Dog attack

Yesterday my daugher looked out the window and saw a dog at our little chickens pen. She ran out the door, my son ran out the door and by the time I got out there they said it went around to the front. So I went out the front and it was already down the driveway. As I was walking back my kids came around the house, my daughter in tears saying Brownie is dead. They had found a pile of feathers. And to top that off Pj was missing. Brownie is our Golden laced polish roo and PJ is our little one eyed Blue Cochin. They stay in the backyard. We found more feathers in various places but no blood and no body. I told my daughter that unless there was more than one dog that he could still be alive and hiding. We searched and searched, there were feathers in the back, in the front, out in the field towards the pond and then some towards a group of trees that has a lot of berry vines and bushes around them. We walked all over looking and looking and couldn't find Brownie or PJ. We began to think maybe a hawk got Pj or there was more than one dog. There were no PJ feathers just Brownie feathers. After a good hour I walked back into the backyard and there was PJ. What a relief! She must have been hiding really well. We continued to look for Brownie. I went back to the trees with the berry vines and looked again, I suddenly heard a chicken, I listened and looked. Our Cat Garfield, who had just been let out of the house, was out there walking and looking like he saw something. I think he had disturbed Brownies hiding place and he came out. There between vines stood a stunned, scruffed up Brownie. What a sight he was. He is missing a lot of feathers from his tail and back and his back was a little bloody, but he is alive. He seems timid and scared now and probably doesn't feel too good after running and running and loosing a ton of feathers that got yanked out by a dog, but he is alive.

Through all the chasing I don't have a clue why we heard nothing. We usually hear any commotion that goes on outside and our dog barks. I don't know what she was doing but she was just laying there in the yard as this dog was trying to get to the baby chickens after Brownie had eluded him.

What a day we had. Sorry this was so long.

Poor Brownie! But it sounds as if he will be OK. Pet dogs do seem to be the worst of the predators.

I know the feeling, and for children it must be worse. They see their pets almost as human beings.

As we speak, I am trying to find a way to keep that predator cat out of my yard. I think I'm going to try first the sprinkler sensor and/or the driveway sensor. The driveway ones are $14 on ebay right now. That would at least alert me if I'm here. The problem is I don't want to stay here 24/7 to guard the chickens.

There are also some that have a strobe light and make noise when they are triggered.

The sprinkler sensor is getting 4 out of 5 stars, but what happens in the winter when it's frozen?

I'm happy for you that your chickens are alive. My chicken is better too. She went out in the yard today and pecked around awhile before going back in the coop. I'm not sure if she's sick or nervous or both.

I thought all my chickens were in one evening untill I started counting and one was missing,I just happed to turn around and my dog had her in his mouth trying to sneek of with her,but she never made a sound even while she was in his mouth,I my dog to drop it and he did she ran under the rose bush poor thing was scared to death,after that my dog stayed in untill all the chickens were accounted for.Your chickens probably didn`t make a sound and of corse the dog would not want to be heard so he was very quiet thats probably why you or your dogs did not hear anything.My chickens all stay in their run except one that I let out when the dog is inside.

Brownie is still just sitting around, he pecks at food a little but mostly stays in the little house. We found that he has some wounds on his back and his wing, none look real serious but probably painful anyway. I didn't see that dog today and hope I don't ever again although a neighbor said he saw one that sort of fit the decription. I still can't figure out how it chased Brownie all over the place and our dog never barked.

WOW Smedge: I sure glad they are alright, Chickens heal well if given time. I'm glad you filled us in and don't care how long it took.

Sometimes we have to keep our guard up a little better than we do. This morning I found one of my girls did not get into the coop and she spent the night outside, she was alright, but it shows slackness on my part so I have to pick it up. Hope the children will be ok, that is extremely hard on the children.

Garlic and cinnamon are supposed to have some type of natural antibiotic properties. My hen has been eating sour cream with garlic and cinnamon. I tried to cover her neck with honey, I think most of it went on the feathers instead of the wound.

I can't say it helped for sure, but I don't think it hurt anything.

It's hard for them to resist sour cream or yogurt.

Please keep us informed on how they are doing.

Smedgeckles wrote:"Brownie is still just sitting around, he pecks at food a little but mostly stays in the little house. We found that he has some wounds on his back and his wing, none look real serious but probably painful anyway. "

It might be best to seperate Brownie, and keep him warm. They are often so stressed that they go into shock. I use canned cat food for injured chickens, they usually eat that. Unfortunately the wounds may be more serious than they look, but you can treat them. Wounds from teeth (punctures) can be deep, and are easily infected. If you can wash the wounds and apply a triple antibiotic ointment, that should keep it from scabbing over. It should heal from the inside out.
Chickens are tough, and we'll all be pulling for a complete recovery for Brownie.

green wrote;"she never made a sound even while she was in his mouth"

I've had that happen, too. I always wondered why they'd go silently :(

Well, now I know they don't always. One of my hens, after a merry chase, wound up in a tree the other night. Did not want to go inside the coop. I thought she should [g]. I got my handy dandy ladder, and went to pluck her out of the tree.
I have never HEARD such a noise!! It was horrible, and I almost dropped her. My SO came flying out, all the dogs went nuts, and I'm surprised the neighbors (several acres away) didn't call the police! She was silent as soon as she had her perch under her feet, snuggled in with everyone else, and all was well....

I was in the garden a few weeks ago and heard one of my chickens squawking horribly. It was obviously in distress. I came running and saw a young red-tailed hawk on the ground with her in its talons. When it saw me it flew off, and the chicken was okay - I think. A couple of my white chickens died a couple of weeks later and I'm not sure why or whether it was related to possibly one having injuries that I didn't see from its close escape. Usually my poultry will make a fuss if a predator is nearby and they feel threatened. If not the chickens, the geese will normally sound an alarm, although with them it's hard to tell whether they're just indignant about having to share something with lowly chickens or whether there's really a danger.

I'm glad your chickens turned up alive and I do hope you find that dog!

Thanks for all the well wishes. Brownie drank a lot of water this morning and stayed out for a while. His waddles felt warm this morning, yesterday they felt cool, and he is "talking" a little more. Not crowing but making some Brownie sounds. I think he is a bit in shock and probably doesn't understand why we suddenly have him caged. We do have his companion PJ with him and I think that helps comfort him. She cleans his feathers (whats left of them) for him. We let them out to roam last evening while we were outside. He roamed and pecked a little but still looks very timid. I'm just glad he was a very quick roo.

And greenhouse mentioned geese making noise, I can't figure why our ducks were not making a racket either when the attack happened. Normally if anyone or anything walks in the backyard they are quacking up a storm so loud they could be heard for miles. Such a mystery.

How's Brownie doing?

Yes, how is Brownie?

I have read this thread and found it so close to home. I have a pair of black silkies, well they have two babies with them now. They have always roamed around...never had any problems. Then they all disappeared...one day, then two days...started to worry. These fellas follow me everywhere, in the greenhouse, in the growing area..if I sit down anywhere..there they are Phil, Lil, and lil Jack n Jill. Well I was getting beyond worried. So I started looking around and found a pile of feathers in the front yard. I was devastated. I just knew..

My son found one baby under the pond house, it had several feathers missing. So I was relieved to at least have one. Then the next day the other baby popped up. Here again, relieved. Then two days later, Phil the roo shows up. He was beaten up badly, lumps and bloody spots all over his back, most of his feathers gone. I was again, relieved..but there was such sadness as it seemed Lil had laid her life down for her babies. Well a day or two later my daughter goes out to tell her Dad to come in for supper...there was Lil in his shop. She was worse than Phil. But not dead...thank God!!

I am NOT a chicken person...in fact for the most part I grew to despise them. My husband got on a chicken kick...and we had them everywhere....and I hated them. They were all in the horse feed room, greenhouse, everywhere. He was always having to catch them and pen them up. Dummy bought chicks..no pen. Nor a clue how to raise them...arghh..anyways, I made him get rid of them. As they were tearing my plants up, some of the plants were already sold that got destroyed by their pecking and jumping in them. But Phil and Lil stayed. They never have been trouble, other than the occasional pile of doo in an unwanted place, and of course being followed everywhere.

But these things grew on me. I had no idea. Now I have all four of my babies put securely up in an old hoophouse and have a fan on them. I am really thinking about getting some more...silkies, and the fancy type chickens. I love the exotic looking ones. I am working on some white silkie chicks right now...they are so addicting! I love them. So I guess I will be back here and there to pester yall with some questions from time to time. I am glad Brownie has survived and the rest of the "victims" of cats and dogs. I have shot at the one dog I think did this deed...shot at him 4 times of course not aiming to kill, but to scare, the stupid mutt keeps coming back...everyday, even though he now has been shot at by me, my husband and my son. He is gonna get hit one day. Not being mean, but we cant catch him, so we have no choice but to shoot at him.

I do know that if he keeps going by the new chicken house, he is a dead dog. I love animals..have 7 dogs of my own, but will NOT tolerate any dog to come in my yard and kill my animals. I keep my dogs in my yard, others should do the same. We are all thinking someone has dumped this fella off, as we have a really high rate of stray dogs due to not having a humane society any where nearby. The only one is nearly 70 miles away. It is sad. But at any rate, my "kids" are safe now, and that is all that matters.

Here is a picture of Phil, he was soaked! I love to see him wet, he looks so funny. This bird will not get out of the rain, seems to enjoy the rain.

They do grow on you, especially silkies...they are such sweet little things. (we have 6)
Sorry yours got hurt. Amazing they made it considering how small they are.

Brownie is still very timid, hasn't crowed and sits around. He can't walk well, we discovered that his leg must have been hurt but it didn't show up as being hurt at first because he could walk, even run a little but now he limps pretty bad. We examined his leg but can't really find the problem. He is eating and drinking but still sits and sleeps often. I think he is just in pain, poor ole boy.

Smedgekles, he may just need time. My dogbit Cochin rooster had trouble walking right for several weeks, and it may have been as much as a month. We kept him confined, and well fed, because I couldn't bear the alternative :(. He finally did recover enough that he had only a slight limp, but the other chickens still were not very accepting. I was able to find him a new home down the road (with lonely Cochin hens), and he has now recovered to the point you'd never know he was injured. I think if I'd worked on it, I could have gotten him back into at least one of the splinter flocks, but he was one of 4 roos of the same breed, so he's now happy, and so am I.

Brownie is doing much better now. He isn't limping anymore and he is crowing again! He is still very cautious and scared but looks better and since he is crowing it means he feels better too. His feathers will take time to come back but I'm sure by next spring he will be well feathered and beautiful again.

Thanks for all the well wished and encouragement for Brownie everyone.

What great news :). I'm always afraid to ask about injured critters, so thank you for posting the eggcellent news!

Thats good to hear!

Does anyone know where I can buy good eggs for the silkies or other types of "exotic" birds???