June 7, 2007
Dog Attack II
Last October a neighbor's husky entered our yard and killed seven of our hens. We lodged a complaint with Animal Control, the unlicensed dog's owner was fined. The neighbors then built up their chain link fence to about 9 feet high, so the dog could not climb over the fence.
On Sunday, the same dog dug under the fence. Sometime between six a.m. when I fed my horses and eight a.m. when I got up their dog killed all but three of my remaining old hens and maimed two of those badly. When I came outside the husky was running around our property happily carrying a dead chicken in its mouth. The one in my photo died the next day. Amazingly the last one has survived.
We called animal control again. The officer confiscated the dog but then Animal Control returned it two days later to the owners with orders to keep it tied or confined. I am glad it was not destroyed,as its personality is winning, but once a canine gets a taste for chicken it is very hard to train a dog to not kill them. The owners do not seem inclined to do so. So I will have to construct a more secure yard.
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Me with "Red" in Hollywood |
I show in my DVD how to build a fence that a dog or other predator cannot dig under, but this dog got into my hen yard by climbing the fence and breaking through the polyester netting I had stretched over the top of the yard. It is a lesson to me that polyester netting for chicken yards is not as good as steel wire. The saddest part of all of this was that I lost "Red" and the other last few hens who had been in my original video (and from that footage are on the new DVD.) They were still laying a few eggs, and I had thought they would tide me over until my new pullets start to lay this summer or fall. Now, for the first time in decades, I will be buying eggs at the local farmers market. Once again I am reminded each day is a gift. |
