Sticky Situation

[For-The-Love-Of-Chickens]

OK, we have a coop, covered run, and fenced yard for our chickens. We have been having a problem with a German Shepherd that likes to yap and run up and down the fence at our chickens, obviously trying to find a way to get in. (Thankfully no breaks in the fence!) Anyway, this has been going on for the past week. Our chickens are no longer afraid of the yapping and scratching at the fence, but are getting more and more curious about all the racket, getting closer and closer. I can foresee a serious incident occurring soon.

Here is where the situation gets tricky. The dog belongs to our landlord who lives down the hill from us. We have been assured over and over again that the dog is nice and wouldn't harm a fly.

What would you all do?

 

[kcfuerst]

Your landlord is ignorant. Print out some of the posts where dogs have murdered chickens and give them to your landlord.

Move your chicken to the other side of the property, if possible, as far away from the landlord as possible. Do they have chickens?

Put up a solid fence (wood?) between the dog and chicks so he can't see them.

Install hotwire so when the dog gets close he gets a good jolt.

After your landlord reads the materials, plead with them to help keep the dog away from the fence. And the sticky part....that if your dog attacks your chickens (after you've taken EVERY precaution) that you will shoot the dog. They may take you serious. On the other hand, you may jeopardize your tenancy. Either way, your chickens will become dinner for the dog in time.

Perhaps others can offer more tips and suggestions.

 

[The Chicken Lady]

I agree with you that it is a sticky situation. The situation is such that the landlord holds something huge -- your place of residence, and probably the fact that you're even allowed to keep chickens there -- over your head.

In this case, I would go with a more passive solution to keep things peaceful between you and your landlord. Make sure your coop is a Fort Knox coop and make sure your chickens are always locked up tightly.

If you were on your own property, I might recommend a more forceful approach, but the fact that you're renting makes this a bit more difficult.

 

[Judy]

If it is possible, and if the landlord would agree, a visual barrier might help -- tarps on the fence or some such.

 

[citrusdreams]

Well, there's not much you can do about it considering your landlord owns the dog and doesn't seem to want to do much about it. It would be different if it were your own dog, then you could take corrective action, but I just don't know what can be done when it's someone else's dog on someone else's property. From what you wrote, it seems there's a bit of distance between where you live and where your landlord lives on the property. If you're renting some of this person's property, you do deserve the right to live in peace there. You could talk to the landlord about it, but he might not want to make adjustments for you and just tell you to move? Can you ask him if you can put up some fencing (like hotwire)? Or is that something you can even afford to do?

I hope you find a way to work it out with your neighbor though. That dog sounds very bored. He needs a diversion of sorts unfortunately.

 

[The Wolf Queen]

Edited. Please see the guidelines for this section here, specifically...

*That being said, please do not gloat or suggest torturous ways of killing for pleasure or indeed, post in such a way that your predator control can be construed as pleasure killing instead of simply taking care of a problem.

Thank you for understanding. ~Lisa~​

 

[citrusdreams]

Quote:

This is really cool. I went to reply to the post in question and the above appeared in the quote I was quoting. How do you moderators DO that?

 

[The Chicken Lady]

Quote:
It must be something magical that Nifty-Chicken puts in the Executive Water Cooler.

Actually, we can just edit any post.

 

[Renee]

What kind of a fence is it?

If it is chain link, I would put chicken wire or hardware cloth over it so the chickens can't stick their heads through.

Same with wood: if it has gaps or holes, cover them with screwed down scrap lumber. Pile rocks or concrete at the bottom so the chickens can't scratch their way under.

As long as the fence is sound, it shouldn't be a problem.

 

[For-The-Love-Of-Chickens]

Thanks everyone. I never really thought about it the way The Chicken Lady and Citrusdreams put it. While not exactly the way they phrased it, this is what your posts got me thinking about. The dog isn't really wandering off our landlord's property. I guess legally the dog has a right to be here, but not to destroy our property. Just another thing to consider when we decide if we will continue to live here next year.

We will mention to our landlord the fact that his dog is very interested in our chickens and has spent a good deal of time trying to find the weakness in the fence to get into their yard. (And chewed up our garden hose!) We have been given permission to do whatever we want to the coop/run/yard the chickens live in, so we will start with improvements there.

This is just something else to add to my growing list of things not to do again. Don't live next door to your landlord.