I have a frustrating story to tell- a friend of a friend that had a flock of eight chickens now has a flock of two chickens. He, like me, lives in a tightly packed city block. Unlike me, he lets his chickens roam entirely free- across yards, alleys, etc.
I don't really want to be holier-than-thou, but in a way this guy kind of needed to wake up and realize that letting his chickens free range onto neighbor's properties (i.e. adjacent city lots), streets, and along the alleys is a terrible idea. Here in Montana we get bears, mountain lions, coyotes, hawks and eagles in downtown. Of course, the most common threat is stray dogs. Apparently, while this friend was at work (allowing the chickens to range all over the area) a wandering dog killed six of his eight. Dreadful!
How do you tell someone that they are a total fool? These poor hens didn't deserve to get killed by someone's dog because their owner was so lax in their safety. It is sad and frustrating to hear about this. My friends think I'm nuts to spend the money on netting to prevent hawk attacks, but I feel as if I'd have noone to be mad at but myself if I came home to a Red tail sitting in the trees eating a Barred Rock. And I love raptors- have studied them as a wildlife biologist for years, so it would be especially difficult for me to swallow anything but guilt if that happened.
Incidentally, this guy lives in a part of town where chickens are against the law so he won't be able to register a complaint about the dog owner even if he knew which dog it was. I live where chickens are perfectly legal, thank goodness. I have a fenced yard for my big active dog, and within that fenced yard, a carefully enclosed chicken pen to protect my hens from my dog.
I feel a little better now. I feel so negative about this incident and I wanted to share my frustration with people that understood. Poor hens- it wasn't their fault, and it wasn't even the dog's fault! City lots here are only 40ft wide...
-MTchick
I don't really want to be holier-than-thou, but in a way this guy kind of needed to wake up and realize that letting his chickens free range onto neighbor's properties (i.e. adjacent city lots), streets, and along the alleys is a terrible idea. Here in Montana we get bears, mountain lions, coyotes, hawks and eagles in downtown. Of course, the most common threat is stray dogs. Apparently, while this friend was at work (allowing the chickens to range all over the area) a wandering dog killed six of his eight. Dreadful!
How do you tell someone that they are a total fool? These poor hens didn't deserve to get killed by someone's dog because their owner was so lax in their safety. It is sad and frustrating to hear about this. My friends think I'm nuts to spend the money on netting to prevent hawk attacks, but I feel as if I'd have noone to be mad at but myself if I came home to a Red tail sitting in the trees eating a Barred Rock. And I love raptors- have studied them as a wildlife biologist for years, so it would be especially difficult for me to swallow anything but guilt if that happened.
Incidentally, this guy lives in a part of town where chickens are against the law so he won't be able to register a complaint about the dog owner even if he knew which dog it was. I live where chickens are perfectly legal, thank goodness. I have a fenced yard for my big active dog, and within that fenced yard, a carefully enclosed chicken pen to protect my hens from my dog.
I feel a little better now. I feel so negative about this incident and I wanted to share my frustration with people that understood. Poor hens- it wasn't their fault, and it wasn't even the dog's fault! City lots here are only 40ft wide...
-MTchick