Neighbor's dog killed two of our chickens. UPDATE FOUND HER!

[jjthinkagain]

My guess is that Alice is hiding somewhere, terrified, if she did not yet succumb to her injuries. I pray you find her soon. My roo BJ was attacked by a fox once and I feared him dead but kept wandering around gently calling him, calling, calling, for hours on end. Finally, I heard what I thought was a faint response. My sweet boy was answering me from deep within a holly tree, where he sought sancturay after a very kind neighbor ran the fox off. It took me a very very long time to coax him out (the tree was pretty inpenetrable with it's dense sharp pointed holly leaves, though I would have gotten in there somehow if I had to) but in time he worked his way out and fell into my arms - I will never forget that moment....his trust in me. I tear up just thinking of it. He had been pretty battered. Luckily, with much TLC he completely recovered and knock wood, is happy and healthy today. I do believe he would have died though, had I not found him.

JJ

 

[vfem]

I'd hand them a bill whether they are both gone or not!

 

[TinyLittleFarm]

We've been looking everywhere. My neighbor called her vet and he said the dog would likely be showing signs of digestive distress if he had eaten a whole chicken and the dog seems completely fine. Nothing. So I'm still hopeful that the clump of feathers were from maybe a bite and a scare and that we will find her. We have 3 acres of land and the back acre is all wooded, but we were out there for hours last night and all this morning and there is no sign of her. I let the other chickens out into the yard hoping that they would call her and she might come out. Ugh. This is awful.

Neighbor lady even suggested that maybe her dog killed it and our dog buried it somewhere, but it all happened in literally a matter of minutes and our dog is so darn old and slow that there's no way on earth he would have scooped up that chicken and dragged it off somewhere. Plus, he was in the house while the whole thing happened. The only reason we trust our dog around the chickens (and even then he is only around them while supervised) is because they are literally faster than he is. He can't run anymore, poor thing.

I've looked through the brush, up in the trees, under wood piles...nothing. I'm going to put on skeeter spray and look some more, though.

 

[kelar]

Don't give up hope because they do get terrifed and run into things to hide. When a hawk went after my flock, they ran into the woods and it took me a couple of days to round them all up. They were so scared & too far from their coop to recognize their surroundings, so they just hunkered down under brush and stayed silent. It doesn't really sound like the dog had time to do anything such as bury her and it would take a bit of time for them to eat a whole chicken, so my guess is that she is around somewhere. Are they able to fly? Sometimes they get up into trees too.

 

[TinyLittleFarm]

I found her! Or rather she found us! The rest of the flock was hanging out in their favorite clearing in the woods, and there she was. They must have coaxed her out of hiding. She was hiding really well because we went through those woods over and over.

She seems fine. Her tail is a bit smaller, though no missing skin. I was able to catch her and she has no wounds and she ate out of the bowl of feed I brought her. She was very stressed when I was holding her, so I let her go back to her flock. What should we do now? Should I keep her confined for a while to watch her? I hate to take her away from her flock since I'm sure they are making her feel much safer.

I'm so happy. Still sad about Wendy, but so so so happy we found Little Alice.

 

[bturbo87]

since you looked her over and there are no signs of any wounds i would say to reintegrate her with her flock. If there is any skin exposed( completely bare of feathers) i would watch for the others chickens incase they start to peck and the pink area, if they do hit it with some blu-kote or vicks and it should be fine. Also, now that that dog has had the taste of chicken blood, id keep the rifle or shotgun handy for some quick SSS cause that little shock collar wont stop it again.

 

[EweSheep]

Let Alice be with her flock....she will depend on them for security and safety in numbers.

Glad she made her appearance! She would be wiser to avoid the dog at all costs when she sees it again.

Hope the neighbor's dog does not come back.

 

[oldchickenlady]

So glad you found her! If she has no wounds I would let her stay with her flock...that is where she will feel most secure. I would definitely tell the neighbors not to ever bring the dog back. Period. I know you want to stay on good terms with your neighbors, but...it has been proven they don't manage him. Unless they would keep him on a leash the whole time they were visiting I would tell them to not bring him. I have a 15 year old Chesapeake Bay Retriever who is very well trained but I would never, ever trust her unsupervised around the chickens.

 

[TinyLittleFarm]

Oh that dog won't be back. Mr. Neighbor was about ready to kill him himself just watching my children sob uncontrollably. Our kids have grown up together and I know it just broke his heart to see my kids in that much pain. Mrs. Neighbor acknowledges what the dog did, but she still just can't believe he had it in him. duh.

I just brought out a nice big bowl of oatmeal and she ate a whole bunch of it. I made it watery so she'd get some liquid. Jack, our roo, isn't letting her out of his sight. It's cute. I picked her up again and double checked for wounds and she has none and no exposed skin, so I'm going to let her be and just keep a close eye on her.

 

[PineappleMama]

Quote:
Heck, we can't even predict HUMAN behavior 100%, and we speak human... anyone who says always OR never when it comes to anything is just asking to be proven wrong by Ol' Murphy.

SO sorry for your loss, but glad to hear that your friends really are friends willing to own up to their error... that's pretty rare by all the Neighbor Topics I've seen.