The worst had happened. Dog attack.

[littlerae11]

I have terrible news today to report. When I looked outside this morning to check on my girls I saw a dog with his head in the coop and my chickens laying all over the ground.. I was devastated. The dog broke right through the coop door busted it right in, through the locks and everything right off its hinges. I went running out and chased the dog away. I was too late for two of them, the other two were still breathing. One of the ones still alive I tried desperately to save but she died within ten minutes, and the other one I think I have managed to save. My adorable little silkie Lavern. I brought her inside got her in a cozy box and started dripping water in her beak through a wet paper towel as she laid there. I thought I was going to lose her too, but she is now holding her head up and has drank and ate a bit by herself. She's inside and im monitoring her very closely. I just feel so terrible. If I was just a few minutes earlier I maybe could have saved them all... This was my first time owning chickens. They were five months old and so close to laying their first eggs... :,( I've been crying all day...
Anyways, all that to say. I'm going to build my coop ten times stronger, and board up the side the dog got into. We've dealt with the owners of the dog and turned them into animal control. They offered to pay the damages.
I'm not sure what to do now because I only have one hen now, she is almost 5 months old. I know I need to have more hens for her, but I'd like advice on what age pullets to get as company for her, how many, and how I should go about introducing them. I won't be able to get more until next week.. Will she be ok until then by herself? I will keep her inside of course until she is in full health again. Any advice on how to care for her during this time would be great too. Thank you all!
-Sarae

 

[tdepointe]

I am sorry for your loss. I would recommend a adding electric fence to you coop for dogs. Once a dog kills chickens it often will come back.
As for introducing new chickens I would what until she is doing well before I added new chickens. Whit that said you could replace the three you lost without an issue. I would add pullets of 12 to 16 weeks.

 

[littlerae11]

Thank you so much for your response. That makes me feel much better that I should easily be able to replace the three. She's a very gentle hen so I figured she'd do ok with some new young ones. I'm still so upset though. I had them all since they were very young and they were friendly and knew me well. So close to laying eggs too. Such a sad event. I will definitely be looking into an electric fence!!! I don't want this to ever happen again. I was recently considering letting them free range a bit too and now I'm so nervous about it.

 

[littlerae11]

Should I still slowly introduce new hens or can I just put them together seems they are younger? I don't think my silkie will pick on them. I'm more worried they will gang up on her.

 

[tdepointe]

Sorry, I was assuming you would be adding silkies. If you are adding larger hens I would go younger and yes introduce slowly with a divider so they can see and get to know each other but not fight.

 

[chickendreams24]

@littlerae11
Where are you from? We have some 16.5 week pullets we would consider rehoming if you're interested in buying a few. We are in southern WI. They are our personal birds we're not really in the business of selling yet plan to breed at some point but thought I would offer. Hope Lavern heals quickly.

 

[littlerae11]

I live in upstate NY. I am looking for silkies and easter eggers as this is what I had before and they all did very well together. I'm still in shock over it all... I thought for sure everything was strong enough to keep anything out. You can never be too safe.

 

[Free Feather]

Will the dog be able to come back?
This is all too familiar with me. The neighbors have beagles trained to hunt birds, and a few of them have learned to kennel climb. And every time they get out, they know where the best place to be in town is...
I have lost over twenty since last March. The worst of the gang was re homed and a new top was put on the kennel, so hopefully this is the end of it. I asked no money from the owner because in every other way they are good neighbors, and they took many measures to keep their dogs in. They could not truly replace them anyways.

 

[littlerae11]

I hope the dog will not come back.. We have lived here for three years and I've only seen the dog get out three times, but it could be more that's just what I've seen. I'm nervous now though because he knows where the good are like you were saying.... Unfortunately it wasn't the owners that were home. They were on vacation and it was the dog sitters fault. He was very apologetic. I did ask for some money just because the dog literally ripped the door off the coop and broke it, and that coop was not cheap. When the neighbors get home I think we will go over there and kindly explain what happened so that maybe they will take better precautions to not let their dog get out. Or at least if he does that they will follow him right away!!! That's the thing is that this dog got out, but the dog sitter didn't come looking for him! Then he killed my darling pets.. I'm going to rebuild the coop super solid and put hardware cloth on the inside of the run too so that there are two layers of wire. I'm just so sad over this. If it happens again I don't know if I could handle it. I knew this could be a reality of owning chickens, but I never thought Id be this sad over it. I don't know how many times I could go through that before giving up on keeping chickens.
I also think we're going to raise the coop off of the ground more. It's only about a foot off the ground. Perfect level for a big dog to break in and out his head right through the door.. If we put it higher we may not have a problem.

 

[bobbi-j]

Will the dog be able to come back?
This is all too familiar with me. The neighbors have beagles trained to hunt birds, and a few of them have learned to kennel climb. And every time they get out, they know where the best place to be in town is...
I have lost over twenty since last March. The worst of the gang was re homed and a new top was put on the kennel, so hopefully this is the end of it. I asked no money from the owner because in every other way they are good neighbors, and they took many measures to keep their dogs in. They could not truly replace them anyways.

Sounds like electric fencing might be a good investment for you. Even though the dogs have been rehomed, other predators could get in the same way.