazy, but she always has an ear on alert.
Now for my biggest problem: I rent my house from someone I kind of work with. She and her husband are pretty cool, a few years older than me, and have a couple kids. They had no problem with me having chickens and whatever else at the place since it is the country. Mostly everything is going good aside from some repairs that need to be done, that sadly, I need a man for...He is trying to get over and do things when he can, so I'm alright with that. They moved to a house just over the hill (I could walk there). They have two outside dogs that roam freely.
Up until a couple weeks ago, they never came onto my property...that I knew of. Two weeks ago, I lost a couple birds without a trace. No coyote/fox/raccoon tracks. And they went missing during the day. Right now I am working a straight 8-5 schedule, so I have been opening the coop when I leave in the morning and closing it up around an hour after I get home. I am hoping after an interview this week, I get to continue this schedule, which is in a different dept. and I love it!!
This last Thursday, Roxy starts barking as soon as I open the door, so I go out and investigate. It is one of my landlord's dogs. He's just nosing around the property. Roxy tries to let him know he's not welcome, but he thinks she's playing. I decided to not open the coop, and put food and water inside. I fired my .22 to get him to go home. He left and I went to work. I let my DF know and he said he would visit later in the day. He texts me at 2pm and said he was too late. The dog had torn through the coop door and throughout the morning, had successfully killed 3 hens and two roosters. I got home at 5:30 and walked around my whole yard and there were feathers EVERYWHERE. I could see each bird's coloring. I was bawling by the time I walked in the coop to see who I had left.
Friday, I didn't let the rest out again, I put concrete blocks up so nothing could get in. Friday, everything was good, even though the dog came by. I love having a trail cam up!
Saturday morning, I am working on some things at my computer, which is right by the back door. I start hearing crazy chicken sounds and swing open the door and a chicken is flying into the house with one of the dogs hot on her tail. He has feathers in his mouth. I let her stay wherever she landed and grab the gun. BOTH of their dogs are here, trying to get chickens. Now at this point, I have one rooster, 5 hens and my sweet Mille Fleur left. I fire off shots and I am screaming! Roxy takes off, I don't know where the chickens are, if there are any left. At this point I am steaming and I shouldn't have a firearm in my hands. So I go back in and get dressed, grab my phone, and my handgun, just in case. I call for Roxy, but she isn't coming out of wherever she is. I have a GPS tracker on her, so I follow that and find her hiding underneath a big mess of fallen trees in the woods. It took a half hour to coax her out and to come back home with me, poor girl! So we walk around the yard and the coop. 2 girls were in the coop, and 3 were under the coop. (I was going to get some more blocks to close the underneath up, now I am glad I didn't, because it's low enough that only a rooster and smaller can squeeze under there) One girl is in the house and one is missing. I am not happy. I get the hen from the house and check her over. She was behind the couch... Feathers missing, but no damage.
I texted my parents because I was planning on going over there and getting the last of the outside supplies and do some laundry. I told them I would be there much later and what was going on. Then I texted my landlord and explained what was going on. Just this week I have estimated a loss of $150. Some of my chickens are RK/
TSC, but many are/were from my friends here on BYC. I have driven all over the lower half of the state for some of these birds. A friend of theirs that I am working with right now mentioned that a couple weeks ago that they mentioned a couple dead chickens showed up in their yard. So they have known about this for weeks and haven't said anything!!!!! When I texted him and told him the dogs were up here, I have trail cam photos of them and I am losing all this "money/chickens" because of them, all I got as a response was, "Yeah, I need to do something with the dogs, they'll kill anything." No, I'm sorry, or take some money off the rent, nothing. I am so furious right now!!
Does anyone have advice or suggestions on how to handle this situation? I went to Home Depot and bought stakes and good fencing, and I have an automatic door on the way, spending yet more money. I am doing all I can to save my birds and keep them protected. With the weather getting warmer, I am able to get more done outside with security, it's just getting enough money saved for doing more.
It's 12:15 AM on Tuesday and I'm just taking a break from grading--midterm grades due today. Last term I was finishing up posting my last class and the dreaded deadline hour came--at 1 minute after I received an email from the registrar's office telling me that my grades were late.
