The Quack Shack

[Magnolia Ducks]

I'm sorry and I feel your pain. I lost half my flocks to dogs too last month. Luv ducks, clothes don't open ate this way. They grab and go so the bird just dissappears. Usually just one at the time. Dogs kill for fun.

Coyotes! Spell check attack.

 

[Canadian Wind]

Coyotes! Spell check attack.

It took me a few moments to realize what you'd said. Then you posted the correction. Yet another reason I don't use a auto-spellchecker. Although they do entertain us.

Years ago when my youngest daughter was in high school, she sent me a text to come pick her up as she had poison in her stomach. Well, I freaked out!!! Turns out it was 'pain'.

 

[Canadian Wind]

Picked up three almost-four-week-old Gray Calls yesterday. Only one technically belongs to me!

Supposed to be three females (to go with the male my daughter got at the auction). One certainly is, she's already quacking!

Also, shameless plug for my blog: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/falling-down-heights-my-daily-life.1613924/

 

[Luv Ducks]

I'm sorry and I feel your pain. I lost half my flocks to dogs too last month. Luv ducks, clothes don't open ate this way. They grab and go so the bird just dissappears. Usually just one at the time. Dogs kill for fun.

Yes they do, that is why my Bunny got killed by the neighbor's dog. He didn't eat it, just killed it and ran. I hope you found the owners to the killer of your flock last month. Roaming dogs can do so much damage. We are fortunate for the strict laws around here so we don't have to deal with it very much.

 

[Luv Ducks]

Coyotes! Spell check attack.

I knew what you meant, lol.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

I had quite the day.

Last night before I went to sleep at midnight I checked my cameras for the emu pasture - I do it every night to make sure all is well.

All was not well. I saw a dog repeatedly going into and out of the emu barn, meaning it had gotten into the emu pasture somehow. I jumped up and sped out to see what was going on.

The dog was gone...but the damage was done. It killed everything it could get ahold of, so all my ground roosting birds that live with the emus. My ducks, my geese, it managed to get a few chickens, it got both my roosters. It got my royal palm tom and one hen. The rest were roosting six feet up so they were spared.

And the worst part - it scared Ciara the emu so much she actually went over the six foot tall fence. In the dark and scared, I hoped she didn't go far but knew that actually she probably took off running. Still, I scoured my property in the dark looking for her. No luck.

I got what sleep I could, about an hour, and got up at daylight. I was prepared to make posters and hand them out to all the neighbors if I had to. I called the police to report her missing in case they got any calls.

I did not find her on my property. We drove around for awhile looking in the woods on either side of the road with no luck. As I resigned myself to the fact that she might not turn up, or was possibly injured or maybe was hurt so badly she was dead in the woods somewhere, I started to head home.

Then my Dad, who had left after helping me look for awhile, came back and caught me as I was driving back to the house. He had put a post on Facebook, and someone had seen her, and through word of mouth their phone number made it to my father.

He called them and they said they had seen her a half hour ago. So we drove to where she was seen - which was two miles from home.

We began looking and after about a half hour, we found her! She was in the woods around their property. Some rope and some wrangling later, I had her caught and locked in a stall in their barn because, as luck would have it, their property used to be a horse stable.

So now she's there, and I'm waiting for my friend to get his trailer operational so I can haul her home. She has superficial wounds - a big scrape down her neck, and a scraped up wing, but other than that, I have not found any wounds.

And now I have to turn my attention to holding the owners of the dog responsible for this. And I will be. One way or another, they are paying for this, even if I have to drag them to court. I'm 95% sure I know who owns the dog and if it's not them, you best bet I'll be finding out who does own it.

In the daylight, I can see where it literally tore through the fencing to make a gap it could squeeze under. It then ripped open my new turkey breeding pen to get at the turkeys. No way it doesn't have injuries to its mouth. I've had dogs attack free ranging birds before, but this is a new level.

I also hope Ciara nailed it. Make it think twice about coming back.

Hi @Pyxis first a big hug from here i feel your pain, i have lost too many ducks to the neighbors dogs and nothing can replace them or make you feel hole again.

And now i have to shut the up, because anything else i write here will get me permanently banned…

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Pyxis I am so sorry that this has happened to your flock. I am so glad that you have cameras so that you will have proof as to what the dog looked like. That sounded more like a coyote than a dog to do that much damage but you have it on film so that is a good thing. I am so thankful that you found your Emu. That was terrible what it had to witness had go though and it was for you also. I pray that you find the dog's owner so that you can get restitution for your loss. I had to do that to my neighbor whose dog killed my bunny years ago. I pray that your Emu gets better soon. I am so sorry for all of your losses.

Coyotes are opportunistic hunters. They see a weakness and exploit it. Once their stomachs are filled they run away. Dogs and weasels can switch into a »kill'em all« frenzy, wiping out whole flocks without even eating a single bite. And dogs are persistent, trying to dig under a fence, coming back the next day and dig some more, coming back… until they're through.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Coyotes! Spell check attack.

Well that would be the worst possible day, when your clothes start to attack your flock!
Though, if you ask my ducks, that bright orange jacket of mine, that i wear when going into the thick has devoured countless flock members already…

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Coyotes! Spell check attack.

 

[Magnolia Ducks]

Hillbilly, you need what I have, the Broom of Death. I bought a Shepard crook for the geese. They are like what's that, lets bite it. I have an old straw broom that's down to about 6 inches of straw. It was in the garbage pile. For some reason its as frightening as an alien landing.