Since I last wrote, we’ve been in a whirlwind frenzy of activity. There’s been bread and butter pickles made and canned, farmer’s markets visited, family and friends from out of state visiting, and new goat acquisitions put into motion. Phew! And there’s so much more to do, too. I need to get my truck situation resolved and have a viable pickup back on the road – my brother is coming over this weekend and we may just get those wheels in motion…the figurative ones, if not the literal.
We reached our maximum frustration level with all of the predation on our chicken flock, so we have fenced in a large yard for them with some 4′ welded wire fencing. We will expand the area once we get some more “T” posts. We used about 120′ of fence so far, and have most of a 100′ roll of fence left, but just need the supports to put it on. For now, the yard is plenty big for the 50 or so chickens with which we are left. Mind you, we had nearly 200 birds back in the Spring, but between the neighbor’s dog killing about 60 of our birds for fun (all of those were killed in broad daylight, about 15 birds at a time, which were shaken to death and just left on the ground, not eaten), coyotes, and hawks, we lost most of our flock. Since I discussed the law in Michigan that allows farmers to shoot any dog that is “pursuing, worrying, or wounding livestock or poultry” and to pursue damages against its owner here on the blog, though, we have noticed that the neighbor is now calling his dog back into the yard when it starts to wander. So that’s a relief. We have the fence now, so that should keep the dog and coyotes out. We are going to string up some fishing line in a grid on top of the fence, too, to discourage the hawks. Once we acquire some more t-posts and hens, the area will get expanded. The fence you see in the photo to the right is just some chicken wire enclosing the front of the coop and is temporary. The main fence is Red Brand Welded Wire – available at most Tractor Supply Company locations.
Some folks have asked if we will pursue damages against the neighbor. We have not at this time. We do have photos of the killed birds, the dates and time range of the attacks. However, the neighbor refuses to acknowledge that their dog is responsible, despite the fact that we had found the dog on our property on several occasions, and another neighbor who has chickens also had trouble with the same dog. Additionally, even before we had put up the big fence, since the neighbor has been keeping their dog off of our property, we have never had that type of attack on our flock again. We refuse to believe this is coincidence. We could go to small claims court over it – in fact, I know of other flock owners who have successfully pursued damages for their egg-laying birds to the tune of $20 per bird. That may seem like a lot, but when you consider the cost of the bird, the cost to feed and house it, and the money lost from not being able to sell her eggs, and the fact that the surviving birds withhold eggs for several days or longer after the attacks, that’s actually not even covering all of the damages. We sure could use those funds to replenish our flock with some hens that are already laying eggs, or to pay for the fence that we had to put up to keep their dog out. But I think it would just be a stalemate if we went to court. We’ll just chalk it up to being a lesson learned. If, however, we experience further issues with this dog, or any other, we will either exercise our rights under the Michigan Dog Law or we will pursue matters in court to the fullest extent possible. Moving to the country does not mean that you are free to let your dog roam wherever it pleases.
We are especially concerned about this because we are about to expand our goat pasture. We will be implementing a hot-wire electric fence around it, but there are some animals that are just determined to break through and do some damage. If anyone thought I was infuriated by the deaths of the birds, they cannot begin to fathom the scope of my anger if something were to attack any of our goats. We are also starting to look for a guardian llama for our herd. Llamas have an inherent hatred for canines, and will discourage any future attacks due to its handling of potential attackers. So we are trying to take any preventative measures we can to provide protection. A guardian dog is not something we are looking into at this time, primarily because there is already a problem in our area with dogs barking throughout the night, and we do not want to contribute to that issue.
On Monday, we will be adding a new doe and her kid to our herd! Lillie and Molly are Nigerian Dwarves, and we are very excited about their impending arrival! Nigerians do not provide as high a quantity of milk as do standard breeds, but the milk has very high butterfat, which is quite desirable, especially for cheese and soap-making.
We are getting close to full on our herd share program. Because we want to provide year-round milk to our herd owners, we are working out a staggered breeding program. Does need the last two months of their pregnancies off from milking so that their bodies can be dedicated to making healthy babies and maintaining their own health. We are going to be adding at least one more doe to our herd in order to make sure we can do this, and are hoping to find a LaMancha doe who is already in milk. More news on that as it develops!
More chores await – so I should wrap up here. I’ll be adding some new pictures to the photo album, so be sure to check that out over the next day.
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