Rights of Farmers When Dogs Pursue or Attack Livestock
Unfortunately, not every dog owner is responsible enough to keep his pet in check to the point that the animal poses no danger to neighboring livestock. Article V, “Offenses to Dogs,” spells out the rights of farmers when a domestic dog pursues, wounds or kills livestock on their land. § 459-501 includes the following:
a. Legal to kill certain dogs3 — Any person may kill any dog which he sees in the act of pursuing or wounding or killing any domestic animal, wounding or killing other dogs, cats or household pets, or pursuing, wounding or attacking human beings, whether
or not such a dog bears the license tag required by the provisions of this act. There shall be no liability on such persons in damages or otherwise for such killing.4
b. Private nuisance — Any dog that enters any field or enclosure where livestock or poultry are confined, provided that the enclosure is adequate for the purpose intended, shall constitute a private nuisance and the owner or tenant of such field, or their agent or servant, may detain such dog and turn it over to the local police authority or State dog warden or employee of the Department. While so detained, the dog shall be treated in a humane manner.
c. Licensed dogs not included — Licensed dogs, when accompanied by their owner or handler, shall not be included under the provisions of this section, unless caught in the act of pursuing, wounding or killing any livestock, wounding or killing poultry, wounding or killing any domestic animal, wounding or killing any dogs, cats or household pets, or pursuing, wounding or attacking human beings.
Compensation for Damage Caused by Dogs
Under the Dog Law, Pennsylvania farmers do have the option of filing a damage claim seeking compensation from the State if a dog enters their land and causes damage to livestock. § 459-701 states the following:
a. Reimbursement — A person may make application to the department for reimbursement for damage to a domestic animal by a dog, whether or not the domestic animal is directly damaged by the dog or is necessarily destroyed due to damage caused by the dog, if all of the following apply:
The damage occurs when the domestic animal is confined in a field or other enclosure adequate for confinement of such animal. (See footnote 3 for case that describes enclosure requirement).
The damage was not caused by a dog owner or harbored by the owner of such damaged domestic animal.
The owner of the offending dog is unknown
ETA: I’ve never placed seed on the ground for doves and other ground feeders. Seed from the feeders in trees is spilled by the birds feeding there.
If you’re in a state with a “life, limb, or property” exception to animal cruelty, the OP might be clear on that front. It still wouldn’t cover potential litigation from the owner of the chickens, who could easily and justifiably ask why animal control wasn’t contacted to safely round up the chickens, or why the OP fed the chickens for a month before deciding to kill them.
Sure, but they’re a different ruleset from the rules for preventing cruelty to animals and dangerous animal control, which is what “dog biting my sheep” would fall under.
I have zero knowledge or experience with anything mentioned in this thread–not feral chickens, livestock ,dogs, property-damage laws,or irate neighbors with shotguns.
so why am I posting here?
Well, I once sorta had a similar problem, but not with chickens.
It was with a cat.
I feed 4 outdoor cats who live in my yard. (all female and spayed)One day, a new cat showed up. A huge male, who terrified all 4 of them, and took their food, and wouldn’t leave.
I had to get rid of him, so I set a trap, and caught him in a cage. Then I drove ten miles away and released him back to nature.
Our streets form a nearly complete circle around a higher, stony, scrubby area. That ground is officially divided up into pie piece shaped wedges belonging to the various households, but in fact, nobody bothers about it in any way. The long skinny rocky chunks of ground aren’t big enough for anything useful, and the ‘dirt’ would be impossible to till, being mostly good ole New England granite outcroppings. So for the roughly 5 decades since the development was created, the land has been left to do whatever nature wants. Which is mostly a few scraggy, twisted trees and tons of thorny bushes.
About two years ago some turkeys moved in.
There now are two distinct ‘flocks’ that live there,year round and venture down into the yard areas we actually use, scavenging for whatever they can find: stuff we’re growing in our gardens, seeds tossed out for birds, the supplies we set up early when we’re planning an outdoor party… Very annoying.
Everybody hates them, makes comments about guns and Thanksgiving is coming, but no one ever does any thing. The birds seem to understand this and are utterly blase. One time I was snowblowing our driveway when one of the toms and his harem casually walked down our backyard to the driveway and proceeded to take advantage of the route I’d opened for them, and then they slowly strolled along the road, blocking the early a.m. go-to-work traffic without appearing to give one damn about the cars trying to slip past them or the people shouting at them and even the guy who hurled snowballs. Totally unflappable. (And yes, turkeys are totally equipped to be flappable.)
You … you DO know feral cats are in no way, shape, or form a part of “nature” and are responsible for decimating, well, actual nature?
As kayaker said, you just made him someone else’s problem. (And given that he just “showed up” it’s likely someone else trapped & released him near your property.)
Next time, find a local cat rescue/feral & barn cat group/TNR (Trap Neuter Release) organization. It would be the kinder AND more responsible thing to do.
For a cat, definitely call animal control. They will scan it to see if it’s a lost pet, and if not, they will hand it off to a local shelter to find it a home, either as a pet (if it’s tame) or as a barn cat (if it’s feral). Or, I guess in areas with more stray cats than my area, they might humanely kill it. My area actually imports both cats and dogs from shelters in other areas, though, so any cat or dog that’s not actively dangerous to humans is going to find a home.
I have a bird-watching friend who built a little brush pile in her back yard to attract the birds who are shy enough that they won’t feed from the ground unless they have somewhere nearby to duck into for shelter. She sits at her sliding glass door and watches them. As long as she stays still, they don’t seem to notice her.
I heard a story on the radio last night about a woman that loves birds but wasn’t allowed to put up a bird feeder at her apartment. She figured out she could put birdseed on the window ledge and get a good view. She also pointed out that the birds can see movement inside and she has to sit still.
I have a herd of 12 whitetail deer that wander through my front and backyard almost daily, mainly during the night, looking for food. When I get up in the morning, I can see where they have been and what they have eaten. They leave droppings everywhere, which I hear is good for my lawn. I put chicken wire around my trees to keep them from being destroyed, but they don’t have any problem eating my supposedly deer-resistant perennials if they are hungry enough, and I still have to mow my lawn every weekend.
They are a nuisance, but I am not allowed to shoot them due to laws about hunting in a populated area. It’s also illegal to feed them. If I could trap them and move them ten miles away, the bucks would quickly be killed by hunters, but it’s illegal to capture them. I think they know they are safe here, and their population is growing. They will eventually run out of food and be forced to look in other areas. People drive by my house to look at Bambi, not knowing what a pest they are or how much damage they can do if left unchecked.
Lol. I joke about catching the deer in a snare and slaughtering them according to kosher rules. But neither “it’s not safe to discharge a firearm close to the neighbors” nor “those are protected wildlife” apply to chickens. (Nor would animal cruelty rules be an issue in most jurisdictions, unless you are somehow nasty about it.) I assume the issue with killing the chickens is that they likely belong to someone else.
Livestock, e.g., cattle, sheep, horses, goats, and other domestic animals, usually are branded or ear tagged. Fowl, such are chickens, ducks, and turkeys may have identification leg bands but usually don’t. If a branded or tagged animal wandered onto your property, you probably have an idea who it might belong to, or you could contact your state’s brand registration office, and they should be able to help you.
If chickens showed up in my backyard, and I had no idea where they came from, I would post flyers and talk to the neighbors. If nobody bothers to claim them after a week, I would catch them and take them to the county farm bureau or county animal shelter, and I bet they would take them, but call them first to make sure. You should consider them a pest and a nuisance, as opposed to a beloved pet, and you shouldn’t have to waste too much time trying the find the rightful owner… assuming there even is one.
But if you want to return to enjoying watching wild bird:
You probably have animal control, or police, who will respond to a complaint about someone else’s animals on your yard. I suggest calling them. They’ll probably either trap them and remove them, or tell you, “after 6 months, those are abandoned. They are yours.” Either way, the chickens will go away.
If neither of those can happen, maybe you could put some “spikes” in the ground. Something too close for chickens to comfortably navigate, but easy for doves and such to walk between. They don’t have to actually be sharp, just in the way. Cut up metal clothes hangers would likely work fine.
Nextdoor. com might be a good solution to tracking down the owners. That website can be toxic depending on the neighborhood but it’s useful on occasion.
We feed the deer, legal in our area if we aren’t baiting them to shoot. What I notice is that the population fluctuates over time. When the deer (rabbit, raccoon, groundhog, etc) population swells and exceeds the carrying capacity of the land, animals die.
With rabbits the hawk population swells as they feed easily. With deer there are more animals killed by cars.
We find that by feeding the deer ~5 pounds of corn a day, they leave our perennials alone.
