My entire flock of 55 have been killed or injured...crushed!

[chickencrazyinHT]

I have seen the most horrific sight ever. I came out to find a bulldog and German Shepard at my chicken coops. I saw feathers on the ground and knew it was bad. I ran them off and nothing prepared me for what i saw. we have 6 different coops and they had managed to tear into every one and it was a bloody chicken massacre. About 55 Chickens were killed or injured. They were ripped to shreds and piled on top of each other. some were barely breathing and bleeding and it was awful. This happened yesterday and we had to shoot 8 more today from big open wounds, broken legs, and some were lifeless and barely breathing.

These were our 11 year old sons business. He wanted to get into chickens and sold eggs. We have so much time and money invested in different breeds and we are heart broken. They were our pets. Our chickens had different personalites and loved being around us. Those dogs managed to tear through a layer of chicken and hog wire and kill everything we worked so hard for. Irresponsible dog owners cost us so much heart ache and grief. We are all so broken and saddened at our loss. I love chickens but I never want to experience this heartache again. We are trying to make a decision of whether to start a flock back. It makes me want to give up bc why work so hard for something that an animal can take away from you in a snap. We miss them so much. They brought us so much joy. Devastated is not the word...on a better note, they came back for one rooster today who has his own coop and were pulling at the wire on his coop and my husand shot them. There are many dogs that run loose in our rural area and it makes us not even want to try again though. We have just a few (5 or 6) that are alive but have puncture wounds or hurt pretty badly. Some can barely walk and some cant walk at all. Should we put anything on the wounds and how long should we give them try to heal before we put them down? I think they are still in shock and wanted to know if I should give it a couple days. I dont want any infections to set up in those wounds and I dont want them to be in pain. Any advice is greatly appreciated.
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[CapricornFarm]

So sorry for your losses! Hugs. You can give crushed aspirin in water, vitamins and electrolytes to help the survivors recover. We use welded wire over chicken wire with a space in between to help keep coons from reaching in. So far that has worked. We lost chickens and quail for a year until we figured out which dogs were responsible and shot them. The owner refused to tie or kennel them, said one wasn't hers she had just been feeding it for a year. Go ahead and shoot them, she said she had no use for them! How sad.Since a child is involved, I would strongly recommend getting more birds to fill the void. Good luck.

 

[DCasper]

I hope you start another flock so the hobby and the education can continue. Over the years this bad experience might turn into a lessons learned experience, at Ieast I hope so.

 

[jak2002003]

I think you should start a new flock. If you finish it all now you will feed you have wasted money, time and effort.

When you get your new birds if will help to take you mind off the terrible incident.

Good look.

 

[mycutekitties]

I am so sorry this happend to your family. I can't imagine the heartache.

 

[farmtotable]

I'm so very sorry for your loss. We lost our entire flock of ducks to a raccoon attack about a month ago, so I know how devastating it feels. I encourage you to start a new flock though; especially if you shot the dogs that did it. We shot the raccoon, and so far no more have returned. I don't know how feasible this would be for you (we only have a flock of 24 chickens), but ours spend the night in a huge wooden shed we've converted into a coop - it's up off the ground (on concrete blocks) so it's predator proof. Re-reading your post, I guess the dogs struck during the day....perhaps you could get a working breed dog to provide protection? Otherwise, perhaps a wooden fence around the coop area so the dogs can't access the coops? Just suggestions...I've been keeping chickens for about two years now, and I can't imagine not having them. They're my pets (each one has a name, and a separate personality), and I can't begin to understand what it would feel like to lose so many at once. So sorry for your loss.

 

[fried green eggs]

I'm so, Sorry for your lose. I would get Neosporin on any open wounds as soon as possible. Also keep them warm with Heat lamps and put antibiotics in water. I would give them hard boiled eggs for extra protein and plain non-sweetened yogurt. Did you call the Sheriffs Dept. to file a report? If you don't know who the dogs belonged to, you could call the Pound on Monday and find out if, anybody is looking for dogs that match descrips. and find out who they belong to.

Let see, they can pay you $15.00 - $25.00 X 50 birds would equal a nice Kennel to make sure this never happens again.

 

[farmtotable]

Regarding their injuries, we had a rooster that was picked up and dropped by an eagle. He spent the night outside (in very cold weather) and I found him the next day crammed underneath a tree root. We set up a recuperating area in our master bathroom (straw, food, and water in the shower), and he stayed there for about half a week. When I found him his tail had been completely ripped off, he had talon punctures, and he couldn't walk due to a leg injury. I didn't know how to really treat him, so we just figured that a safe, warm, isolated location and time would do the trick. We were right - within three days he was crowing loudly and walking around. He's fine now (about 6 months later) and is back to being the alpha rooster in our flock. I think the important thing is separating the wounded chickens from the less wounded ones so the others don't do anything to aggravate the injuries (they tend to harass and pick on the injured birds in their flock). Either way, unless they look like they're really suffering I would give it a few days. You could also ask a vet for a topical antibiotic for the puncture wounds. The only bright side is that dog's mouths tend to be cleaner than cat, raccoon, or coyote bites so that's something.

 

[doxies1]

If you start over please email me so I can send you some free eggs. I hope you will take me up on the offer!

 

[klmclain1]

How totally devastating! I am so sorry for all your losses. At this point, I would think the best way to go would be to build an enclosure with 6 foot chain link fencing - posts in concrete - with some sort of wire over the top. But I know that would be quite expensive. Wow...I can't even fathom this kind of loss. I'm so sad for your son - he was being so responsible and industrious. Hugs to all of you.