My neighbors woke up and found all of their birds dead. Turkeys, chickens, a few lucky guinnies made it. How sad. The same happened to me when I free ranged last summer. I thought it was MY dog, but they have since been tied at night and when Im not home. So, did other dogs do it? It looked like murder.What do you think?

-- julie (jbritt@ceva.net), February 14, 2002

Answers

Response to poultry attack!

How were the birds killed? Just a messy kill or the entire carcess eaten? Usually wild canines like coyotes and fox will not leave much behind. Domesticated dogs will just make a mess of things and kill for the fun.

I'm betting it was a stray dog. Look for prints around wet soil. And I'm betting whatever did it will return tonight.

With all the rucus I'm surprised no body heard the commotion???

Otter

-- otter in NW Florida (kitchen@eng.fsu.edu), February 14, 2002.

I'm also betting it was someone's dog. A wild creature like a fox will tote the birds off.

-- mary (marylgarcia@aol.com), February 14, 2002.

Could be a fox. Couple of years ago my daughter woke me up screaming "theres a fox in the house" Or so I thought. Not being a morning person it took me a while to figure out it was the hen house. Dang fox killed all the chickens and left a bloody masacre. Only ate the heads. I know it was a fox because it came back. Lets just say the shoot, shovel and shut up method worked for us.

-- tracy (murfette@stargate.net), February 14, 2002.

julie, just for interest you might check out www.predatorFAQ.com, I think that is the addy(?)and check out how different predators kill and what evidence they leave behind if any. It is interesting reading. That said, I am of the same opinion as the above replies, it is usually dog(s), so sad. LQ

-- Little Quacker (carouselxing@juno.com), February 14, 2002.

Julie, I don't know where you are, but the same thing happened to me. I had 23 cornish cross 1 week away from slaughter. I found them littered about our property, just torn up, I hadn't seen or heard anything. The dog warden told me to call our county assessor. She came round the same day and filled out a form for damages that she would send to the state. She wanted to know their value, luckily I had been keeping my feed costs written down so that helped. She put down that they where worth $10 each, thinking I wouldn't get the full cost, but 3 weeks later a check arrived in the mail for $230!! Didn't put nice fresh chicken in my freezer, but it sure helped. This happened in NY, and is only for dog attacks. My assessor knew I didn't see the attack, but said it looked like dogs, we also had a print left in dirt. I'm not sure if all states offer this, but it's worth a try.

-- Carol K (ck7951@bluefrognet.net), February 14, 2002.

I had the same thing happen, it turned out to be young racoons. Do you have racoons inthe area?

-- Sherry (tlnifty@ecenet.com), February 14, 2002.

If not dogs, probably raccoons, a few large raccoons can kill over a hundred birds in one night, happened to good friends of ours in western PA.

-- Annie Miller in SE OH (annie@1st.net), February 14, 2002.

Some dogs will go into a killing frenzy, and can keep killing until there's nothing left.

Some foxes will definitely do it as well. In the case of foxes, it's actually a survival tactic. You might think that a fox would be better off with natural prey left living for next time, but that often doesn't work. The prey may have moved to another neighbourhood if it's been hunted. However, foxes are carrion eaters - they can live quite comfortably off carrion days or even months old - they'll work over old dried corpses; eating skin, chewing bones and sinew, eating whatever insect and maggot remains there are. So, a killing frenzy is a built-in pro-survival means of behaviour for a fox - in the wild it means that if there is an excess of food, they are storing it in a manner which may make some of it usable by them in the future. In a chicken coop, if that instinct cuts in they'll go into whirling-dervish mode, spinning and slashing to ensure that as much damage as possible is done as quickly as possible - behaviour which in the wild would be necessary to mortally injure as much prey as possible before the group of them dispersed.

-- Don Armstrong (from Australia) (darmst@yahoo.com.au), February 14, 2002.

one of the easier solution is to set a trap (Live traps are available everywhere) or use a more traditional snap trap to get the answer and solution in the same night(BE SURE TO SECURE ALL OF YOUR OWN ANIMALS).

-- JH (jameshill88@yahoo.com), February 14, 2002.

Hmmm...If it was in the Pacific Northwest,I'M betting it was some of those pro-animal rights wackos just trying to make a point...Never can tell!!!

-- Denver Kessler (kandkprod@hotmail.com), February 14, 2002.