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
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.