Oh, I'm so mad

[TxChiknRanchers]

What if you catch a bird of prey attacking your chickens, is it legal to shoot it in TX? I wonder. Does anyone know?

Sorry, the answer is NO!!, its a Federal law protecting birds of prey. There is a sticky in the predator and pest section here about the law.

Randy​

 

[CarlaRiggs]

If they've offered you $100, I'd take it and be done with the situation.
Hopefully....
You don't want to start a mini war with these neighbors, nor anyone else. It's just not worth the hard feelings, energy, etc. to get entangled in any way. Don't threaten to shoot the dog, or say anything else negative.
Thank them for fixing the fence. Bring them cookies for Christmas.... give them fresh eggs once in a while. Be friends with these neighbors if you can, and it will pay off many times over.

Good luck!

 

[silkiechicken]

Quote:
I second this. Be nice and make friends if possible, even if it requires some tongue biting. In the long run, it will be less headache and they might end up more considerate. Especially since you say you don't have the time to battle it out. At least they made an offer! One that is more than 3 dollars per bird! There are some out there who are jerks and don't offer anything.

 

[Wattles]

Oh yes, you are right of course. There is nothing at all to be gained by escalating things. We will accept the money and hopefully be able to leave all this mess behind us. They're not getting any cookies and certainly not any fresh eggs though! I have only two hens so I won't get many eggs anyway - no extra ones to hand out that's for sure.

Thanks everyone for your support and advice. I really appreciate it. It means a lot to me

Tara

 

[SpottedCrow]

I don't blame you for being PO'd...I would be too...
sorry you lost your birds...I hate people that think that chickens are less than any other pet...At this point, I'd look into small claims court,but I'd also STILL look into contacting animal control about what your rights are...I wound up having to...I can shoot to KILL any animal that is harrassing my livestock. The crappy neighbour's kid threatened my birds and the cops came and gave him a good talking to, and there was no more trouble, because I was going to press charges.

 

[jjthink]

Just getting home and quick skimmed this thread. The thing that gets me is when the unthinking say a chicken only cost a few dollars and therefore isn't worth anything. Their worth is so far beyond the money we put into them (to me, it's even well beyond the thousands I've invested by the time I factor in vet bills, med supplies, housing, endless straw bales, food, vitamins etc.!). When a person has a human baby they don't have to pay anything to buy it (med bills aside!) yet it is considered priceless. When a person takes a dog home from a shelter and pays little or nothing for it they don't have to justify its value if someone hurt the dog for no good reason. Few would dare say it's worth nothing. Vet bills are expected to be paid. If someone spends little to plant many many seeds yet ends up with a hugely valuable garden, is that garden only worth the price of the seeds - no!

I am usually considered an understanding person on most things but it's been one h___ of a day today so I'm not going to hold back and instead will say that I am heartsick about all the dog attacks occurring across the land or more to the point, all the irresponsible dog owners. I've been reading heartbreaking posts one after another for years now - they are relentless and don't seem to have waned with time and I don't think it will change anytime soon if on average we take only crumbs from the offending dog owners and call it a day. I did that once because I was so wrapped up in trying to save a critically injured roo that I lost the dog person's name and phone number (they were walking by and let the dog off its leash so it could run...) - so I was never able to contact them with the bills - they likely didn't learn as much as if I had given them the absolutely huge vet bills. I am not in a frame of mind right now to be as nice as others on this thread - maybe I've just seen too much pain and suffering. And too much lack of personal responsibility in this world anymore. Cumulatively, I have taken weeks and weeks off work to nurse injured birds back to health. No one has ever paid for that - the dog's people just went on with their lives with no inconveniences to themselves.

It reminds me of a time when I was moving from Idaho to Rhode Island - we had all our worldy belongings in a trailer we were towing. An irresponsible truck driver hit us from behind (he waited too long to try to pass and hit us in the process), severing our trailer and causing it to rise up into the air and implode, destroying everything we owned in the process and speading it across hundreds of yards of fields and highway, closing I-80 for awhile (among the losses was my just completed masters thesis back when they were done on typewriters - god I'm old - lost it all and had to start all over - took another year and a half...should have had copies but had completed it seemingly minutes before the move and never anticipated it would end up shredded in the fields of Wyoming). The truck driver went on his merry way within an hour with only a ticket for "improper passing" and we were stuck in the desert for a week trying to pick everything up and waiting for an insurance adjuster. Ironically, the only food place within miles served only moldy pizza (I bet the truck driver was somewhere eating good meals!). The trucking company played dead, ignoring their responsibility completely. We finally had to sue, and they just kept ignoring all correspondence for years and years. At least no lives were lost but its that common thread of lack of personal responsibility that is undermining our quality of life and the quality of life of those in our care.

I am so sorry that this happened to you and am so sorry for your birds that will never see another sunny day. Today I want to give voice to all the chickens who have had their lives stolen in a horrific way. And also to those who recover but who have had to endure much pain and suffering and terror first.
JJ

 

[suburbanhomesteader]

I'm not sure this is the time for advice, but I wouldn't bother with barbed wire; it won't slow them down.

99.9% of dogs (and coyotes, for that matter) don't JUMP fences; they sort of "clump" them; it's a jump, catch the front paws over the top of the fence, and drag the rest of your body up over. If you run a string of electric fence along the side of the top rail (especially your neighbor's side, if that was possible), it should put an end to their "jumping". If you put the wire along the top, you would probably fry a lot of wild birds (speaking from experience, sadly).

Once they know they can't jump, though, then they'll start to dig/push under, and you'll have to electrify the bottom, too. It normally doesn't take more than a jolt or two to stop the behavior completely.

 

[soonerdog]

It would seem that some of these inconsiderate dog owning neighbors need to be SSS! Got a situation probably waiting to happen. A neighbor near me is letting dog roam unattended. un Most often during the entire weekends because he knows that animal control is closed over the weekend hours. I asked them to keep dog up. It hasn't happened. It is not going to be nice if my chicken pens get entered by this dog.

 

[Lazy J Farms Feed & Hay]

Quote:
She may win, but remember in most courts of law a chicken is considered Livestock so their value will be determined by market price.

Jim

 

[Wattles]

JJ, oh how awful - I'm so sorry. You are a sensitive, intelligent person and I feel the same impotent sadness that you do about the status of animals in our society. Whenever I get depressed about it I remind myself how far we've come. I think of Europe in the Middle Ages and the rounding up and burning of cats. I think of the barbarically cruel vivisections that used to be done in the name of science that have now been outlawed. I think of the slaughter of the buffalo in the Old West, people gleefully shooting them from the train windows for fun. Things are getting better for animals around the world - it's a slow but gradual process. It helps ameliorate the pain a little . . . I guess as a person oriented toward the study of history , I tend to look at things in the long-term and look for gradual trends . . .

I hope that trucker eventually lost his license for reckless driving - with driving like that, I'm sure you weren't his only victim. I'd be hopping mad if that were me - esp. the loss of your thesis. Ugh! Were you able to rewrite it from notes and rough drafts?

Well, one thing the neighbor did on his side is create a sort of high fence that extends another foot to two feet above the existing fence with posts and chicken wire. The only area I worry about the dogs still being able to go over is where his electrical box sits on the other side. That is where I think they originally jumped from. What I'll do is fortify that area with some metal trellis poles that extend up pretty high over what he has already created. I don't want to mess at all with electrical wires. We love all the wildlife that visits our yard. I don't want to fry my favorite squirrel or all the lovely chickadees we have visiting right now.

Question: has anyone tried any kind of dog repellent scent with any success? Should I sprikle some coyote urine or something along the fence as backup?

Tara