Will they come back for night time? I need help. update

[pixiechick]

Did you ever find them? I think I would kick my BIL. Hard.

 

[KellyandKatie]

Hope that you find them. I have better luck finding strays with a flashlight after dark than I do trying to catch them when they are all worked up.
Sorry that your BIL acted like an inconsiderate dingus

 

[Whistling Badger]

Quote:
Or his dogs. But the BIL would probably be easier to catch up with.

T

 

[Jennyhaschicks]

Well no baby chicks. We were down near their house all day since we are getting prepared for our piglets who are coming to us soon. We looked on and off all day.
Tom- great advice. I had my older chicks out free ranging today, but I kept my smaller chicks in a big wire cage. We don't have a run up yet since we need to vinyl side our hen house. We can't side it though until we get our addiction on for our pigs. Our hen house is obviously new. I have decided to not let the smaller chicks range until they are a few weeks older. That will set my mind at ease for a little while.

I am mad at the dogs. However, they didn't know any better. We have two Boston Terriers who were curious about the chicks when we put them outside. My older girl sorta chased after them a couple of times, but we corrected her. They have been outside since last weekend and we keep a close watch on our dogs. The dogs that came over have only been corrected a couple of times. They are certainly not mean dogs either. I was outside today and the pug pup was over. She went after the chicks in the wire cage a couple of times and I spoke to her. I had my hose in hand ready to spray her, but she backed off every time. I just can't let my guard down. Animals know when they are being watched and will try to get away with something if they know there are no humans there to speak to them.

I am starting to think my chicks are gone forever. Poor babies. I hope they didn't suffer, but I have an idea they did.

 

[Jennyhaschicks]

Update-

My dh found one of our chicks. It was dead though.

He was working on the pig pen today and noticed an awful smell coming from under our chicken house. It was a dead chick. It had plenty of maggots so it has been dead for a while. I don't know how I over looked it. I checked and re checked under the coop for days. The only thing I can think is that it died from a heart attack of something when the dogs chased it. If that is the case then I missed it because it was lying in a patch of heavier grass. It must have died right off because I would have seen it move I would think. Poor baby. I still feel terrible.
Anyway, in case you were wondering.

 

[basicliving]

:aww I'm so sorry.

Penny

 

[Kessidy]

I am so sorry. That is so hard!

 

[Jennyhaschicks]

Thank you both for your kind words. I guess there are two kinds of "animal" people if you know what I mean. I am the kind that grieves the loss of my animals more than others. Not that it makes you a bad person not to grieve the loss of a chick. I am sure you know what I mean.

 

[basicliving]

Aw, Jenny. I understand. I'm the same way. I lost 4 chicks the first 4 days I had them (1 each day) and 5 weeks later it still makes me sad and I wonder how they would look now if they had lived and how much fun they would be having learning to fly and run around and play. I know in my heart that it's best the weak ones get "sorted" out in the beginning, but it still makes me sad.

to you.

Penny

 

[chiknlittle]

I'm really sorry about your loss, but I thought I'd share an interesting story that might offer a solution to the dog problem.

I have a neighbor that lives up the road and through the woods. Not long after we moved in he and his girlfriend came and introduced themselves as our neighbors and we invited them in. During the course of the following conversation, they told us about Fred, who is not their dog, but lives with them anyway. We were told that the prior owners of their house had abandoned Fred and that they had been providing food, water, shelter and vet care for over a year. They were very adamant that it was not their dog and hoped we wouldn't mind if Fred came to visit us sometimes! About the time we started talking about getting chickens was about the same time that Fred pooped in the middle of our driveway! un He would come on the property and pee on the generator and the shed and anything else. I called animal control so many times and nothing happened.

The law here says that I have the right to shoot anything that is destroying my property so I did. I bought one of those CO2 powered air pistols that shoots plastic pellets and waited. My dog would start barking when he saw him and I would literally shoot these plastic pellets at Fred and continue shooting until he was out of sight. Fred had such a think mangy coat and was far enough away that I doubt I ever really hit him, but the pellets zooming past scared him enough that he doesn't come here anymore.

I don't know if this would be a good solution to your problems since you would either have to catch them on their way in or get them as they leave. I don't think I'd shoot in amongst the chicks. The dogs don't sound menacing, but I'm afraid this problem will only worsen if not corrected. Can you put up an electric fence, or would your BIL allow his dogs to wear the collar needed for an invisible fence? I hate the thought of losing birds because somebody has a chronic case of the stupids.