Neighbor Poisoning Our Chickens?

[RyanAndMeri]

We have an emergency with chickens getting sick lately and dying I'm wondering if anyone knows if these symptoms are a disease or the neighbor poisoning our chickens. To understand why I think it's our neighbor I'll give you a brief background. They have a little terrier that got into our yard a few months back and killled some chickens. We let them come get their dog and frankly forgave them. It happened again FOUR MORE TIMES. Each time we frankly forgave them and tried to mend the fence (it digs and digs until it gets through.) The last time it got through it killed our favorite chickens - 5 total. It was heart breaking. We saw that they had already patched the hole in the fence (the dog dug so much it broke a piece of the fence out) and there were fresh shovel marks on our side of the fence. We visited them with a sick and dying chicken in hand and the neighbors wife lied right to our face and said "it wasn't our dog, we were home all day and it never was let out." Well our other neighbors saw the whole thing and confirmed she was lying through her teeth.

So now we have burried wire along the fence and made it all but impossible for the dog to get through. But last week and now this morning we've had chickens getting seriously ill with the same symptoms. Last week we put down Serenity our beautiful Black Orpington hen. And now this morning one of our yellow orps has the same symptoms. She's weak, has no appetite, she falls over and is wobbly. she's in a molt so she doesn't have any eggs so I doubt it's egg-bound. I know our neighbors hate our chickens, and the city has told them they wont touch our chickens, so I think they're taking matters into their own hands. Does anybody know the symptoms of poisoning? The last chicken that died looked almost riga-mortized even before she died, she was stiff, couldn't move her lower body had all but frozen-up (and it wasn't that cold out so it's not that.) She just seemed slighly paralized and dying. Please help if you can.

Ryan & Meri

 

[silkiechicken]

Wish I knew what it could be. All I can suggest is a camera facing to the chickens area to catch anything in the act.

 

[miladachicken]

that is so mean! my heart goes out to you

 

[Marbleheader]

Quote:
Sorry about your chickens, that's terrible. Not sure about the symptoms and poison. One thing that comes to mind is that, if they think the dog might get in to kill more chickens, they'd be reluctant to poison the chickens for fear of the poison killing their dog, too.

I would confront them about lying to you, especially if the neighbors who witnessed the last attack will come forward. I hate people who lie.

 

[RyanAndMeri]

Thanks for your responses. I am looking into getting a camera that faces back there. It's expensive but so is an autopsy

we just don't have a lot of money.

I think they're poisoning them because the dog can no longer get through without some direct help from the neighbors. We have wire burried along the fence so it would have to dig 1 foot under ground and 2 feet over... not going to happen. So I think they've gone to plan B. I hope it's just me being paranoid, but with neighbors that will look you in the face and lie to you - while you're holding a beautiful and dying hen that's their fault - well they have no soul. I talked to the neighbors on the opposite side of them and they say the guy is nice but his wife will lie to your face even when you have pictures proving she's lying.

 

[silkiechicken]

Might ask around to state vets/vet schools/ag extensions office and often there is little to no fee for an necropsy. Just refrigerate the bodies in the mean time.

If you can't get a fancy camera, perhaps even a recording web cam of some sort on a computer facing out might work.

 

[agnes_day]

i went through the exact same thing! in fact, that is why i have no chickens right now. my chickens started dying left and right..they were fat and healthy until they were old enough to go outside, and then they would start dropping..the last chicken i had was one that i had recieved from a friend..a beautiful hen that was a year old. we moved briefly and we allowed her to roam the yard with no problems. when we moved back to the same house (long story), she dropped dead in 2 days in the same way that all my other chickens had, along with my dogs and a kitten. i didnt have proof but i filed a police report all the same.
some people are just sick.

 

[horsejody]

A necropsy done by a state university is usually pretty cheap. I would also suggest that in the future you get law enforcement involved if the dog kills. Contact the humane society and the county extention agent about places to get a necropsy done. Get a game cam, a gun and more chickens. Don't let people like your neighbor have any power over your life, and make them take responsibility for their actions in the future. If they have no consequences, they will do more harm.

 

[PeeperKeeper]

Oh my! It just sounds so frustrating.

 

[agnes_day]

Quote:
how exactly do you get them to do it? i tried and they acted like they had never heard of doing that before. i suspect i was calling the wrong department, or something.