Reimbursement

[KatW]

I posted on Facebook and on our farm blog about our neighbors dogs digging under the fence and killing our chickens. Animal control was here and left a note on the neighbors gate but he mentioned that he was sure (from previous problems with their dogs and others property) that they would reimburse for the chickens but I have no idea what to even suggest should it come up. How much is a layer worth?

They only cost us a couple bucks each as chicks but to start over will mean having a brood box and all that dust and smell in our living room (we don't have a garage or suitable outbuilding) until they feather out, we might have to buy eggs (so far we've found 2 of our chickens alive but we go through more than 2 eggs a day), I don't think the chick starter food is any more expensive than the regular food so that evens out. What other costs?

This day just SUCKS! I need chocolate.

[Michael W. Smith]

I would find similiar kind and age chickens at an auction, buy the same number that was killed and submit the bill to the neighbor.

You certainly can't figure a price based on the chicks you paid for - you need to base it on the cost of a replacement hen that is laying. Don't be worried on how much it costs to replace them - the bigger the price, the more likely the owner will make sure this never happens again!

[mommathea]

I live in NW Missouri so regionally you have to find your own base price - but I'd ask for at least $10 for a basic egg laying chicken - more if you have specialty breeds. But $10 as a min.

[postroad]

How about an eye for an eye?

[ladytoysdream]

I would ask for adult replacement cost. Nothing less than $ 15 each.
If I lost a older hen, I would be asking $15. If one of the pullets, then $ 20.

Go to a auction and watch birds sell in the spring. They ain't cheap.

[KatW]

I did a search and found laying hens in my area going for minimum of $15, they'd be younger than ours but I didn't see any 1 year old chickens listed. I hadn't thought about going that route for replacement, much nicer than having chicks in my living room again! Of course first we have to either deal with their dogs or improve the fence, no point in adding more if our place is going to be their all you can eat buffet!

How do you go about introducing new chickens to old ones?

Thanks for all the responses.

[WstTxLady]

Go for around $15 per hen, $10 per good rooster. If they are over 2yrs old, less unless they are a special breed or you had them for breeding purposes. That covers feed for starting over with chicks & such. Sucks to hear about what happened but don't let them off the hook either.

It depends on what part of the country & who defines what but some places say fences are there to keep things "IN", some say fences are there to keep things "OUT"...its a blurry line but do what you can on your fence.

[||Downhome||]

factor cost of chick,feed to point of demise (in this case) you may feel like cutting some slack for benefit gained (eggs laid and profited from) time put in the whole venture, plus time to get back to point of lay. do not forget loss of income.

I

[Rannod]

Here we are able to protect are livestock some people say only an ol chicken but the previous people are right replacement cost The people are not responsible owners of the dogs. A couple got into my rabbits and the sherriff looked at me like I was a crazy ol lady told the neighbors and those dogs never ran again no more upturned trash cans those people suddenly became responsible and I took them the pictures of the dead rabbits Dogs can do a lot of damage 2 is a pack remember next time a child

[obleo+6]

We charged our neighbor 25.00 a hen. We lost the meat, approx 60.00 worth, and weren't going to butcher them for another 30 days, so we lost the eggs for that period of time, at 1.50 a dozen in my area. Oh yeah, and I shot two of his dogs...one is still missing. Sheriff said we have a right to protect our livestock from roaming dogs.

He was fine with that because we contacted him about his dogs being on our property a few months ago and dh said he'd hate to have to shoot them, but he would...the neighbor understood our position...but still didn't do anything about his dogs until this happened recently...he kept two of 6 and NOW they're chained...geesh!

If you lose hens, charge them for the meat value, call your local store and ask what free range chicken goes for, a whole chicken. Then estimate the cost of eggs you'll be missing until your new ones start laying, then the cost of new chicks/hens and the cost of feed to bring them up to laying age. That's fair and square.

[Blair]

Some hatcheries sell started pullets ready to lay.

Use that price plus shipping costs.

Gets expensive real quick.

Maybe neighbor will keep dogs home then.

Plus you would know that you are getting good, disease free young pullets.

[||Downhome||]

I like to point out just because some one sells a hen for a specific price does not mean all hens come in at the same price, I will use cars as a example you can buy a rode hard and rusted out wreck for cheap or you could buy one that hardly ever saw use for close to original price. not all things are equal. theres also the difference between a chevette and farrari.

best to keep track of you expenses, time and money for when/if something like this happens.

[KatW]

My dh talked to the neighbor and he is very sorry and is bringing us chicks on payday-- more chicks than what we lost so we'll probably end up doing our first chicken butchery in a few months. He's also working on the fence, keeping the male dog chained until they rehome the female (after they can find the pups homes-- which he had thought would be next week but my dh pointed out they need to be AT LEAST 8 weeks old). The male dog only roams when he has a companion so our neighbor thinks this will stop it. We're a little worried that now he thinks killing chickens is fun so we're also reinforcing the fence on our side.

When dh got back from talking to him he said it was a good thing I wasn't there because our neighbors casual attitude towards the dogs would have driven me BONKERS! He told dh how they had gotten the female as an inside dog but then she started going bonkers so they threw her outside. Well duh, she was in heat! They threw her out with a much larger intact male dog so now they have 9 puppies! And she was just a pup herself. Now they're just getting rid of her-- that was the plan even before the chickens. Ugh, I just don't understand how people can treat pets or even livestock so casually.

I know that getting us chicks is not financially equivalent to reimbursement for our laying hens but we'd rather have a decent relationship with our neighbors than the money (if it happens again it will be a whole other story!). And while we could buy already laying hens locally we were worried about disease and the chickens we raised were really tame, used to our dogs and safe around our toddler, so raising chicks seems like the best thing. Just raising chicks in my living room while I still have bunnies in here and am about to have guests is kind of insane!

And to show what complete softies we are not only do we feel bad about the fact that the poor female dog is being rehomed (probably dumped at the pound)and we feel so sorry for poor Junior (the big intact male) who is miserable on the chain (and loudly lets everyone know it) but we're also most likely going to adopt one of the pups.

Oh, and this morning my dh found out why we couldn't find more corpses-- the dogs buried them but not deeply. So he'll be digging them up and reburying them. Ick! So glad I decided our dogs were only going out on leash for the time being, I would have been so upset had they dug up one of our chickens.

Our 2 survivors are doing well. Sad and also grumpy that they are confined to their yard but until the female dog is gone and we've made the fences more secure that is their life.

[oregon woodsmok]

Let the neighbor know that if he is buying replacement chicks that you expect him to buy all pullets. if not, he will buy the cheapest which will either be straight run or Cornish X.

I think he owes you a few sacks of feed, too, to raise those chicks up.