It happened again!

For the second time, the neighbor dog tunneled under the fence and attacked my chickens.  The door was open to the chicken coop and the chickens were free ranging in my back yard.  They do not get to do this as often as I would like for them to.  The neighbor dog went into the coop after killing one chicken in the yard and damaging feathers on another one.  He killed one chicken inside of the coop and injured one which died soon after.  By this time my son grabbed the dog and held him off of the rest of the chickens.  I don't know how he was able to grab the dog by the collar and not be attacked.  The dog is a Huskey and weighs about 40 pounds.  I don't think she is fully grown.  All 3 of the chickens that died were under a year old.  The oldest one was a great egg layer.  We had tree trimming in our area today for Westar.  Asplundh was the tree trimming company and they were very helpful.  The same gentleman that moved the cone for me to leave my driveway this morning happened to pop his head over the fence to see what was going on.  He contacted the neighbor to come get his dog and followed it up with a 911 call.  (I did not know about the 911 call at this time.)  When the neighbor came to get his dog I informed him of the problem.  I told him that if it happens again, animal patrol would be getting his dog and putting her down.  (I didn't know if they would or not, but I was angry.)  I raised my voice when I was talking to him and I was standing in my back yard during the conversation.  Can you believe that he asked me to not raise my voice while I talked to him?  Not a, yes mam or I am sorry for your inconvenience mam, was uttered.  He sure as shit hasn't learned how to talk to his elders.  (Just a little side note here, I am about 5 foot 3 inches tall, almost 60 years old, and I am about as big around as I am tall.  I have an Elementary Education degree and I know how to give that stern look.  He is a clean cut, husky guy about 25 years old.)   I told him that I was in my yard where his dog just killed 3 of my chickens.  I had a permit for my chickens and he was in the wrong as the dog owner.  I went on to say that  I have lived in my home for 19 years and I had the right to raise my voice when he was having to pick up his dog at my house.  He did say he was sorry as he left-----he was about half way down the driveway when he did so.  

We have decided that Ruby Rainbow, the older hen, must have 9 lives since she has survived two attacks.

The police came and observed the situation.  They called Animal Patrol since it was out of their area of expertise and jurisdiction. When I talked to the dog owner, I had no idea that 911 had been called.  Animal Patrol came and the kids delt with them since I had to get back to work.  The lady visited with me on the telephone.  She was very kind.  She informed me that I could press charges and have up to two years to do so.  I told her if they paid restitution and made steps to take care of the fence so his dogs would not get out, I would not press charges.  I know and work with the parents of the dog owners.  The father came by and visited with my kids.  He basically said that you can't dangle a steak in front of the dogs and not expect them to eat. 

My daughter-in-law looked over the fence about 30 minutes before the chicken attack because she heard an unusual noise.  The father of the neighbors told me on the phone that her actions of wanting to visit with the dogs made them aware that the chickens were in the back yard and that is what prompted the dog to dig under the fence.  Why is it that people have to accuse you of something wrong when they are caught in the wrong?  The lady from Animal Patrol also asked us if we had a rooster because the dpg owners told her that they heard a rooster crow.  Wichita allows you to have chickens, but not roosters because they don't just crow in the morning.  It is common to think you have pullets or young female chickens and end up with a rooster or two out of a bunch.  We thought we had a pullet and over a two week period, he almost doubled in size and started to crow and LIKE the girls.  Big Buff now lives in the country where he can crow all he wants.  This is my second example of when caught with your hand in the cookie jar, you have to tell on all of the others that may have had his or her hand in the jar too.

I have photos and a video, but I don't think many of my readers want to see dead chickens.  The video actually shows one of the chickens loosing all of her fight as she wiggles and holds her mouth open.  I do understand that our society eats animals for meat.  We treat the animals well and then kill them and eat them.  We are not going to eat our hens.  Our hens are for producing eggs and of course we treat them well.  I think each egg is worth more than ten dollars.  Alomg with feed and water, we them organic flax seed, organic wheat sprouts that I grow, meal worms, and calendula petals.