Worst day ever

[MaryOfExeter]

I'm so exhausted right now, that I don't really feel like typing, but I need to get it off my chest.

Today when I got home from school, I saw black chicken feathers all over the yard - no chicken in sight. Went down towards the OB/breeder/chicken loft and noticed Ringo, my white polish chicken, was dead near the fence. Picking him up, I saw what looked like a pigeon popping up above the grass. Walked over and it was in deed a dead pigeon. At first glance I thought a hawk got him, and he was a young bird with a blue IF band. Only it wasn't. It was AU 05 TULSA 5202, aka "3K" - the father of my first race winner, the father of one of the birds in the PT race. Instantly ran to the loft knowing whatever killed all my birds HAD to get in the loft to get 3K. I was right. 6 more birds lay dead on the floor, 8 more injured birds sitting in nest boxes, the aviary, and on the floor. I lost my two best cockbirds, the last hen from one of the best previous fliers in our club/combine, a bird from Renee (Lovebirds), etc. Other good birds were injured, including Achiles, the Sion from Don (bbcdon), but luckily he only has his tail missing and some wounds down there. One of the other hurt birds is Big Red, who has wounds all over, but his crop is torn open and seeds falling out. Vrai, another hurt cockbird, has blood in his mouth and when I picked him up, he started grunting, breathing harder, which made the gurgling sound of blood appear. Otherwise, his breathing sounds normal until he gets scared and huffy. One of the hens, Sue, has a hurt wing, but not broken. She just sits on the floor though, so I'm guessing that hole side got bit or swiped at. My cockbird Melonhead has a nice chunk missing from the side of his butt, and has to slide/hobble across the cage.
Everyone is in their own individual cages with antibiotics. The birds that LOOK fine in the breeder loft are also getting medicated.
After cutting off the bands of the dead and burying them, I found one of my muscovies dead in the creek. So that's 11 dead birds all together, 8+ injured (can't catch the other chickens to tell if they got hurt too, but I'm sure they did). 3K was worth what his name implies. The fact he sired my first winning bird makes him priceless to me. So I'm not letting anyone get away with this without hearing from me. Every trap we own is set, and when I catch the dog, its owners will be taken to court. I will get money for the damage, if only enough to take the injured to the vet. You can't easily replace good breeders, but I'm going to have to try...and start over. Again. 3 years and I thought I was getting somewhere. So much for that. Now I have to evaluate more birds and new pairings.

From the moment I saw the birds on the floor, I burst into tears. That lasted about an hour until I couldn't cry anymore. Then I was so mad I could kill someone. And now I'm just drained from all emotion. This is really NOT a good day for me.

[maniac]

However did a dog gain entry to your loft ?

[sky tx]

No comment from me Becky--
But you can now understand why I say some of the things I should not have said.
Right --Don't get Mad---Get even.

[garacari]

I am so, so, so sorry for your losses. I lost one of my fantails today to a neighbor's cat. But that can't compare with your 11.

My deepest sympathy. I will think only good thoughts for the speedy recovery of your remaining birds!!

[Birdman79]

Sorry to hear that marry....a similar thing happened to me also as a kid.I hope the rest of the birds pull through...

[catmicky]

Im sorry for the losses, I hope your injured pigeons recover well.

[atvracinjason]

I'm so sorry to hear about the losses and the wounded. Stay strong!
Jason

[EgypSwiftLady]

Becky I'm sorry this happened, it's terrible. How do you know that it was a dog?
If you are going to try & get money for your loss I hope you took photos of the dead birds before you buried them. The photos will be the proof if they owner disagrees with you.

[Alamo]

That`s so sad Mary....Hope the hurt birds recover...Let this be a lesson to one and all....Have your loft protected and strong enough so that a bear can`t break in....Alamo
PS:I would be willing to send a Cock bird from out of my best breeding cock bird,for FREE...All I would want is the postage..The shipping box is FREE also.....Alamo

[Ross Howard]

Becky my thoughts are with you at this time been there & it hurts but you just keep goin for the rest of the critters & remember better days.

[pigeonmama]

Oh, Becky,
For this to happen to you, of all people. You take such good care of your birds. I wish I had birds to give to you, to help you rebuild, but I don't.
Daryl

[Whitedove06]

Hi- Will keep you in my thoughts; I LOVE ALL MY PIDGEONS, and every night, before I go to bed, I say 'good night' to each of them. So sorry for your loss. Can help out if you need birds. I have 2 males,( father and son) that I need to move out of aviary to make room. They've never been flown though.

[bbcdon]

Becky, sorry to hear about what happened. If there is anything I can do to help, just send me a PM, Don.

[goga82]

this is such a sad post.
im so sorry. reading your post made my hear skip a beat.
i feel like i lost those birds.
im really sorry.
hope other birds recover.
maybe you should walk around your neighborhood tomorrow. im sure there is evidence in someones yard of what just happened.
im really sorry.
i hope you never have to experience the loss again

[MaryOfExeter]

My dad made a trip around the block and said the trailor park behind us has trash all over the yards from where something with snooping into the bins/cans. Every dog or cat I've seen pass through here has always gone in the woods towards that trailor park They're nothing but trouble up there it seems.

Thank you all for you kind words. It's been a pretty dramatic day.
The door was closed when we found the birds, but the latch was undone. I'm guessing the dog was jumping up against it trying to get in and managed to get the door unlatched. We've never had any kind of problem like this before. Any predator problems like this have been at night. Even when dogs have gotten our chickens and other free ranging birds, they had never bothered the pigeons, just what was running around for them to chase. I cannot think of anything else that would have done this. Especially since birds were crushed and hadn't been eaten. The dog was looking to "play" with its food, not eat it. The cage we have my broilers in for the fair, has the wire dented in pretty bad on each side. Guess he went on a rampage and targeted any bird he could find
We did get pictures, but of course now that we're calmed down, we're wondering just how we're going to prove it was the dog we may catch in the trap.
I know we live out in the country, but that isn't an excuse to let your dogs run wild around the neighborhood. Especially when most of us on my road have chickens and some people behind us have cows and such.
We are going to change out all the latches on the doors now to something only we can get open. We also plan to fence in our property, which would not only give my dog a 5.5 acre lot to run around in, but it'd keep other animals out...or at least some of them. This has been the plan for a long time but of course that's going to cost a good bit of money, or else it would have been done a long time ago.