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Time for a bb gun!

Jul 26th, 2008 by Maria

I don’t know what else to do! About a month ago, with in a week, two of our chickens disappeared. First it was Ralph, so I thought that maybe she had gone broody again and was just laying on a clutch somewhere. But then Spike disappeared. I had a weird feeling that it was one of our neighbors, so Kaia and I went for a little hike down the valley. Suki came with us and ran ahead. She came back up from his house with Spike’s wing and dropped it at my feet. Then we found some feathers. I think one of his dogs came up on the property and got them. So, the four chickens left were put in the coop area and were no longer free range. But, today Faye was killed. From what we can tell, a dog pulled her head through the fencing and took it off. It tried to dig a whole under the coop, but didn’t get all the way in. Now I don’t know what to do! I’ve never seen them up here. Usually Suki keeps them off the property. But she comes inside now and then to cool off when it’s hot, and we don’t hear a thing. We may need to move the coop to the front of the house area, but I really don’t want to have to go through all that trouble if there is another solution. Electrify the fence??? We’re down to three chickens!

Posted in Chickens/Ducks

13 Responses to “Time for a bb gun!”

  1. Gregg says:
    7/26/2008 at 9:24 pm

    It’s fox or a coyote, not a dog … unless it’s a bird-dog breed. Happens to ours here.

  2. Maria says:
    7/26/2008 at 9:30 pm

    It’s possible, but the trail of feathers leads to our neighbors dogs. So, I’m pretty sure it’s them.

    How do you keep them away from your chickens?

  3. Daisy the Curly Cat says:
    7/27/2008 at 8:34 am

    Oh no! I am very sorry about the poor chickens.

  4. Gregg says:
    7/27/2008 at 9:58 am

    Perhap I underestimated the aggression of other types of dogs. Our spaniels will kill them in a second, our mutts leave them alone.
    Well, we have a pretty strong pen for them. Made of thick metal something like a grate plus chicken wire around the bottom. But if the chicken is dense enough to stick his head out a hole when a predator is around there’s not much you can do but chalk one up for natural selection. They also have a shed to escape into and roost. It helps immensely if you’re just using chickenwire to bury it at least two feet into the ground so whatever it is can’t dig it’s way under.

  5. KathieS says:
    7/27/2008 at 11:12 am

    I have not seen roaming dogs, but that is not to say there are none. I have heard some strange calling in the woods, and we have not decided what it might be. Could a huge bird kill a chicken? I am willing to help you in any way I can. I hate that they are in danger.

  6. Robbyn says:
    7/27/2008 at 11:48 pm

    So sorry about your losses! We’ll be following your decisions with great interest since we are seeing more and more bloggers mentioning how destructive neighboring dogs have been to their livestock, namely the chickens.

  7. Chris K. says:
    7/27/2008 at 11:57 pm

    You, my dear, have a Fox. Foxes are extremely quite, unbelievably smart, and believe it or not, have been shown to throw off their trail to other animals. In this case, your neighbors dog. Foxes know how to backtrack, and can even learn what time of the day to attack. In this case, it sounds like your fox might know that Suki goes inside to cool off. Ever patient as well. A fox will simply wait out Suki, who will never know that the fox is close. Foxes are smarter than raccoons. It could be a raccoon as well, but it sounds like a fox. I have a surefire way of getting rid of him. Call me.

  8. Thomas says:
    7/28/2008 at 12:12 am

    What does your neighbor say about his dogs? If you’re down four chickens, the neighbor owes you four dogs.

  9. Maria says:
    7/28/2008 at 8:59 am

    Could be a fox, although we’ve not see any out here in 2 years. Definitely not a bird, ’cause it would have had to land and then tried to pull the chicken through the fence. Usually they swoop down and grab, and they can’t do that because we have too many trees and bushes in our coop. As far as the neighbor… well he’s currently in jail and I don’t think (considering some of his offenses) I would ever approach him!!

  10. Shannon says:
    7/28/2008 at 1:55 pm

    Definitely could be a dog. We recently moved and our old neighbor had a dog that was killing my ducks AND my cats. It was only when I caught the dog killing one of my dogs that I was able to put an end to the situation.

    If dogs are not brought up around birds from the time they are puppies, many of them have that hunting instinct in them. It is purely a socialization issue, no fault of the dog. Plenty of fault with the owner tho.

    Maria, my mom keeps a paintball gun on hooks in the rafter of her porch. She sits on her porch in the swing and will shoot dogs that wander up and the cats that like to hunt around her bird feeders. It does not hurt the animal but it STINGS. It is a bit more pricey than bb’s tho. I joke that she looks like Grannie Clampett when she sits and waits with a paintball gun across her lap.

  11. Maria says:
    7/28/2008 at 8:23 pm

    A Paintball gun!!! I love it!!!

  12. Leigh says:
    8/5/2008 at 11:54 am

    Many, many breeds of dogs will kill chickens, not just a bird dog. Some dogs are just hunters,and there isn;t much you can do to “train it out of them.” I would probably try toput some sort of deterrant around the coop, if at all possible. Most foxes will not come to an area with another dog, like Suki. I wish you luck!

  13. Angela says:
    8/27/2008 at 11:23 am

    When we had something getting in to our chickens, we set up a baby monitor at the coop. When we heard the critters, my husband went down to take care of them. He killed 3 raccoons in one night, after they had killed at least 6 of our meat birds.

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