It was a beautiful blue morning and we worked out the morning chores in fresh snow. The chickens wouldn’t leave the coop, poor things, they came out reluctantly, one by one, and we counted them up because we haven’t tallied them in a while. There are fifteen. We noted that our little Polish hen is missing. A few weeks ago two strange dogs were in our yard — a lab and a Pyreneese. The lab was sniffing around our horse paddocks and getting quite close to all our yard fowl. It made me nervous. I recall asking Robbie if he thought the lab would be ok around our chickens, ducks and turkeys. He gave me a noncommittal answer and I did my best to run the lab off our land. We went in the house for breakfast and when we stepped out the door again an hour later the lab had returned, dispatched two of my chickens and was tearing into one of the turkeys. I now have reason to believe my little Polish hen was a fourth victim.
The horse paddocks had the look of a farmyard massacre. There were feathers laid out in every direction. I remember thinking it was remarkable how many feathers were on a few chickens and a turkey. I also remember feeling absolutely livid. Robbie rounded up the lab and loaded it in our truck. We don’t have a pound nearby (we don’t have anything nearby). So we went on with our day and decided to figure out the dog situation later in the afternoon.
The day flew by and while we were upriver on our horses in the evening a car pulled up beside us. The woman inside rolled down her window and asked if we had seen a lab and Pyrenees dog by chance. I felt my emotions flare up and I said, “You mean the lab that killed my chickens this morning and the Pyrenees that watched the massacre from a distance? Yes. I have seen those dogs. The lab is locked up in my truck and I don’t know where the Pyrenees wound up.” I would have preferred her to outwardly show a sense of mortification but she wasn’t even especially apologetic which astounded me. Maybe she didn’t think it was a big deal. Maybe she was taken aback by my tone and my words. I don’t know. I just know that had I been in her place I’d have been utterly mortified by the behavior of my dogs and I’d have been begging forgiveness and offering compensations. In hindsight, I think she was in shock. Her dogs had wandered five miles downriver to our farm to do their dirty deeds.
The fact of the matter is unless you come into adult barnyard fowl it takes considerable time and energy to raise chicks into adult birds. They’re delicate. We put some of our chicks under a broody hen last year but the gaggle of babies and mum still required some careful tending. I missed my grandfather’s funeral in Canada two springs ago because I had nearly forty chicks, ducklings and turkeys that required constant attention and there was nobody who could do the work but me (Robbie was away doing his refreshing training for the fire season). I simply could not leave! A full grown chicken, duck or turkey is a precious thing — beyond the precious nature of life — animal husbandry is time consuming and all the time we spend on these creatures on our farms goes to our heart. If and when the time comes for them to be harvested, we want a swift, clean death for them. We are practical. We are realistic. We are compassionate. We care for our critters. What that dog did to my flock was an injury to my spirit but I shall persist.
ohhh, so sorry Jilllian. This really got my hackles up and hit home. We have a rural property with neighbors who let their unruly, ill-mannered dogs roam. One has bitten a neighbor and attacked her on her ATV . The owners are nearly as unruly as the dogs, similar to that woman, they just don’t seem to care. I worry incessantly about my own dogs. The sheriff has been out several times to try and reason with them and enforce the laws of the county. We DO have a pound but of course it is many miles away and there is no one to catch the little offenders. I’m very sorry as I know the toll it takes on the spirit! And the toll of worrying over your own flocks! If my animals were injured or killed I’d probably go a whole lot crazy and that is not a place I want to go. Take Care!
You know, I don’t want to dispatch anybody’s dog but I do not and will not tolerate dogs roaming on my own property (lesson learned the hard way there) especially if they are harassing my livestock. As for dogs that are biting humans…it is my OPINION that those dogs should be put down. Our very good friends at the next farm over had problems with another neighbors dogs (pitbulls) coming up to their farm and harassing their HORSES! My neighbor wound up shooting one of those dogs one night after it bit a horse on the leg. It’s one thing if you live in a city and can call animal control to deal with this kind of stuff but if you live rurally, sometimes the only option is to bear arms and use them. Something we sacrifice when we live in the country is law enforcement we can count on to get to us in a hurry. That’s something people in urban settings can’t usually comprehend.
I hope and pray that nobody else in your community has to deal with those darn dogs. I hope no kids get mauled. I hope your own dogs aren’t injured. I hope you don’t wind up bitten.
There’s not much worse than an aggressive dog running loose.
Thank you for your kind words and yes, I understand completely not wanting to harm someone else’s dog, for sure! But wow! Biting a HORSE? That’s super aggressive and really frightening. I also totally understand your comments on law enforcement. We are on our own really, the sheriff has said as much. He has told us we are completely within our rights to shoot the dogs if they are on our property and the need arises. An aggressive dog on the loose is so much worse in reality than it sounds and while I would really NOT want to shoot one, I wouldn’t think twice about it if my own animals (or humans!) were in danger. They are more of a worry to me than any wildlife honestly. Sigh. Lovely photos, always enjoy your work, in all it’s forms ~
I hear you, sis.
The country life isn’t for everyone!
I am so sorry to hear of the destruction of your animals. It makes one livid and heartbroken at the same time.
Loving the photos of them in the snow – that plump little cat and the chickens are such studs (studettes?).
There are still so many left to tend to. It’s ok.
I say studs!
I remember those cats as kittens! Beautiful pics! That woman should have paid since she couldn’t apologize.
Can’t win them all!!!
XX
i hear you and i feel you.
[love the photo of fuzzy rhubarb. his facial chroma is a thing of beauty.]
xx
His little apricot cheeks are pretty cute.
How terrible, I can’t believe she didn’t even apologize – some people are so clueless and heartless, it’s beyond frustrating! I’ve been going through a similar situation – I take care of a colony of feral cats that live in various shelters around my property, and a couple weeks ago I saw one of the shelters all pulled apart and a frozen cat nearby – he must’ve been trying to run after a dog attacked the shelter and got caught. Bad enough, but since then I’ve found 2 more dead cats – other neighbors have seen a large Rottweiler in my neighborhood who’s owner must let him run after dark, but I’m still trying to find him and just bought a camera to put out back. Bad enough the poor things have to put up with winter weather, but to be terrified as well, it’s just too much. My heart goes out to you!
Well, she kind of apologized but it was lackluster. I don’t think she is clueless or heartless I just think she found the whole thing unbelievable and when when went back to our farm to get her dog out of our truck and she saw the snowstorm of feathers in the horse paddocks I’m sure she realized the reality of the situation. She’s actually a pretty nice lady.
I’ve never heard of anyone taking care of a colony of feral cats! Do you catch them and spay and neuter them and then just provide food and water for them?
Forgot to add, that punk chicken is c-RAZY looking, love it!!! 🙂
I know. Isn’t he something else! HA HA HA!!!
Hi again Jillian, I spent all last summer trapping and getting them neutered with help from a volunteer at our local cat coalition, because there were more and more stray cats in my neighborhood (who always wound up at my place for food), and then 2 of them had litters on my property. Cute as heck, but they weren’t going to last long outdoors, especially with an upstate NY winter coming up. After neutering and rabies shots, we got all the kittens adopted out and brought the adults back to my wooded property since they’re too wild to become pets. They have shelters with straw and get fed twice a day and heated water out by the pond, so they really don’t have it too bad. Anyway, the good thing is I haven’t seen anymore of those large dog prints around and they aren’t acting as skittish lately, so hopefully the dog control guy found the owner – I’m still waiting to hear back.
I’m with you by the way on stray dogs that bite people – before I got involved with all these cats, I had a neighbor from hell with 2 dogs that attacked my dog and almost killed him, and then chased us both numerous times. They even chased the pickup truck a hero stranger gave us a ride in when he saw they were running towards us, terrifying! I took him to court over and over (lots of fines and vet bills to pay), and finally they lost their house and have moved away. (The new owner spent an entire week getting all the garbage off the yard and out of the house, good riddance!) So silly me thought my worries in the neighborhood were over. I guess no matter where you live, there’s always someone with no brains when it comes to animals. BTW, I love seeing your horse pics, they’re such magnificent creatures, aren’t they? Have a good weekend!
Great job on getting those kittens into homes and taking care of adult sterilization. I think that’s super.
Oh my gosh. Vicious dogs. When we lived in Pocatello it seemed like my dogs were being attacked every other day. It was terribly frustrating. I had a similar saved-by-strangers situation when a pitbull was ripping Tater apart — Tater finally got free of the dog and he took off for home across busy roads and a gang of mountain bikers saw the entire situation and yelled out, “Don’t worry!!! We’ll follow him and catch him!!!” And they took off down the road as fast as they could and caught poor Tater for me. I was crying I was so upset — I was sure he was going to get hit by a car or that the pitbull would catch him and finish him off. Bless that little bike gang. There was so much aggressive dog drama in Pocatello. It’s so peaceful where I live now (with the exception of this chicken incident). We all run free and safe through the river canyon.
hello jillian!
i’m so sorry about your chickens. we had 17 chicken-ladies and a rooster that we had to sell before one of our moves (fire life) – and the people who bought them from us only had them a few short weeks before their neighbor’s dog killed half of them one day and the other half a few days later. i was so, so, so sad and angry for the new owners – and for myself – i really loved those chickens. that dog didn’t get put down. and the people didn’t offer to pay for the chickens (a wide variety we had mostly raised from tiny chicks!) – let alone all the eggs the new owners lost – those chicken-ladies were laying so well! over a dozen eggs every day out of that flock.
labs are tricky. we had one when we had our chickens, and she knew they were our chickens, and she took good care of them. she was so gentle with them, in fact, that one little red hen would peck our lab’s feet when she wanted a bone the dog had, and our lab would leave the bone to the hen! it was a funny sight! but i have heard more than once about labs who tear into chickens and are awful. buggers.
anyway – here’s lots of good wishes for you and your critters as you winter away at your lovely homestead! xoxo