They Got My Chickens....in My House!!!!!!!!!!(more story on Page3)

[SIMPleChick]

So my husband and I were just woken up by our dogs rushing into our bedroom, barking, warning us about something. I have a trained German Shepherd who allerts to seizures for my step-daughter.....First we thought it was Kaylee, but then we hear screaches and screaming from our 3 baby chicks from the open top brooder down stairs!! We run out of our room to find the NEIGHBORS DOGS were in our house with one of my baby chicks in it's mouth!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Their darn dogs broke through our wooden fence, through the plastic fencing I staple gunned to the wood so that wouldn't happen! They ate through both fences and came into our back yard, UP OUR deck stairs and in our dog door, through the house and down the stairs to the basement and found our baby chicks!!!!!!! At first all I could see is feathers, no chicks.......I stand in one spot and scan the room, all over and finally see a little fluffy butt trying to hide in the little space between a basket full of old newspaper and storage shelving. I pull her out and carry her while I continue to search. I seriously couldn't find them!!!! They are all only 3 weeks old! I leave the room for a minute to tell my husband I can only find 1 chick, as he is yelling at the neighbor....I go back and see more loose feathers and another chick! My cuckoo Maran was So scarred! Her tail feathers were soaked from the dogs mouth, the one that the dog had....I dried her off and didn't see any blood but I couldn't find our tiny little OEGB Roo! Finally he pops out from behing our washer/dryer and starts to CROW when he sees the girls again! Our little boys is crowing from a near death experience! OH MY GOSH! That's one way to wake up! Our girls were ok inthe back yard, they were still in the coop and run, but these neighbor dogs are only puppies! A 5 month old Austrailian shepherd mix and a 3 month old blue heeler mix!!!! What the hell!? My husband is out putting chicken WIRE up along our wooden fence, which will look stupid but the dogs won't be able to eat through! We told the neighbors that if our chickens get in their yard, it's our fault, this is our first year with chickens.....but they broke in to OUR yard and were in OUR house!! Ohhhhhhh.....Can you tell I'm ticked???? HA! MY POOR BABIES!!!! I hope they won't die from stress!!

(more on posts 25 and 28 on page 3 with a picture of what the fence looks like!)

 

[Eveyander]

OMG!!! That is soooo crazy!!!!! My Mother-in-law accidentaly left our german short hair pointer in the garge w/our 3-4 week old chicks and turkeys for hrs!!! Needless to say they did not mke it

I'm glad that yours at least have a chance of surviving!! And thank goodness your shepard did not kill the puppies that would of been a bigger mess to deal with!!! This year we have been watching our babies like hawks and I'm glad to report that they are now almost 3 months old and are blooming!!! Hope everything goes well with your babies!!!!!

 

[dkvart1]

What a terrible thing to happen! Hoping they will be no worse for the ordeal.

Puppies or not I'd be telling the neighbors if they are on your property again it will be the end of them and it would be. Don't get me wrong I love dogs, but long ago we had to put down one of ours that traveled a mile up the road and killed a neighbors rabbits. Lesson learned, even on 80 acres dogs will find thier way where they shouldn't and it's the owners responsibility to keep their dogs on their property, whatever that takes.

 

[geebs]

They seriously would never have gone home.... STRAIGHT TO THE POUND without a word.... THey will be back.

Those two breeds of dogs are the absolute worst for killing chickens... Your problems have just begun...Chicken wire will NOT stop them... A very serious conversation with the neighbor is in order... I would remove the dogs permanently next time...by whatever force necessary...If your chickens are wet from the dogs... They have been bit... It is likely that they have been crushed in their mouths... Look under the wings for puncture holes.. no matter how small... Assume they have been crushed and anticipate losses. Submit a bill to your nieghbor along with a warning...I love my nieghbor but the line in the sand is drawn very clearly when their black lab entered my coup... I went for my gun... After a conversation and their purchase of some car tow chain... we had coffee and were back to business as usual... It has been a couple years since the episode and we are still friends... but the line is drawn and we are super clear about what that means.

 

[andalusn]

You may not want to be the "bad guy" but that episode deserves pictures of the damage and a call to animal control... file a report. They came 'inside" your home.. That's just not acceptable for any reason.

 

[SIMPleChick]

YES, thank you, I agree....If my chickens or dogs get in YOUR yard, it's MY fault, but if yours are in MY yard, breaking through my fence! Then it is THEIR fault! ALL of my chickens were securely in their coop, and my house a LONG way away from their house and even the fence! My husband says next time he won't be so nice to their dogs, our dogs are VERY well trained, but I think next time they will not let the puppies in our yard.....

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

As stated by Geebs - chicken wire WILL not stop any animal but a chicken - do not expect it to work against dogs.



You will want 2x2 wrapped wire - NOT welded wire as the welds pop and break - the wrapped/woven wire it very strong and can be moved from area to area (trust me I have some that is 5 years old and I keep moving it around).


What a way to wake up, glad the chicks are ok.

 

[flnatv]

I honestly don't know what I would do, but I do have a blue heeler myself... but she is scared of water, wind, leaves, etc (not the horse barn dog I was anticipating)...

Can you put up an electric fence to keep the dogs out? That is what I use to keep my dogs IN.

Good luck and those dogs should be in a fenced yard, triple electrocuted.

Hope your babies are okay.

 

[mediazeal]

Chicken wire will not work to stop dogs or raccoons
you need to use hardware cloth, but actually, I would hot wire the fence
keep your fences strong and shut the inside doors to the chickens so they are behind a closed door besides
so scary
Before I had chickens, the neighbors dog did the same thing, broke through the fence, came in the dog door and went counter surfing in my kitchen. Took home a bag of flour and a loaf of bread.
No chickens were harmed
bag of flour and loaf of bread were toast

 

[madabouthens]

i seen where u said u were putting up chicken wire and if its not haevy duty the dogs myt get through it because a fox can get therough unless its heavy duty and sorry to hear about that