My dog killed my ducks

[babyboy1_mom]

I am sorry for your loss.

I am up on night watch tonight, because I caught a stray cat trying to get my chickens earlier today and tonight I went out to check on them and there is the neighbors dog trying to get my ducks. I will go have a talk with them tomorrow. I don't play around when it comes to my babies and they are All my babie, no matter how old or young they are.

Dorothy

 

[bayouchica]

I'm so sorry that happened,what a bummer.

One of my dogs,Cat-dog she's a rat terrier & catahoula mix..no matter what a chic or duckling, I don't trust her around them.Just the way she looks at them & acts. I keep her fenced in the front & walk her with a harness thru the yard.When they get older,it's not a problem.

 

[amazondoc]

Quote:
Okay...........

Warning: I am going to say something harsh here!

You "can't bear to see anything locked up or caged in". So you'd rather see them dead?? That's what happens in real life. Nature is not gentle, and animals who aren't protected tend to get dead pretty quickly.

And that works both ways. Birds that aren't protected get killed by predators. Dogs that aren't protected get killed by irate farmers, or get shipped off to be somebody else's problem -- where they then tend to be killed by somebody else or shipped off again to shelters -- where they get killed by the shelter workers.

I do dog rescue. I hear statements like "Oh, I just can't bear to see her fenced" or "oh, I just can't give her the time she deserves" all the time. What people usually mean is "Oh, I just can't be bothered to take responsibility for my own animals".

I know you're upset about the birds. But don't foist the problem off on someone else, or hide behind vague platitudes about the evils of fencing. Take responsibility for keeping your animal family safe.

 

[SpottedCrow]

I'm so sorry for your losses....that's one of the worst things to happen...I'd much rather have them taken by someone for food...

 

[ruth]

Hi Henry - it's not "harsh" - what you are saying is very true. However I would rather see chickens living a more natural life free ranging even if it means getting killed by a predator. To me a short life of great quality is better than a long life of confinement any day. And, I've had total free ranging, never locked up chickens for over a year with no losses (except a broody that kept running off to her nest).

As far as dogs go - you are also correct - people who live near other people should never let their dogs roam free and cause harm to their neighbors. HOWEVER, we don't have any neighbors - just 20,000 acres of woods. My dogs are needed to roam free to keep predators away - hence no chicken losses. They stay right on our door steps until they hear or smell something then it's off barking into the woods and return quickly to take their post on guard on our steps.

I'm still hoping/believing that with a little work Lucy can be trained to not bother the ducks. I should have worked with her more on the duck issue. I had let them out every day but I always sat there with my coffee and they never came out of run very far and I can't remember if Lucy was ever right there or not. She's a quick learner, so willing to please since she had been beaten and abandoned so I'm going to try working with her with the ducks under my supervision and then if she still seems to want to get them I will have to find her a home. We will eventually have lots of animals here on our farm and we need good guard dogs that won't harm them. But a guard dog is not a guard dog if it's locked in a fence. It will do no good whatsoever. That's what happened the night the broody was killed, the dogs accidentally got locked in the fence and couldn't get out to the barn. Now I never close the gates to the pickets fences - if the chickens want to come into the yard and get into my flower beds, herb gardens, and vegetable gardens they can because they are safer there than in "the back 40" with the dogs locked in fence.

Please know in no way have you offended me or upset me. I just wanted to clarify my belief on free ranging that while dangerous - worth it for their enjoyment and mine and that we don't have dogs running lose in a neighborhood.

 

[amazondoc]

I'm not Henry, but I'm glad you received my post well.

I don't quite understand, though, why you think getting ripped apart by a predator has anything to do with a high quality of life.

Quote:
No losses *until now*. You know what they say about falling off a cliff -- it's not the fall that gets you, it's the sudden stop at the end.

It's like the lady who wanted me to adopt a dog to her one time. She insisted that she didn't need to fence a dog in because she lived way out in the country. She told me she lived on a dirt road with no traffic, and it was safe to let the dogs roam. I asked her how she had lost her previous dog. And guess what? It had gotten run over by the school bus when it came by to pick up her kids. Things happen!

My dogs are needed to roam free to keep predators away - hence no chicken losses. They stay right on our door steps until they hear or smell something then it's off barking into the woods and return quickly to take their post on guard on our steps.

So let your birds out during the day, and let the dogs out at night.​

 

[Bi0sC0mp]

ITS A DOGS NATURE TO GO AFTER WILDLIFE ITS IN THERE BLOOD unless you train them teach them other wise thats what they going to do is there way of life..and as for free range i dont care for it cause to me when you free range your basicly playing with death and your chickens ducks etc life is all..

 

[ruth]

Hi Amazondoc - sorry for mistaking you for Henry - you had quoted from my response to Henry so I didn't notice when replying.

I can't let the birds out during the day if the dogs are locked up - there are many predators out during the day. Rex chases hawks all day long as they fly close to coop. At night there are coyotes, bobcats, bears.

Is it possible that something will get killed by a predator - absolutely but that isn't saying I think it's a preferable way to die.

What I believe is you can't ever protect/control a living being 100%. Those confined get diseases; egg bound issues; prolapse; and peck one another to death and have a whole host of different issues that mine don't have. I truly enjoy seeing the chickens and ducks running all over my farm. It is a great life for them, for us, and for our dogs. I had a problem with a dog that seemed to think the ducks were the same as the other things she catches and kills with one swift bite and I need to work on that. Just as I will need to work with her when we get the baby dairy goats and the calfs and other livestock that will be added.

If I could let my children go out into the world with all of it's possible dangers, I can certainly raise livestock/chickens/ducks to do the same. When we think we can play God and totally control nature, we just make God laugh. Instead I will trust in Him. I don't know why what happened happened but I know in everything there is a learning experience and I now know that Lucy needs extra work in this area. She has a natural predator kill instinct whereas Rex has a natural guard instinct.

All in all, let's agree to disagree.

 

[amazondoc]

Quote:
Of course not. But there's a lot of territory between total protection and no protection.

Would you leave an infant out in the forest? No, of course not. Would you let your children wander off in a big city, just because they thought it was fun? No, of course not. Would you let a child run with scissors because they felt like it, or jump in an unfamiliar river just because it looked cool?

We don't just trust in God to keep our children safe, we make sure that we keep an eye on them ourselves. We protect and restrict our children in order to keep them safe, even if they tell us that we're evil and mean and ruining their lives for doing so.

Reasonable protections and restrictions are not necessarily bad things, and unrestricted freedom is not necessarily a good thing. We need to find the proper balance that will allow the creatures under our care to lead the best and longest lives possible, given the harsh realities of this world.

 

[farm_mom]

So sorry about your dog and the ducks, Ruth. I hope you're able to work with her to change the behavior. And I'm also sorry you have to deal with all this criticism after the trauma. We free range our birds when we're home, and when we're not they're in an enclosed run so they are protected from predators. I think my birds are strong, healthy, resourceful and lead the kind of lives they were meant to roaming about our property. You're doing the best you can for your birds and giving them the best lives possible.