Neighbor's dog attacking chickens.

[Egghead_Jr]

Shooting an animal that is actively attacking your livestock is legal in my state and many others. Check with your animal control.

I've been in this situation and simply told the owner the facts. Your animal is coming onto my property and harassing, attacking and killing my livestock. If it happens again I'll stop by to ask you to remove your dog's carcass from my property. Simple, straightforward and effective.

First time is an accident, dogs break chains and the owner needs to be aware what occured. Second time is the above statement of fact of what will happen in the future. I've never had a third occurrence.

 

[centrarchid]

Shooting an animal that is actively attacking your livestock is legal in my state and many others. Check with your animal control.

I've been in this situation and simply told the owner the facts. Your animal is coming onto my property and harassing, attacking and killing my livestock. If it happens again I'll stop by to ask you to remove your dog's carcass from my property. Simple, straightforward and effective.

First time is an accident, dogs break chains and the owner needs to be aware what occured. Second time is the above statement of fact of what will happen in the future. I've never had a third occurrence.

I’ve done exactly that where I shot dog and had owner remove carcass. I had to be present to shoot dog which was luck.

 

[PicoFarm]

I'm sorry you're going through this.
First thing is to Cover your own butt and make your coop dog proof.
Is there a fence between your two properties?
Some counties are fence in, some are fence out.

A fence between properties guarantees nothing with regard to protecting your flock. Determined dogs may dig under, climb over, or somehow get past unless they are unable to see their targets. Learned from experience.

Also animal controls effectiveness depends on your location. As others suggested, do notify Animal Control... but don't expect that to solve an irresponsible owner problem.

 

[PicoFarm]

If you have to shoot the dog, call the police immediately afterward. Let them contact the owner and they'll be on hand to deal with him.

The idea about telling the dog owner they'll be picking up a carcass next time seems like a deeply satisfying "thought experiment," but in practice one must consider how the neighbor might react, especially if they might retaliate.

I agree that if you do shoot to protect livestock, best to file a report with police or sheriff. This serves to document damages from livestock loss and also establishes potential motive if the neighbor retaliated. Not every adult can be objective about the liability their irresponsibility might cause them.

If you are able, be prepared with damage numbers on replacement cost for impacted livestock. As a starting point for cost, check local hatchery adult (layer or meatbird) chicken costs. Here is the page for my local hatchery: https://www.cacklehatchery.com/product-category/eggs-and-adult-fowl/grown-fowl/

 

[centrarchid]

The idea about telling the dog owner they'll be picking up a carcass next time seems like a deeply satisfying "thought experiment," but in practice one must consider how the neighbor might react, especially if they might retaliate.

I agree that if you do shoot to protect livestock, best to file a report with police or sheriff. This serves to document damages from livestock loss and also establishes potential motive if the neighbor retaliated. Not every adult can be objective about the liability their irresponsibility might cause them.

If you are able, be prepared with damage numbers on replacement cost for impacted livestock. As a starting point for cost, check local hatchery adult (layer or meatbird) chicken costs. Here is the page for my local hatchery: https://www.cacklehatchery.com/product-category/eggs-and-adult-fowl/grown-fowl/

As I stated in post above I did just as @Egghead_Jr suggested. I did it, not just swinging my man parts around talking about it. There was drama that led to legal issues that have yet to be resolved through the court even after a year.

 

[Krugerrand]

Unfortunately, there are no easy answers to this issues.

 

[nuthatched]

A fence between properties guarantees nothing with regard to protecting your flock. Determined dogs may dig under, climb over, or somehow get past unless they are unable to see their targets. Learned from experience.

Having a secure coop area should be the first priority before problems happen, not knowing what ops' coop is like, I suggested reinforcing it.
I didn't suggest that a fence was a cure all, I just wanted to know if op had one for legal purposes. ;]

 

[PicoFarm]

As I stated in post above I did just as @Egghead_Jr suggested. I did it, not just swinging my man parts around talking about it. There was drama that led to legal issues that have yet to be resolved through the court even after a year.

Quite the mental image you provided there.

Hypothetically speaking, one fun aspect about acting unhinged around irresponsible neighbors, or even strangers on the internet, is they might give you a wider birth simply because they're not sure what to make of you. I would think the outer limits of effectiveness do not extend to those neighbors with criminal record.

 

[centrarchid]

Quite the mental image you provided there.

Hypothetically speaking, one fun aspect about acting unhinged around irresponsible neighbors, or even strangers on the internet, is they might give you a wider birth simply because they're not sure what to make of you. I would think the outer limits of effectiveness do not extend to those neighbors with criminal record.

Or they try to provoke you into an altercation.

 

[centrarchid]

Sometimes saying more is less on these issues. I have said enough and have difficulty watching people kick the same dead horse over and over and more often than not lack experience with consequences they are discussing.