Poor Management

[thedeacon]

My chickens and dogs share the same 2 acre pasture. I had to take spouse to the hospital, she stayed. When I came home I checked on the chicks. they were all accounted for and in the coop. Next day they were gone. I wanted to blame my son. As it turns out, I failed to shut the gate to the run the night before and the dogs fully enjoyed my six laying hens. the only parts left were the feathers. Lesson learned. I will miss those 2 BO and 4 RIR.
As a consolation, I do have 8 , 8 week olds that were to be added to those 6. Now I guess I won't have a problem intergrating the new ones. I will sure hate having to buy eggs at the store.
RIP:cd

 

[ging3rhoffman]

......I read about dogs killing chickens all the time on here. The two just dont mix it seems. Its just to tempting for them. Im sorry also that your wife had to stay in the hospital. Its so easy to forget a gate latch when you get overwhelmed. Your new chicks wll be laying before you know it. Hope all goes well for your family.

 

[Chicks_N_Horses]

So sorry..I left my door open last week for about 5 hrs. while I was gone and my dogs killed about 10 of my chicks...

 

[CoopCrazy]

Dont beat yourself up about ... Stress makes us all a lil forgetful.. A while back my mother had surgery and I completly forgot to feed my animals...

Thankfully you dont have to start over completly... I hope your wife is doing well...

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

sorry thats a tough lesson.

i'd be very very careful about leaving dogs + chickens unsupervised. especially now they have figured out they can eat them. most dogs cannot resist the flappy-squawky-running.... and generally just play them to death. if your dogs have figured out they are a food source you really need to watch them.

there are a million 'old farmer tricks' to teach dogs to leave chickens alone - but what worked best for me was to give them a harsh scolding (and one very very sad dog beatin' day) if they show any interest.

yesterday i was out in the hen yard with my two enormous german shepherds and one of my little chicks who is in the 'flippy flyer' stage pipped and popped and fliped and flew right by my most unreliable dog. aside from giving the chick a funny look he just walked right on by - he didnt even know i was watching him. good dog.

good luck! and sorry to read your spouse is/was in the hospital

 

[JennsPeeps]

Quote:
Beating your dogs will get you dogs who are afraid of you, and possible garner a visit from the humane society. Scolding them may help but it's very hard to pvercome this type of prey instinct.

Best bet? Keep them apart, as you well know.

I hope that your wife's recovery goes well, and is quick.

 

[astylishgirl]

What a sad and hard lesson. I had that happen with a lamb once. Except it was my kids who let her out. Our dog mauled her and ultimately, we had to put her down. I couldn't be mad at my shepherd. She was the best dog in the world. We had just moved to the farm and she had never been around livestock.

I hope your wife is better.