So 3 weeks ago I had 2 blue (pitbulls?) come by one male one female, jumping at my 20x10ft cage trying to get in. Luckily I walked out there, they friendly to people, I told them to cut it out and go away, and they left. This afternoon between 2-4pm they came back and broke through the wire to get to the chickens, the one missexed rooster fought them to his death, and all the hens survived. I wrapped the bottom 2.5 feet of entry with stronger metal wiring to reinforce it. They came back at 11pm. (They leaped over after tearing through the weaker part up top). I had to let one out) First off hats off to a rooster that fights off 140lbs of dogs. (Picture below for sorrow). Second, I will re-inforce further, but what would you/should I do. My spouse wants me to shoot them, and I am very much a dog lover and believe the female dog was recently pregnant so I think they are out trying to provide… I’m trying to avoid shooting them at any cost. It’s Tennessee. She grew up here. Her mindset is it’s killing our livestock, kill it. I’m very much re-inforce, and figure out if we can find who owns them and make sure they know what’s going on… What would you do?
Rest in peace knight of the chickens
The problem with resolving the situation comes down to resources. Does your area have an effective and quick animal control department?
If so, this is exactly why such agencies exist.
If not, then you have to decide how many chickens are worth feeding to the dogs.
Sadly, feral dogs, half feral dogs, and pets with zero restraint are a problem that often ends in the death of something. Me? I have a “mine first” rule. As much as I love dogs, anything coming after my chickens is target practice. Might not shoot whatever it is this far into town, but there’s other ranged items.
If I had a reasonable belief that the dogs have a human neglecting them enough to get in my yard and fuck with my birds, chances are I’m going to put a foot up their ass as well. This isn’t hypothetical, btw, I damn near put my foot up a guy’s ass because of his shitty dog responsiblity, and only the fact that our rooster literally broke a spur off in the dog’s ass while running it off kept the dog alive.
The ugly truth is that those two dogs, without human intervention, have already killed something. At this point, they will kill something else. The only question is what. Another chicken? Another dog? A cat? A kid? You ran them off and they came back. Those dogs are determined and dangerous.
Doesn’t mean they can’t be saved, just that it’ll take a human intervening and taking charge of them. How much can you put into that?
That rooster did his duty and deserves the poultry medal of honour.
I’ve read through the other comments here. Free roaming pitbulls are to my mind unacceptable. As others have already said, shooting them wouldn’t be unreasonable, but you have a dilemma with that, which is understandable even if I’m not sure I agree.
I’m unclear on the exact timelines of all these things happening, but if they were looking for food wouldn’t they have eaten the Rooster? Possibly you interrupted them, or they were just dealing with the rooster aggression? It’s hard to understand how the hens were not victims after the rooster was killed, so I’m wondering how and why.
If you believe they are looking for food, would you consider leaving an easier meal for them until a time that you feel like you have adequately reinforced the enclosure? That might attract other unwanted guests though depending where you are.
You could also possibly trap them (in a pen for example) and call the authorities to correctly deal with it if you can’t find an owner for them.
An electric fence is probably the only thing short of actually harming them that is going to keep them away.
Hopefully they don’t come across small children before some action is taken.
Yeah, the spouse kept pointing out that it was Halloween, so the odds of small kids encountering them was definitely non-zero. It’s a new day though, so it’s time for me to get to making a better solution.
The dogs’ owner is the one to blame, not the dogs who’s just following their instincts. If you shoot at the dogs, then shoot to kill. Shooting to hurt is, IMHO, animal cruelty. I wouldn’t want to kill the dogs either, don’t get me wrong, but if I had to shoot then I’d shoot to kill using a suitable caliber soft tip hunting ammo.
Instead of using a gun, perhaps you could trap the dogs and call the relevant authorities?
I’m sorry about your rooster.
I’m with your spouse here. Who the hell lets their pitbulls roam free and kill people’s livestock? Or are they strays?
This would be a task for police or animal control, but in case they don’t care then what else can you do? I can’t imagine someone who lets two big dogs run free could be convinced verbally.
They look very well kept, but maybe it’s just their short coat that makes it seem so. I talked to an officer because she demanded I called the non-emergency line. (I fired a shot at the ground 15m from where the pen is to make sure they were scared, I couldn’t see them well in the dark, so I aimed where they couldn’t be) 22lr round out of a pistol, not my 9mm or a rifle, something I found most reasonable… still scary as shit…) He was saying re-inforce either way and if you want me to file a report I will type of deal. Call me a coward but I don’t want someone’s dogs getting killed because they didn’t know where they were the second time. Especially if they didn’t know they got out originally. But yes, they took a life… Which makes it so much harder. That said, when I eat chicken for dinner tomorrow, is that dog any worse because “it’s sustainability” or what not?
It’s not just that the dogs killed your chickens. Aggressive dogs like that roaming free are a risk to people too. You did say they were friendly to you, but they might not be so friendly to a child smaller than them.
I don’t know what kind of an area you live in or what kind of people your neighbours are, but assuming it’s a suburb rather than the countryside, a pair of dogs like that running free twice is at best gross negligence from the owner. The first time might be an honest accident but a second time in a month speaks for different issues, and in my experience dog owners like that more often than not will not listen to reason. Worse, the owner could get aggressive with you.
So what I would do is, if the police or animal control doesn’t have the resources to handle it and if the dogs come a third (or a fourth, or whatever your threshold is) time, shoot them, bury them, and never tell any of your neighbours. It’s harsh, but given the circumstances, odds are high the owner is the kind of garbage person you definitely don’t want to find out that you shot their dogs, no matter the circumstances.
Yeah, I was probably way to soft spotted about the dogs, spouse kept pointing out it was Halloween last night so small kids out wandering would have been predictable. As for where I live let’s just say that stupid country singer who wrote a song recently about “try that in a small town” or whatever… Didn’t sing it in his town, he came to our town to sing it in front of the court house here, there were a few people I know who weren’t so happy about that.
Salt or shell shot is what people used in the rural south when I was growing up. Like bird shot in a .22 was typical. It is not lethal, especially from distance, but it is a lesson they will never forget. It is not something I condone or recommend. In the city or suburbs, this sounds cruel or insane, but people don’t tend to have the life experience in rural environments. I remember encountering a pack of dogs near some woods that acted as unsettlingly wild and dangerous as a pack of wolves, and unlike anything in the city. If you’re dealing with danger like that, you have to protect yourself and family.
You could try to electrify the fence and see if that stops them.
Yeah, we would be talking around 7 meters or 21 feet max shot. It’s a guarantee hit. I don’t want to fire a 9mm, 22LR, .223, at them. Salt gun I don’t know if they would feel from there, but yeah it’s very much “on the line” of how to scare them away forever and not hurt them
