this really isn't a question.. really isn't a comment.. really isn't advice.. more to vent.
I just watched a dog take 3 of my babies. My mom's pet polish chicken Matilda... and two buff orpingtions. One of my favorites too.. It jumped my chain link fence. Came into MY YARD & attacked MY pets. i threw a frying pan at it.. chased it across 3 yards into the woods & still can't find where its taking my babies. Alice my MG I found in the neighbors yard up about 20 ft in a tree.. how she ever got that high up idk bc she's really tiny... but she didn't even squeak till i called for her. waited till i got too her then flew down so i could take her home. My mom is totally devastated. That was her one & only chicken, she picked out & raised. its just.. I've never actually had to watch my babies be carried off still screeching & flapping their wings, totally helpless to stop it. If nothing else I will get the .22 out & load it with bird shot. The next chicken it takes won't suffer & the dog will be picking bird shot out of its teeth just to eat the chicken.
ok.. I'm done complaining.
stray dog attack
You can complain all you need to. We do all understand. I am still grieving over my Silkie Riley who drowned in my pond...you don't just get over it. And you have to worry about the dog coming back--which it will.
If you can afford it you can buy a pet electric fence for $50. You hook it up to you house current and attach it around the perimeter of your yard (it will cover over a mile of fencing). It is not as powerful as a livestock one--but it kept my dogs from digging out or tearing down the fence to get out. It stings!
I've watched these dogs go thru a normal electric fence, i know a pet won't stop them. He never really touched the fence anyways.. cleared it by a good 6 inches. This looked like.. part boxer part something else...huge dog. long skinny legs.. jumped like a deer. He came back 3 times & now my babies won't go in the coop.. they are roosting way up in the trees where i can't get them. deathly quiet tonight.. bad storms coming in. i have to be up at 5 am to go out of town.. i'm going to be a basketcase. I tried shaking limbs.. climbing up to toss them down to mom.. but they are too high. i couldn't get them & they hang on amazingly well. I'm just afraid they will get blown out.. or struck by lightening. not to mention they are going to be drenched. i bribed, pleaded & begged.. no amount of treats will bring them out of the trees. this will be a long night.
I'm so sorry Grey - that is miserable. My heart goes out to you. I am still getting over Rosie the Rescue who died last year when I was home for Christmas, and she just died of a virus, not a dog attack. We have a bad storm coming too. I hope your babies will be OK. Hang in there. Catch the dog and take it to the pound.
The storms hitting you are attached to the ones here.. we've got 80+ mph winds, large hail & bad bad lightening.. This is getting icky. we got hit with 95 mph winds not too long ago. i wont have a chicken left in a tree after this. hopefully they die out before they get close to you!
The chickens will sense a storm coming and take shelter where they feel secure. If they don't come down tonight, the will when they calm down. I'm so sorry about the dog, I sure know how you feel. I hope you are in a situation where you CAN take a shot at it. Buckshot sure cured me from stealing cherries in high school.
i have great news.. amazing news..
Matilda walked into the front yard this evening...
We went looking for who the dog belonged too & a neighbor told us they'd seen a chicken wandering around last night that looked like a skunk. We started calling & all of a sudden he burst thru the bushes & runs to squat down under my feet.
He is fine, no blood, no cuts, no lost feathers. One spot on his foot looks like a bite but its healing up pretty good already.
i'm guessing the dog dropped her up in the woods.
Mom's happy she has her chicken back.
Wow, you've had good luck with chickens this week. Glad all well.
That is so wonderful!
Excellent news! I'm so happy - it's always great when the unexpected (good) happens!
[[ BIG SMILE]]
My poor chickens.. they are so tramatized. half wont' go in the coop.. they all (35) think that everytime i'm in the yard they must be under my feet.. on my shoulder.. ON my feet. They jump at every sound. They hide most of the day. They are all safe for now.. but they do not want to be anywhere near the ground.
what I have left are pretty jumpy too. Well, except the turkeys. They aren't smart enough to remember what happened. They go where ever their food dish goes.
food, treats.. nothing about the time of day that dog came around will get them out of the trees.. off the garage roof.. off the benches...
a raccoon could pick them off in nothing flat if they found them. Its been a long few nights of not very much sleep.
the neighbors chickens well most of them... are about 30 ft up in the trees the last few nights. Thankfully mine don't realize they can fly that high.
I just read this topic tonight. I was so glad when Matilda made it back home. How awful to have a dog come into YOUR yard and steal chickens. I guess everyone likes chicken. I hope he doesn't come back.
Brenda
The neighbor boys went up back & snooped around hunting for his trail.. bc they said he'd be back. So far we haven't seen him but they found 15 feet of fence that someone had knocked down up back so they figured that's where he was crossing at first when he saw the chickens. They fixed it & haven't seen even a raccoon since then. I had found 6 ft of fence that someone one had very neatly taken the clips off of & shoved to the ground.. so we've got people running lines across our property again. If I'd go check I've probably got trails worn into the grass up there. Its time to start walking the fence line a couple times a week.. deer & quail seasons will be here soon. They aren't shooting on my property. All i need is someone to take out a cat or chicken bc it suddenly moved.
Rehoming 3 roos.. they plucked all teh feathers out of matilda's head the first nite she was home. Guess she smelled funny. They were all up to rehome anyways.. just going across the street.. They leave sometime this week.