What killed my 7 chickens this morning?

[Bamafansince86]

I went to work this morning at 7am and at 9am all my free range chickens are dead. I had a hawk problem about a month ago but he went away. All that is left are pecies of wings and feathers everywhere. Any ideas on what can do that damage in that time frame?

 

[Howard E]

A pack of canine somethings.........coyotes or maybe pack of dogs?

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Hi, welcome to BYC!

Agreed, dogs or canid pack of some sort. Sorry for your loss!

 

[Bamafansince86]

Is it legal to kill the dogs/coyotes if they come back in my yard?

 

[junebuggena]

If they don't have a secure coop, then it could have been just about anything.

 

[Howard E]

Is it legal to kill the dogs/coyotes if they come back in my yard?

Depends on where you live, but it would be here.......assuming I was here to stop it or could act fast enough if I was.

As for what it was, there are a lot of things that will kill and eat a single chicken on site. There are a lot of things that will kill multiple birds. There are not many that can kill and eat 7 birds in that amount of time. A pack of coyotes could do that, but would likely catch and leave with them. That leaves dogs, and pet dogs would mostly likely just kill them. A pack of wild dogs would kill and then eat them on site.

Most likely whatever it was will be back, so you may well get a chance to find out.

 

[Howard E]

deleted duplicate post

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Is it legal to kill the dogs/coyotes if they come back in my yard?

It is here but depends on your jurisdiction. I'm sure your local ag department, animal control, police or sheriff's department can tell you. But beware, some of those people (individuals not the departments) may not have accurate info.

Also you will want to take your neighborhood safety into consideration and choose an appropriate method of dispensing said predator. In other words don't put a bullet through your neighbors couch or something. And NEVER relocate. That usually is illegal.

 

[Bamafansince86]

Yep. Neighbors dogs killed them. They tore through the 3 other pens I have and killed all those birds too. A total of 19 birds dead.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

That is terrible!

I am so sorry for your loss!

It's terrible to be in a situation like that with your neighbor.

Is the neighbor planning to do anything to correct the situation? That's quite a major loss. Chickens are considered livestock and therefor part of your livelihood. There is much discussion about what proper compensation is.

You are gonna get lot's of people feeling rage for you on here.

Some will tell you shoot the dogs. I am an avid dog lover. And I say after a clear warning (not a threat) that the consequences will be grave if they come on your property again... yes I would shoot.

On top of that I would immediately call animal control. They should at least quarantine the dogs while testing for rabies or something and have it documented that the dogs are considered dangerous. What if you got bit when trying to stop the attack? And they were at large while they were roaming your property.

My sister in law is our insurance agent for homeowners' and none of her companies will cover a homeowner who's dogs have killed another animal. They all consider an animal like that to be dangerous. So I was instructed not to tell her if my dogs caught something in our yard, and they have several times including opossum, cats, rats, and gophers.

How is your current relationship with your neighbor? Are their dogs usually contained? How far from you are they?

Your head must be spinning right now.

Hang in there!