All gone............

They are all gone.

All of the chicks my son and I hatched out this year. All gone. In one day. Because we were stupid. 

We trusted our dog. Fatal mistake for the poor birds. The dog house was undergoing some revisions to the door and we had to put them somewhere. Our large coop was empty and the dogs were to stay in there for the day. My husband wanted them to go outside though. He reinforced the fencing between the birds and the dogs. There was even an empty pen between the dogs and the chickens. All to no avail, however. Dog went through two fences and killed every single one. Puppy followed him and helped.

My heart aches with the guilt, I knew better than this. Given the opportunity, any animal will behave according to his instincts and breeding. Given the chance, a bird dog will chase birds. That is what they do. They don't differentiate between a chicken and a pheasant or a goose when you are not around to remind them.  All dogs are predators, they kill other animals for food. That is just what they do.

Please if you have chickens, learn from my mistake. Your own dog(or you neighbors) will be your worst predator.

Just give them the chance.