Should I feel guilty for having chickens when my neighbors dogs kills my chicken?

[CrazyTalk]

X 2
I wouldn't say there is any need to feel "guilty", but it may be time to reassess your flock-keeping practices to decide if the risk of further losses (there will be more) is something you are willing to accept for the benefit of being able to maintain your birds as free ranging birds. If you are okay with the risk/expense/upset of further losses, no need to change anything - but if you are not, you will want to consider at least some form of containment to create a barrier between birds and predators.

Yeah, this.

It's nobody's fault here - you live on a relatively small lot (5-7 acres isn't large)- and that means that your birds are visible from other people's lots (and visible by other people's pets on those lots). While there is some responsibility on the dog owner's part to keep his dog in control (depending on county, etc) there's also the responsibility of the Bird owner to do what they can to protect the birds.

Dealing with the dog may help some, but its not going to solve anything - there's still the chance of a stray, or a feral, or a coyote coming by and killing your birds. So, its up to you.

 

[cafarmgirl]

Thank you for the kind words. I tend to be too nice. I just don't want to have any quarrels with my neighbors. They are very nice and I don;t blame their dog, he was just doing dog things. We are going to reevaluate the free-ranging and see about putting up fence for free-ranging under supervision.

That is what works for us. There is no possible way I can free range where I live, to many roaming dogs and coyotes and fox are everywhere. My birds have access to about 3/4 acre of securely fenced pasture, complete with a few strands of hot wire. Does an excellent job of keeping dogs out. Once they touch a hot wire they don't try it again. There is never going to be an end to roaming dogs and predators so it is up to us to protect our birds as best we can.

I do think now that the dog has killed a chicken, the neighbor will keep a better eye on his dog.

Don't count on it.

 

[WhirlyBirds]

Thank you cafarmgirl and CrazyTalk. I look at it as both our faults.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

That is what works for us. There is no possible way I can free range where I live, to many roaming dogs and coyotes and fox are everywhere. My birds have access to about 3/4 acre of securely fenced pasture, complete with a few strands of hot wire. Does an excellent job of keeping dogs out. Once they touch a hot wire they don't try it again. There is never going to be an end to roaming dogs and predators so it is up to us to protect our birds as best we can.

Agreed - Eventually our pasture will be fenced for chickens (currently fenced for horses - birds and dogs go right under the lowest wire) and the flock will have more freedom to roam because I will feel secure that they will be kept in and the neighbors dogs/other undesirables more likely to be kept out -- in the meantime they are kept in a run except for times during the day when myself or my son are outside and able to supervise their ranging time.

 

[WhirlyBirds]

Long term we will fence in the yard, until then we will figure out something to keep them safe!

 

[bobbi-j]

Sounds like your best option. Even if your neighbor doesn't offer to replace the bird, at least he was decent enough to let you know what happened to it. Good relations with neighbors is important. See how things go from here. Find a way to protect your chickens from the neighbor dog, occasional strays, coyotes, fox, and whatever else will come your way now that you have chickens.

 

[centrarchid]

I'll be fly in your soup. Everyone is at fault.

I live in a rural setting with birds in range of settings including free-range. I also have dogs and they are not confined to my property although they spend the bulk of their time on it, especially at night. I had to invest a lot of effort in getting them livestock safe which now includes species (cattle, goats, sheep, and geese) that I do not have. End result is a pair of dogs that can pursue threats to my birds off property and provide an umbrella of protection to a neighbors flock to the NE when my dogs can get there in time. During early stages we could not keep chicken killing dogs out and my female as pup caused some problems with a couple of the neighbor's ducks. Now we are up and running with better predator control and an actual alarm system as provided by the dogs. Such a system is like my family employed when I was much younger but the dynamics of the "neighborhood" where more stable and interconnected such that everybody had a hand in training process which was always ongoing. If you are in a setting where reliable training and restraint of dogs not realized (note I refrain from using term possible), then the keepers of the rare have the greater burden of keeping the predators, be they domestic, feral or wild out and away from their stock. Keeping free-range birds safe ain't cheap but it does keep your mind in the game. If can't afford the losses, then start employing some sort of exclosures or containment.

 

[Kimbolini]

I've just learned a lesson around this issue myself. My dog, whom I 'thought' was neutral to my 6 young birds decided that it would be fun one morning to chase them. She completely dispersed my little flock. I was able to find one bird down at one end of our property near the road fence-line, and one other up near our house, behind the coop. Both were by themselves and freaked out. The rest of the birds are just gone - no carcasses, no blood etc. I think they just dispersed so far that they couldn't find their way back. We hunted high and low for them but found nothing. I just hope that they found their way to one of our neighbours flocks and found a home there. Otherwise, I'm sure that any number of wild predators could have got them now.

So, now we are building a bigger run for them and will never leave them free range out of the run unless we are also outside with them.

I'll also need to replace the lost birds with some more, since 2 chickens is just a bit too lonely.

Lesson learned.

 

[centrarchid]

I've just learned a lesson around this issue myself.  My dog, whom I 'thought' was neutral to my 6 young birds decided that it would be fun one morning to chase them.  She completely dispersed my little flock.  I was able to find one bird down at one end of our property near the road fence-line, and one other up near our house, behind the coop.  Both were by themselves and freaked out. The rest of the birds are just gone - no carcasses, no blood etc.  I think they just dispersed so far that they couldn't find their way back. We hunted high and low for them but found nothing.  I just hope that they found their way to one of our neighbours flocks and found a home there.  Otherwise, I'm sure that any number of wild predators could have got them now.

So, now we are building a bigger run for them and will never leave them free range out of the run unless we are also outside with them.  :/   I'll also need to replace the lost birds with some more, since 2 chickens is just a bit too lonely.

Lesson learned.

You just wrongly accused your dog.

 

[Clark Family]

Yesterday our neighbors dog killed on of our chickens. We have only lived here a year and all the neighbors are very friendly. We live on 5 1/2 wooded acres, the neighbors all have 1-3 acres each.

A couple months ago, the neighbors dog got a hold of one of the chickens but didn't hurt it. That's when my neighbor said he was going to get the dog a shock collar because the dog (who is less than a year old) wasn't listening when he would take him outside. Yesterday, he didn't put the shock collar on him. 

I was free-ranging them and checking on them every couple of minutes or so. I was doing house work, so I was in and out of the house. I left them alone for about 5 minutes. I went outside to look for them and they were gone. I knew something was wrong. So as I was walking around the yard, calling them, the neighbor walked up to my house with the chicken and the dog on a leash. She was still alive but died later of shock. The other one showed up an hour later complete fine.

The neighbor said he "lost track of him", then ran after him when he heard him barking back in the woods and found the dog standing over the chicken.  I appreciate the neighbor bringing the chicken to me and he could have easily left the chicken for dead and never said anything.

I know there are risks with free-ranging and I accept that, but is it still the neighbors fault? I have to say that we have dogs too and they wander into our neighbors yard once every couple of months, but they don't have chickens and we immediately get the dogs out of their yard. Does that matter?

I'm not sure how to feel. These are our first chickens, we only had two because we were "figuring it out" before we got more. Now we just have the one, but we will get another to keep her company.

We live in the suburbs, but on big wooded lots. Should I feel guilty for having chickens and enticing the neighborhood dogs? Am I putting unnecessary stress on my neighbors for having chickens? I don't want our neighbors to hate us but it's also my property and I want to have chickens!

Also, the neighbor never said he would replace the chicken, nor did he ever say he was sorry but he was clearly upset about what we had perceived his dog had done. Should he offer to replace it? Or should I chalk it up to a learning experience?

There's not really any "proof" that it was his dog. No one really caught the dog red handed. Maybe something else pulled the chicken into the woods and the dog scared it away? Or am I being too nice?