AMKuska's 2019 Garden Thread

flowerbug

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Walls are up, just floors and kitchen now.

We had a bit of a hard time this week with the chickens. Someone left the gate open and a neighbor dog got in through the open gate and killed 5/10 of the big chickens. Wounded another seriously.

The owner of the dog handled it very well. He is a very good man.

I sprayed some "Deer repellent" around my garden after noticing a few nibbles on my cherry tree. Hopefully this discourages them.

aww! i would not handle that well at all...
 

thistlebloom

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Glad there's progress on your house, can you see the light at the end of the tunnel now? :hugs

Sorry to hear about your chickens, that's a hard thing to discover. I have had that happen myself, forgot to close the chicken gate, and the dog gate one night and my dogs got all the hens but two little banties that were hiding in the nest box.
The dogs were malamutes and would never have killed them during the day when I was around, but the cover of darkness was too overwhelming a temptation for that breed. My bad. :(

Glad though that you're neighbor is taking responsibility from the start, he sounds like a good neighbor.
 

bobm

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ExCUSE ME?!? How about YOU handled it very well! Did he pay to replace them?[/QUOTEI don't know what the law is in Washington regarding dogs killing one'e chickens, but in Cal. the law requires that the owner of the dogs has to pay 3X the value of livestock lost and/or seriously injured. :old
 

AMKuska

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ExCUSE ME?!? How about YOU handled it very well! Did he pay to replace them?

This man has been a seriously nice neighbor since he moved in. This past winter we had a terrible snow storm, and he introduced himself to us by bringing a tiny little tractor down from his home and plowing our road, and even the driveway of my elderly neighbor. He has never said an unkind word to anyone, and has been a great asset to our little neighborhood. We all love him.

His yard is fully fenced, but unfortunately his kids got lazy and started pushing his gate rather than opening it. He repaired it a few days before the incident and spoke with the kids, but I don't think they realized what a problem it was, and it broke again.

The dogs squeezed out, and saw my (wide open) gate. They went through, saw the chickens, and prey drive took over.

The man offered to pay for them, offered to repair the coop, picked up the dead chickens for me, and was set to pick up all 10,000 feathers off the lawn too.

I told him I didn't want the money for the chickens, but did ask that he repair the gate and maybe tell the kids what happened so they'd stop pushing through the gate.

The gate has been completely replaced with some sturdy thing that looks like it could stop a tank, and I haven't seen the dogs out since.

I didn't want to go into details about the issue, but he really is the jewel of our neighborhood, it was just a series of unfortunate events that allowed the chickens to be killed.

Also, I was just holding onto those greed heifers for a friend who wanted them. They did nothing besides eat a lot, **** a lot, and leave eggs anywhere but the nesting box. :somad My prize silkies were in the predator proof enclosure we have, which the dog either couldn't get into or didn't see.
 

ducks4you

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I understand completely. Our neighbor to the south has been the best for 19 years. When he cut down a tree several years ago, it fell and bungeed up my old cattle fencing. It told him, never mind.
We didn't know this about your good neighbor when you posted, you see.
 

AMKuska

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Geez, what a year this is turning out to be. My son came running in from the backyard this morning yelling there was an AMBULANCE in front of our house!

Long story short, one of my neighbors was very ill. He left in the ambulance and his wife was in pieces because she couldn't drive a stick, and had no way to get to the hospital with the kids. x.x

Luckily my husband had the day off, and he drove her to the hospital while I took her eldest kid for the day (littlest is just a baby so went with.)

Last I heard he's going to be in the hospital a while. :-/
 
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flowerbug

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Geez, what a year this is turning out to be. My son came running in from the backyard this morning yelling there was an AMBULANCE in front of our house!

Long story short, one of my neighbors was very ill. He left in the ambulance and his wife was in pieces because she couldn't drive a stick, and had no way to get to the hospital with the kids. x.x

Luckily my husband had the day off, and he drove her to the hospital while I took her eldest kid for the day (littlest is just a baby so went with.)

Last I heard he's going to be in the hospital a while. :-/

i'm so sorry to hear about their troubles but also greatly relieved it wasn't something wrong with your son or your family... mixed blessings/feelings...
 

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