Sad.

[fshinggrl]

I'm double counting my flock these days. Saturday, all the chickens were in the coop. I have 3 BAs and 1 EE who likes to fly out. MOST of the times they can make it in on their own and a couple times one has slept elsewhere. Saturday, late afternoon, well before dark I noticed that one of the BAs were not in there. I almost sent the kids around looking for her but then I saw something black in the grass. Yep. You could see an egg where she was torn open. It was right next to the pen. This was in the middle of a sunny day. The only thing I can think of is a cat, but the stray cat I've seen has been around when everyone is out free ranging and he didn't seem to care about them. I think a dog would have carried the chicken away and I haven't seen any dogs on our property other than ours and she was not the culprit.

 

[Pyxis]

So sorry Actually a dog will not always carry the chickens off, if that's what it was. I had a dog come back repeatedly to attack my flock before I could catch him and he never took a bird that he killed. You can usually tell it was a dog because they will kill a bird and just leave it, not eat it, because they kill for sport and not to eat.

 

[yardbird88]

Lost a hen last week my dog got out if his kennel for about 30 minutes, so I went straight to my pen ( I only had one bantam chicken) seen a few feathers but no hen. I put the dog back in his kennel and did a walk around and still no hen then I saw a little mound in middle of the pen. The hen was buried whole and still warm it had bite marks on its on its back. I guess some domestic dogs are bred to just kill animals for sport. It's hard to get mad at the dog it's just did what he knows.

 

[Ponyfeather]

Sadly we have bred them to not eat the chickens/game they kill because they are killing/retrieving it for us. I had an English Spring Spaniel and she would try and eat the game she killed sometimes, about 6+ years ago we had chickens running around pretty much wild around here. She nailed quiet a few when she got out of our yard, she bring us her kills sometimes tiny nub of a tail wagging. Thankfully our Lhasa and Lhasa/Dachshund mix seem to have no desire to 'eat' Pancake. But then they have learned early on she could peak them in the eye/nose. But then Lhasa's aren't really known for their hunting ability they are watch dogs. We're really lucky the Dachshund mix isn't keen on killing things but he was also introduced to chickens at a early age not our own and learned that they weren't for eating. But then he is one of those dogs who loves all animals, cats, horses, lizards and birds.

I'm sorry for everyone's loss of chickens.

 

[yardbird88]

Our dog is a dachshund rat terrier mix and believe both breeds have been breed to kill small animals.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Our dog is a dachshund rat terrier mix and believe both breeds have been breed to kill small animals.

Don't sell the Dachshund short. He originally was bred or developed in Europe to go into fox but especially into badger tunnels and drag the live badger kicking and screaming, out of its badger hole.... Business end first no less. It takes a lot of love and heart for a dog the size of a Dachshund to tackle a job that difficult just to make the barnyard safe for its owners' poultry..

 

[yardbird88]

Yes he is a solid short legged ball of muscle, just wish he would of killed the possum that has been hanging around my back yard instead of my little hen