I had an unfortunate incident happen. I lost one 16 week old hen and had 2 more injured from what I think might have been my neighbours dogs! Could the attack stop my older hens from laying? Since this incident on Wednesday I've had a sudden decrease in eggs - yesterday I only collected one(!!!!!) compared to 9 a day previously!!! Any one with tips would be greatly appreciated!

The injured hens are probably not going to be laying. Sorry to hear about your neighbors dogs doing that. When my neighbors dogs attacked my chickens. They always died. Even the ones that I thought were only slightly hurt. Once a dog gets a hold of a chicken, I feel they are as good as dead. Chickens are fragile. I used to bring them inside and try to nurse them back to health but, after trying to help 15 chickens with no sucess I will just let them be in their coop to die if it happens again. Maybe the dog injured more than just the two? They will usually die within one or two days of the injury. Once a dog starts doing that, they will not stop. I had to put a fence up. Because, it's either that or start blasting dogs.
Joyce

Any kind of stress, be it dietary, fright, cold, heat, transport, or other can cause a halt in laying. Treat your birds very well, and make sure their feed and water is the best it can be. They should come back into production if they have not been physically injured, but it may take a while. Be patient.

If I were you, I'd add some vitamins to their water. That's always a good idea during any kind of stress, whether it's getting new chickens, building a new coop or something like a dog attack. Just make sure they are fed well, comfortable, vitamins in the water and try not to make any changes in their routine or anything else for a while. I've found that the trauma usually passes in a week or so. They'll lay again!

Susie

Once, my older chickens pecked at one of the younger hens and her brain got exposed. She was traumatized and weak for months. Finally, after what seemed like years of pampering she began laying again. Thank God!

Thanks all of you! Any words of wisdom towards the open wound on my hens back? So far she has been treated by cleansing the wound with peroxide & I've been applying Polysporin to the area! I think the other hens have pecked her a little too but I wonder if I separate her will they accept her back into the flock!? Where do I get vitamins from? The feed store perhaps??

Heidi,

Can you separate the wounded girl? She might also pick at herself so you have to keep an eye out for that. If the picking is a problem, get pine tar. It's messy to apply and you need a pair of rubber gloves to apply it but it will help keep the others from picking at her and that will allow her wound to heal.

You can get vitamins for poultry at the feed store. It will be a packet of powder. And pine tar too probably -- I found mine at a ranch supply place. I had to hunt for the pine tar a little bit but then found it over with the horse items.

Oh, cleaning the wound the way you are doing is good. If you can separate her from the others, she might benefit more by a daily cleaning and not doing the pine tar routine.

Good luck! Let us know how it goes.
Susie

Oooops, I didn't read your post very well, did I?

Yes, if you separate her you should be able to get her back with the flock with little problem. They might want to re-establish their pecking order with her when she returns but after a few minutes they'll settle down more than likely. Just make sure she is well healed when she goes back in case they are a little aggressive at first.

Susie

Thanks Susie!
Tonight when I go home I will seperate her from the other girls. ( I am at work right now )I'm hoping that she'll live as she seems to be eating & drinking, moving around okay too. I am on a 10 acre property & I have 2 different groups of chickens. One group is the one we are talking about which were originally "meat-birds" but my kids convinced me to keep the hens for eggs(AND have named the Belina #1 thru 9.....there are 9 hens!). My other group have a coop built seperately from the main barn and seem more "dog-wise". I have 3 dogs of my own & the one actually protects the chickens from the neighbours dogs! I have taught him that they are part of our pack! I don't think I could erect a fenced run big enough for all my friends!

I lost another 2 chickens yesterday while I was at work! I have my 9 "Belina's" and now one little sex-link young hen left! I have instructed my husband not to let them out of their pen today while I'm at work....anyone have any tips on trying to keep predators away? Funny enough my 7 ducks & 2 geese are unscathed in all this chaos! I feel so invaded, I know all you chicken lovers out there would understand my feelings!

As for keeping predators away, there are a few options. One is to leave your chickens in a fenced yard. If it's a yard that predators (cats) can get into, then you'll need to put a roof over their fenced area. The other thing you should do is lock them in their coop at night so predators can't get in. Do you own a dog? They're great for keeping predators away.

I do lock them up at night and they go in before sundown! I have 3 dogs, one is protective of the chickens, the other 2 are not. I will be constructing a large fenced area as of Monday morning and hopefully this will deter the predation!

It's probably dogs doing this. The dogs probably didn't want to get wet otherwise the ducks might have gotten harmed too. I keep a loaded b b gun around but, that won't stop a dog from killing chickens. Once they have a taste for blood they won't stop. Have you looked around your yard and your neighbors yards for the missing chickens? Dogs will drag them about 1/2 acre to leave the dead bodies lying around. I would also call the dog warden if I were you. Dogs are supposed to be under control at all times.If they are bantams or peeps, sometimes a hawk will carry one away from me but, that is very rare. I've only lost one to a hawk in a whole year. I have 6 cats and they've never bothered the chickens. I'd say it's a dog. I went to lowes and bought a bunch of rolled wire 5 ft. high. not the chicken wire, the wire that is galvanized and stronger. I closed off about 1/4 acre for the chickens. They're pretty happy. I only let them out of the fence if I'm outside doing yard work. I know exactly how you feel. What really upsets me is that dogs that do this don't even eat the chicken. They just kill and waste the remains. I came home one day to see about 8 of our pet hens dead and dying one day. I asked the neighbors to keep their dog tied. They said they would but, did not. Then, about 2 weeks later the neighbor came over with one of my hens. He said that they didn't think it was their dogs doing it til they saw the dog with the hen in it's mouth. Then even after that, he continued to leave his dogs loose until I called the dog warden after the 3rd killing spree. I honestly think I could kill these dogs if it were legal.

Talking about shooting dogs, have any of you visited the Poultry Connection's message board recently? They had a loooong discussion about shooting dogs and all that.

Too bad that where I live its illegal. I'm forced to shoot them with a BB gun for fear that I'd kill them!

I am a bit surprised you guys talking about shooting someones dogs. They are doing what comes naturally. It's the owners who should be punished.

I came home a couple of weeks ago to 2 male hunting dogs in my chainlink fenced in yard. I have 4 female dogs, and of course one was in heat. I have a doggy door that's open 24/7. I didn't know if these dogs had been in my house, or had my dogs or killed my chickens or what.

They had radio collars on them and collars with names and numbers so I called the guys who owned them. They came out pretty quickly, and got them. Of course I'd already fed the dogs. I have my birds where it's pretty hard for anything to get at them, so they were fine.

These hunters told me about people killing their dogs or just refusing to give them back and all sorts of stories. These dogs had gotten in my yard by way of a "cathouse" (outside little house for my cats.) They had just easily jumped on the house and jumped down into my back yard.

That taught me I didn't have the perimeter secure enough, since they didn't dig into the yard. I feel it's my responsibility to keep my dogs in my yard, and visa versa. Also if my one dog had been fixed (again my fault) the hunting dogs wouldn't have been attracted to my yard.

I would never shoot any animal unless my life or one of my animals life was in jeopardy. Sounds like I'm contradicting myself here, but I would actually have to witness an act of violence on my property, and even then I would do everything in my power to refrain from killing someone else's pet.

I can understand if you've got a problem with someone who refuses to keep their dog confined, but I do hope you folks try diplomatic options before you pull out the heavy artillery. Don't want to ruffle anyone's feathers here, I know your all good people, if you weren't you wouldn't have chickens.

Oh, and the hunters came back and brought me a huge chuck of the tenderest venison I've ever had. My grandmother always told me "you catch more flies with suger than you do with (you know what.)" That is such a truism, took me most of my life to really get what she meant.

Please, what is a BB gun?

Anny,
A BB gun is a small rifle that holds pellets as bullets. I will never own a gun even though I have a hobby farm!
New info on my chicken disapearance - I found three seperate spots that my hen was dragged, mauled & eaten.
One spot was just feathers, the next spot had the contents of the crop & some innards & of course feathers!! The last spot had chunks of skin & feathers. I have found a mound near the back of my property that has 3 holes entering into it! It smells like skunk a bit...has poop outside it that looks like small dog poop. My questions are :
1. Could a skunk kill my hen?
2. I also found an old grave of a hen that died dug up and the carcass partially eaten(it was a small hole dug - almost a tunnel effect!)looks like the same creature!
3. How do I get whatever is living in this cave out? I have kept my hens in the barn & they aren't very happy! Someone help me!

We had awful problems with raccoons in our henhouse. It took some time, but we found how they were getting in. I would find leftovers like you did- guts and so on. Best of luck.

Heidi, been awhile since I looked at this thread. You say you have found 3 holes in your backyard. How big are these holes? That would give you the best clue to what's living in there. Please let us know what you find out, it may help someone else here on the coop.

I really don't know, but don't foxes live in burrows in the ground? Also, I wonder if weasels live in the same type of place?

I read how someone poured boiling water down animal burrows to flush out whatever's living there. They also said soapy water works. One problem with this method is that if the animal has other openings across you property that you don't know of, it can escape without being noticed.

The holes are around 6 - 8 inches in diameter. I can't see any exit holes anywhere else, but that dosen't mean there aren't any. What if I flush "it" out and it comes out to me? I guess its good that I can run ! Ha! Ha!

Perhaps its a rat? I have know idea cause this has never happened to me before. My friend has a pack of rats that hang around his coop and kill his chickens...especially the chicks.

Can't be a rat - the poop from this thing looks like small dog poo!

Skunk, Fox, both live in holes--both have poop like small dog, and DO NOT be afraid of a wild animal--they are more afraid of you!! STand your ground, but decide how you will handle the encounter before or if it occurs. Traps for Skunks--foxes are too sly. Fox den is usually in a hillside with a lot of diggings. Skunks, the hole almost unnoticed, and looks too small for the animal, but they slip in and out, may be straight down, or under edge of a rotted stump or log. They also may live under trash piles==old lumber, odd junk piles. CJR

cjr offers very good advice. it does appear to be skunk,altho fox dens can get rather skunky. fox dens usually have leftovers scattered about the area.either animal will likely stay as long as the food does. i can offer a remedy but some may not like it but i live on the real world. plug all holes but one, insert garden hose as far as possible,attatch funnel to end above ground,pour 3 to 5 gal. gasoline down, pull out hose allowing gas to dribble out on way up,remove any container of gas from area,stand back,toss lighted piece of paper to entrance. or same way, only attatch hose to vehicles exhaust. it may sound cruel to some but they are your birds.

That method sounds sick. I mean, the animal is only doing what comes naturally. It's not like he commited a crime...the creature is only doing what he does in nature. It's more like us who are the ones that are wrong.

On the other hand, you're right. If you don't protect your chicken flock they will end up as dinner. They depend on you since they're trapped in a cage and defenseless.

Even though you should protect your flock of chickens I think it would be best to find a differnt way to get rid of the animal.

it does sound nasty, but i doubt they burn to death. it would seem to be more concussion ytrauma and loss of oxygen. of course with carbon monoxide poisoning they just go to sleep.i have seen this done with silver foxes raised for their pelts. this method is used so there is no damage to their pelts. they just lay down and went to sleep. when one lays out 75 bucks for a chicken,its hard to feel any pity for varmints.

Dude, you ever nearly suffocated, or drowned, thats what loss of oxygen is buddy! And, it could be something endargered, and belive me the fine on that would be rediculous (i had to make an aviary for my chickens because if i shot the hawk that was eating 'em i would have had to pay a large fine AND be in jail for a bit, not worth it). best way is to have your local animal control people come out and catch the thing, they can take care of the probelem and you won't be fined, and build a fence, it will protect them well if it's well built. And that gass meatohd will just gets you killed by PETA's assassins, again, not worth it. Oh and another thing, i don't belive it is legal to pour gass into the ground. The animal does have to eat, animal control people can take care of your probelm.

I cannot kill it. I will try to trap & relocate whatever it is in the spring....so far no more problems as winter has hit where I live and my hens & ducks don't like to go out much!! Do skunks hibernate? Do foxes???