Lucky Chooks!

[Maddie106]

Arrived home from a trip to the supermarket last week to find feathers all over the garden and an empty chicken run!!

I found Debbie hiding in the raspberry canes, Mel hiding on the wall behind the water butt and poor Sammy nursing a bald bum under a bush on the front garden. All traumatised, but no blood or open wounds.

Neighbours reported that 2 stray dogs got into the garden and into the run over the back wall, grabbed Sammy but ran off when shouted at.
All 3 girls recovered rapidly with some corn and lettuce and I have now put up a barrier at the back of the run.

Now need to put a full "lid" on the runand also give lots of eggs to the neighbours!

[RedThorn]

*breathes a sigh of relief!* Think this is every chooks keepers nightmare .... feathers everywhere! Glad to hear they're fine!

[Suechooks]

Makes me go cold all over just to think about it.
Have you reported it to your local Dog Warden? They might be able to trace the dogs and warn the owners or if they're proper strays they need rounding up and sorting out anyway.
So glad your girls are ok.

[HayleyB]

Lucky chooks is an understatement - good neighbours

[MaureenHall]

I'm so pleased your girls are ok!!!! I never ever want to see my garden covered in feathers again either through dogs or foxes getting in. I still have nightmares about it

Give the girls a chooky-hug from me and tell them they've been very brave and good xxxx

[Flummery]

Glad it was a good outcome. Our run has a mesh roof but the bit of fenced off garden they roam in doesn't. I daren't even come in for the loo when they're out there - crossed legs it is!

[Snadger]

Well done those chooks for getting away relatively unscathed!

[tlck9]

well done choocks well done neighbours and as a dog owner, where the *&^%$$$^ &ell was the owners of the dogs to let them roam

Gives us decent dog owners a bad name, although I reckon looking at the way my chucks square up my douglas (behind the safety of the wire) I dont think any dog would stand a hope in getting away without a pretty decent peck...

Although I do wonder, if having my douglas, close to the chucks, as if they are used to him being around, and some dog/fox gets in closer if they would actually run for their lives or just think its douglas so he wont do anything....

so good or bad...but then perhaps his smell would deter some of them anyway

[Glutton4...]

Why some people have Dogs is beyond me! If they can't be bothered to look after them, train them, and keep them secure they shouldn't have them.

But the same goes for Children too!

I hope your Chooks recover from their scare, poor little things.

[Bramble-Poultry]

if a dog is seen wandering near us the local farmer shoots first, then reads it's ID tag as he has had his animals atacked many times before he wont take the risk.

I have had to warn him about my dog as i tend to walk him on a tracker lead so he could be 20 metres ahead of me when we are over the fields and Yogi looks like a fox so i dont want him shot!! now the farmer is trained to look for a green lead attached to the dog first with me trailing behind.

Anywhere near houses or roads he is on a short lead only, but he was born to flush game so he loves diving into hedges to see what he can find!

[Chocolate Brownie]

lucky chooks, we have one called lucky who escaped twice once when we first got chooks and the other day both times she has had an encounter with dogs

[Maddie106]

Thanks everyone for all your kind replies. My 3 girls now seem to be fully recovered( tho Sammie has a fluffy bum as the new feathers grow!)
Thank goodness they have small brains and don't remember much.
I've promised them they can come and "Help" me when I dig up a bit more of the lawn to extend the veg patch later this month.

Now I've got a mesh lid on half their outside run, I'm off to B&Q on Weds (pensioner discount day!) for more supplies to finish off the other half.

I've never seen any stray dogs in this surburban area in the 3 years I've been here and another neigbour has now told me he saw a man take the 2 dogs off down the road.....so I suspect it was somebody who was walking their dogs off the lead.
( probably the same dogs that sometimes poo on the drive!)

[Hilary B]

well done choocks well done neighbours and as a dog owner, where the *&^%$$$^ &ell was the owners of the dogs to let them roam

Gives us decent dog owners a bad name, although I reckon looking at the way my chucks square up my douglas (behind the safety of the wire) I dont think any dog would stand a hope in getting away without a pretty decent peck...

Although I do wonder, if having my douglas, close to the chucks, as if they are used to him being around, and some dog/fox gets in closer if they would actually run for their lives or just think its douglas so he wont do anything....

so good or bad...but then perhaps his smell would deter some of them anyway

Things that flee, provoke a chase response, sometimes even in dogs that 'know better'. Chooks that don't run away might be less likely to get hurt.....

[Hilary B]

if a dog is seen wandering near us the local farmer shoots first, then reads it's ID tag as he has had his animals atacked many times before he wont take the risk.

I have had to warn him about my dog as i tend to walk him on a tracker lead so he could be 20 metres ahead of me when we are over the fields and Yogi looks like a fox so i dont want him shot!! now the farmer is trained to look for a green lead attached to the dog first with me trailing behind.

Anywhere near houses or roads he is on a short lead only, but he was born to flush game so he loves diving into hedges to see what he can find!

Presumably this is on the farmer's own land.......
I prefer to avoid walking our dogs in fields anyway (for quite a lot of reasons). Woods are a better bet, but if you haven't got the option, you do what you can.
Even on a lead (a short lead), I only take Gemma in a field that contains livestock if it is between me and the way back to the car (eg, walking a 'loop' and most of the way round, discover sheep), because I know that even a dog with no ill intentions can harm sheep if they are frightened. In spring, I would turn round and go back the way I had come, however far.

[kirsty b]

A friend of mine had a dog shot years ago because they had escaped the garden and got into a sheep field. I was sad, because she was a lovely dog, but the farmer has to protect his livestock too.

Gald to hear the girls are recovering from their shock.