lickskillet and other chicken owners are not looking for trouble by free ranging their chickens. It's their property and they have the right to manage their livestock (or pets) as they feel best. Some of us feel that freeranging is the healthiest way to maintain a flock and we can do that. It's our property. What is asking for trouble is not containing your own animals to your own property.
Lickskillet has a responsibilty to protect her own, period. That doesn't mean putting them in bubbles. But sometimes it means shooting a dog. If you want to tangle with an out of control dog with your own bare hands, or a rope, or even an olive branch, again that's your perogative. Mine is a .22
In the city, you have the police and animal control. When I called the sheriff my neighbor's maurading dogs, we were told that we are out of animal control's juristiction because we live outside the city limits. He made a report. All I had to do was go to the sheriff's office, get the report, and head over to the courthouse to file a complaint. Said neighbor would be arrested, and her family would have to post bond. There would be a hearing, at which time she would be told the obvious (that she has to contain her dogs), and I would be awarded monetary costs of the chickens. Why turn her whole family upside-down? And would the outcome be any different than lickskillet's? The sheriff recommended SSS (shoot, shovel and shut up) instead. You know why we made the reports? Because said neighbor is the kind who would call the police or send me a bill for shooting her dogs and those reports are the perfect documentation. You don't have to do anything with them, they stay on file.
The law sides with lickskillet, pure and simple. The dog didn't belong there. No, it wasn't the dog's fault. It was the fault of it's owners who didn't contain it. But it's not lickskillet's fault because she chose to free range her chickens. If I can contain all my dogs, so can my neighbors. If they can't, they'll be shot. Who doesn't like it, can keep their dogs contained.
I've had many a canine visitor, big and quite large, and they're more than welcome. But dogs who haven't been trained to livestock, or otherwise aggressive dogs, do not need to be roaming the countryside. THAT is asking for trouble.
The dog owners who are harassing lickskillet's family were not only repeat offenders about letting their dogs out, but were in trouble enough times for the sheriff to know them and know them well. That speaks for itself.
I'm so very sorry your crapping your pants about what's in the woods. But living in the country is not a scary place to live. I too free range my chickens and nothing comes out of the woods to eat my chickens, just my neighbor's uncontained dogs.
Sure once in a while you'll get the occassional maurader, but for the most part, my own dogs keep those at bay. There's no one to blame when the marauder is a natural predator, that's life. But loose dogs can and should be avoided. They don't just go after chickens...they move on to bigger things until they become very dangerous. They also pack up with other dogs and become even more dangerous.
The dog that attacked lickskillet's chickens didn't just grab them from the yard. When the chickens ran to their shelter, the dogs grabbed them through the fence. Which I've seen happen here. In addition, I just got through reading another post about chickens contained in what I would call Fowl Fort Knox with wood and such, and it was torn apart by dogs. So you contain your chickens in Fowl Fort Knox and it still gets torn up. Then who will you blame?
Personally, I think it's the chicken's fault. There, the truth of it is finally revealed.
