Chicken visits and eats my maters!

backwoodsgirl123 5/3/2012, 3:53 am

The neighbors have a lot of free range chickens... That's great! I've got some chickens too!

One problem is that they've got one chicken that keeps coming into our yard (even flies over the fence to get in) and commences to peck my tomatoes!

It is currently in our house on the enclosed porch. Instead of staying home, it decided to roost here.

Now, we keep shooing it. I've sprayed it with the water hose. We've picked it up and dumped it on the right side of the fence. We've done everything we can think of and that stupid bird keeps coming back!

It started a couple of months ago and it's getting pretty invasive.

I told my boyfriend that if it comes back I'm putting it in our chicken coop.

I don't know what to do with it.

TN_GARDENER 5/3/2012, 7:29 am

backwoodsgirl123 wrote: it's getting pretty invasive.

I told my boyfriend that if it comes back I'm putting it in our chicken coop.

I think that's a good idea.

Another good idea might be to make a simple fence/cage from chicken wire (or get a dog Very Happy

)

backwoodsgirl123 5/3/2012, 9:08 am

We've got a dog. He's in the original chicken pen because he killed two chickens. We had to build another chicken coop (bigger and better) and another run big enough for all of the chickens we got. So we have little chickens in the new chicken run/pen and a chicken killing dog in the old one and an invasive chicken in the yard half the time.

Oh, and I just thought of something. Can't put it into our chicken flock because he's a bigger rooster and he'll fight my young rooster FRECKLES. Freckles is only a couple of months old. We bought the chicks February 29th. And I don't want to see him get lame.

brenda g 5/3/2012, 11:13 am

Next time it happens, have a nice chicken dinner! affraid

kbb964 5/3/2012, 11:15 am

brenda g wrote:Next time it happens, have a nice chicken dinner!

keepercjr 5/3/2012, 11:21 am

All you need to do is clip his wing. Look up a few pictures. You clip one wing only so they get off balance and he won't be able to fly over your fence again.

I have chickens and they free range my backyard. I have a 4 foot or so fence between my main yard and my veggie / fruit tree area and when I decide to kick them out for good I just clip their wings. In the beginning of the season I just covered my beds with the critter cages and let the chickens have access to the area but as they plants got too big I had to remove them. The chickens will eat just about anything and everything I grow (tomato leaves and ripe tomatoes, pepper leaves, onion tops, etc).

Lindacol 5/3/2012, 11:26 am

backwoodsgirl123 wrote:We've got a dog. He's in the original chicken pen because he killed two chickens. We had to build another chicken coop (bigger and better) and another run big enough for all of the chickens we got. So we have little chickens in the new chicken run/pen and a chicken killing dog in the old one and an invasive chicken in the yard half the time.

Oh, and I just thought of something. Can't put it into our chicken flock because he's a bigger rooster and he'll fight my young rooster FRECKLES. Freckles is only a couple of months old. We bought the chicks February 29th. And I don't want to see him get lame.

Turning your dog loose in your yard while your chickens are locked up would solve the problem permanently. Otherwise trim one of the roosters wings before you dump him back over the fence the next time. He won't be able to fly for a while.

We do not have chickens but have neighbors who have had free roaming ones. My dogs will get chickens but that is ok with me as I do not want them in my yard. Though it bothers me, my neighbors have never complained about the few chicken dinners my dogs have had. This has helped maintain a somewhat biosecure zone around our home (we have african grey parrots and cockatiles in the house) when we had the Newcastle outbreak a few years ago.

Nicola 5/3/2012, 11:26 am

Do you have a dog crate? Maybe you need to put him in a "broody cage", like you would a broody hen; to kinda shock him into knowing he can't go there, do that. (Are you on BYC.com's forums?)
Or appeal to your neighbors--maybe they can un-free-range him for awhile?
And, of course, the best option prob'ly would be to build a cage around your tomato area, as someone else suggested.

H_TX_2 5/3/2012, 12:04 pm

I like what Brenda said. I reserve the right to harvest and eat anything I find in my raised beds; that I why they are there. I also reserve the right to terminate anything I find in my raised beds as I see fit. These two rules apply to everything in my raised beds tomatoes, lettuce, carrots, weeds, caterpillars, pets, children and everything else inside the raised bed. I'm not saying that I would eat or kill a child that got into my raised bed. I'm just saying I reserve the right to do so and they better hope that I don't come across a delicious recipe for them.

TN_GARDENER 5/3/2012, 12:10 pm

Clipping the wings sound like an excellent idea in addition to making a simple cage (with all the coop building going on over there, something tells me you probably have some extra wire)

My dog won't touch my chickens, but I'm not so sure how she'd react with somebody else's birds (she sure does love chasing sparrows n mockingbirds around the yard).

Chicken visits and eats my maters! Carlynchickens2

Chicken visits and eats my maters! Carlynchickens2

subsonic 5/3/2012, 9:09 pm

you know, chicken dinner sounds like the cure

and do not admit it, just say to the neighbors when they ask, "how would I know you were the one who would not clip it's wings, he could be anywhere." and you win
After all you have the full belly and your tomatoes are good.
As far as legal, have you asked then to contain the chicken?
has he caused damage to your crop
they are legally responsible
So Just eat the D&*n thing and avoid Lawyer bills Chicken visits and eats my maters! 3170584802

Chicken visits and eats my maters! 3170584802

littlejo 5/4/2012, 7:56 am

If he would be to old to eat, and trimming wings doesn't work, and the dog is untrainable, then put the 'untrainable' rooster in with the untrainable dog.

Jo

PS: The above sounds awfully cruel, cannot believe I wrote that!

Most places, even in the 'country' where I am, there are laws. It's a $500 dollar fine for not controling your livestock. Call animal control.

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