My friends coop is horrendous.....predators got in.....

[greyhorsewoman]

Maybe at this point, you could suggest that it would be a whole lot easier and less expensive to just buy eggs from you.

 

[tinkarooni]

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They do, one cat that is outdoors and a beagle dog that is currently at the kennel. It is an inside dog but I know though that they routinely leave it outside. I will warn her.

 

[tinkarooni]

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I'd even give her a discount!

 

[tinkarooni]

Thanks everybody for your rational advice. After cleaning out a coop of headless chickens last night I am pretty fired up. I do know that it could happen to any of us.....gosh forbid....but you have to at least try to prevent it. Now I am caring for this little astralorp with the gash on it's head who is clearly traumatized. I feel so bad for it and feel like taking it back to that coop will clearly kill it. She is a good person at heart so hopefully I can talk her into leaving it here.

 

[Shanay235]

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I'm fully aware it's not the correct thing to do as far as neighbor or friend relations go but I worked in animal shelters for years and know what the laws are in my state. In the instances I'm referring to where I "stole" an animal, by law, since the "owner" did not have the proper registration and/or pay taxes on the animal, and I would partially care for it, when it showed up in my yard hungry and injured, I could have claimed legal ownership just as easily as they did.

The other option would have been to make a formal complaint to the county humane officials and let the claiming owners been cited, charged, drug through court proceedings, etc. Knowing their financial circumstances, this would have wiped them out and possibly cost one person their job.

This is not something I have done or do on a regular basis. If similar circumstances were to arise again, I would do the exact same thing. If I get in legal trouble due to my own actions, then so be it.

Guess we'll have to agree to disagree on this one because I won't stand back and let an animal, child, or anything else, suffer for due to someone else's ignorance.

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

I know it's hard when chickens are lost to predators, and I'm sure I'll catch heck for this, but not everyone sees chickens as pets.

I use a chain link run for my chickens. I've covered it with plastic netting. The plastic netting wasn't for predator proofing, it's to keep my chickens IN.

I use chain link kennel because we have more of a coyote problem than coon, and yes I've had coon problems before...but I've never had coons go through my wire or the netting. The coons I've had to deal with usually found their way into the coop itself, skipping the run all together.

You cannot blame them for being victims of a predator attack. Maybe they predator proofed the best way they know how? Have you asked them, "What measures have you taken since the attack?" each time something has happened?

I have a friend who's coop is pretty much fort knox, and she still lost chicks to a coon attack. Not her fault. She set out traps for that coon, and still lost more chicks to a coon attack, but no coon in the trap.

Oh, and her runs aren't covered, and her chickens were locked in the coop at night.

I don't have all of my runs covered, either. So while you are thinking that's just asking for trouble, let me remind you, predator attacks happen, no matter how tight a coop is locked down! If they want what you have in there, they will find a way in, some predators can and will chew through wood to get in.

I will also admit that I don't worry about my coops being in lock down or fort knox because I have a great livestock dog who is on patrol all night and will chase off most predators before they get a chance at my chickens....

You cannot keep her chicken without asking her first. I wouldn't stop being her friend, either, over chickens. When they get home, sit her down, talk to her, offer your help to her with predator proofing. I doubt that it's a lack of caring, most people don't ask for predator attacks.

Have you gone over in the past and offered to assist with predator proofing? Maybe she doesn't know how to go about preventing a predator from getting in?

As for a single bird being unhappy, I'd have to disagree. My grandmother kept one chicken for a looooong time, until it died of old age. It was the ONLY chicken she had, and she became a very spoiled chicken. She got all of the table scraps, chicken feed, free ranged 24/7, roosted in a tree, and got more attention from her humans than I had ever seen. She was a very spoiled chicken. Never seemed to suffer from not having other chickens around, either.

Chickens aren't like pack animals. Normally, they won't grieve themselves over being by themselves. Won't bawl like a goat if they are by themselves.

 

[BantyRooster]

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Actually I wasn't refering to your care of her injured animal as stealing. I was talking to the poster I'd quoted who admitted to stealing other's animals because she didn't like the way they were being cared for.

I understood you were upset and perhaps ranting when you said you were considering not giving your friend's injured chicken back.

Using the Humane Society as an example doesn't do much to strengthen your argument, though. I'm not sure how many rational folks would support their means or ways.

I agree with the poster who offered the suggestion of asking to continue to care for the injured bird until they could better reinforce their coop. It's a subtle way of saying the coop needs to be stronger and not looking like the badguy in the process.

 

[tulie13]

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I once "stole" a cat from a "friend". She got a kitten, and then was renting a room from another friend/acquaintance of mine. She didn't spend any time with this cat, it was kept locked up in the room all day by itself, as in from 10 AM to possibly 10 PM/midnight many days. I conspired with the homeowner to "steal" the cat - she said that she opened the door and the cat just got out. OOPS!

We rehomed the cat with my in-laws. The cat's new name was Lucky.

A few days later the girl who we had "stolen" the cat from said they found her cat by the side of the road and buried it - so sad...

 

[BantyRooster]

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I'm fully aware it's not the correct thing to do as far as neighbor or friend relations go but I worked in animal shelters for years and know what the laws are in my state. In the instances I'm referring to where I "stole" an animal, by law, since the "owner" did not have the proper registration and/or pay taxes on the animal, and I would partially care for it, when it showed up in my yard hungry and injured, I could have claimed legal ownership just as easily as they did.

The other option would have been to make a formal complaint to the county humane officials and let the claiming owners been cited, charged, drug through court proceedings, etc. Knowing their financial circumstances, this would have wiped them out and possibly cost one person their job.

This is not something I have done or do on a regular basis. If similar circumstances were to arise again, I would do the exact same thing. If I get in legal trouble due to my own actions, then so be it.

Guess we'll have to agree to disagree on this one because I won't stand back and let an animal, child, or anything else, suffer for due to someone else's ignorance.

Unregistered and untaxed means it's up for grabs?? Stealing makes you a thief. Period. There is no justification. But I guess you think it's OK as long as they aren't neighbors or friend relations

 

[mrsgibber]

Are you sure you want these people looking after your animails while you are away? If they don't care enough to take care of their own animals, do you think they'll put much effort into someone elses?

Just a thought.