Mass Murder last night

[denasfarm]

I am so sad... not sure what to do today.
two dogs got into the yard, into the chicken coop, and then into the closed/sealed chicken house about midnight last night. My dachshund barked and then I noticed my outdoor dogs barking so I go out to see. I then hear the chicks screaming and run to the chicken house to find these dogs mauling my 3-6 month old babies and one of our rabbits.
I try to go in to stop them but they come after me, I snatch one baby sitting by the gate and shut it back and run back to the house to get my husband who is not hearing me scream at this point. I get him and his gun and we run back to the chicken house where the dogs are still killing. They both charge at us at the front of the coop and my husband shoots them.

I called the County police to come out and file a report for damages.
Does anyone know the Livestock Law in Alabama?

I took the dead dogs to the vet (after finding the owner info and taking a bunch of pictures of both dead dogs and carnage) for them to hold the dogs and then myhusband called and left a message on the owners phone to go pick up their dogs from the vet and call us. (We didnt mention they were dead)

So Out ALL of my babies I have 4 left! 1 Lavender, 1 Red and 1 White Silkies and 1 white Ameracauna.

I lost 21 silkies... Grey, Lavender, Buff, Red, White and Partridge
11 RIR and 9 RIW and 3 Ameracaunas...One was Blue and Peach colored, one Red and the other was the one I was asking about a few weeks ago thats eyes were on sideways... we named it gecko AND my daughters favorite NZ Rabbit.

So what do I do next? I am so miserable!

 

[texaschickmama]

Wow, I'm so sorry for your losses. I'm glad you didn't get bit yourself. You did the right thing.

 

[andehens]

What a horrible night for you! How sad for you, you did the all the right things.

 

[buck-wild-chick]

Im so sorry for the loss of some of your birds. Mabey it will teach the people to be more resposnsible in the near future..

r.i.p chickies

 

[ruth]

I am so sorry. I know you must be devastated. How terrible and scary it must have been. What kind of dogs were they and how did they get in the "closed/sealed chicken house"?

By the way, your husband sounds like mine - never hears a thing. I don't know how many times I've been outside, sometimes late at night, and yelling for him to come help and he never hears me. I always have to come in and get him. Me, I hear the chickens if they even cough.

As to what to do now - just cry and grieve and then pick yourself up, clean up the mess, and get more chickens.

Also continue to press charges against the neighbors and get them to pay for it all.

 

[SandraMort]

I am SO sorry

 

[denasfarm]

Quote:
They were 60lb or so black dogs, I would guess lab mix's...I dont know how they got the door open. But I KNOW I shut it tight. I had even gone out to check them at 10pm and all was fine.
So SAD...Yesterday a took the cutest video of them all dust bathing together in a groupie pile that I was going to post today but I just dont want to watch it right now.

I do have some more in the Bator but those were special...My keepers... you know what I mean?
(Edited to say that some of those silkie colors will be hard for me to replace since they were bought and not hatched here)

 

[ninjapoodles]

Our regulations about losing livestock to dogs can be found online somewhere--call your extension office or your state livestock commission and ask them to direct you. Here, people are pretty much automatically awarded 7 times the value of the livestock killed by someone else's dogs, or that was the case the last time I had an issue and checked.

 

[Chirpy]

There just aren't the right words to tell you how sorry I am that you lost so many wonderful chickens. You did everything right and still lost them, please don't beat yourself up over this. Sometimes life just stinks!

I'm glad you were able to get away and not be bitten yourself and that your husband was there to stop the dogs.

I hope the owners will be responsible and pay for all your losses and I hope they are sincerely remorseful that this happened.

It was good to get all the documentation that you could and to call the police and get the vet involved.

Good luck. I'm really glad you got that video of them that day. Sometime you'll be ready to sit and watch and smile again.

 

[orange tomato]

I share in your loss. You certainly did the right thing, don't forget to give your husband a nice hug for coming to the rescue! I know laws are different in different states, but in IL, unfortunately all you can get from the trespassing dogs owners are the dollars you paid for your livestock.

Don't be surprised if the chickens that you have left show some signs of shock. I had a raccoon take out 3 of my chickens before I was able to trap and have a friend destroy it. My other chickens stopped laying for about 4 days, but finally things got back to normal.

Thank goodness you got rid of those dogs or they would be back again on another killing spree, just like the racoons do once they taste chicken.