$890 of birds gone. I am so MAD tonight

I am so mad at the idiots who think they can do whoever they want. And it is absolutely no good to go to the police when birds are involved. The idiots came into my shop again last night and opened several cage doors. When they did it several years ago it cost me over $1200 in birds. They turned lose many rare partridges and Francolins which I was never able to replace.

When I went in t his morning I thought they had only opened up the 6 doors to the 6 x 8 foot pens where I had a lot of started birds. About 100 in them. They were all running around the shops and all mixed up in different pens. Going to be a pain to separate them all out in to their proper pens. At first I thought there were only 4 chickens. Two my dog played with and two small white Sultan pullets I had been raising for my friend in Prince George.

It was untill this afternoon that I realize they had un hooked several doors of my brooder cages on the other side of the shop. They are ones which are worth the money and some very hard to replace.

The first thing I notice was my three young Peach Goldens were gone. I only hatch 3 this year, 1 male and 2 hens. Then I lost my male. I was going to keep the three for myself as breeders for next year even thou gh I have 6 or 7 people waiting for them. They are worth a $100 each. On top of losing them now I am going to have to buy a pair or trio from Ontario and pay shipping to get them here.

There were also also three beautiful young Lady Amherst hens in that pen that I had picked out to keep as breeders next year.

The second brooder they open had 5 Dark throated Goldens and A pair of Silver Goldens. The Silvers Re worth $100 a pair. I already had them sold. I only had 5 silvers this year.

The third brooders had 3 Cinnamon Goldens and 4 Red Goldens.

All the pheasant were over half grown and ready to go to the outside pens. The. Big shop door was open because it has been so hot. Sol when they open the brooder boxes the pheasants just took off for the bush. I saw a couple this afternoon but was unable to catch them.

In total the birds lost were:

3 Peach Goldens - $300.00
3 Lady Amherst hens - $90.00
2 Silver Goldens - $100.00
5 Dark Throated Goldens - $100.00
3 Cinnamon Goldens - $60.00
4 Red Goldens - $80.00
6 Pied and White Ringnecks Doves - $60.00
1 standardVlue Wyandotte Pullet - $20.00
1 bantam Silver Laced Wyandotte Pullet - $20.00
2 standard White Sultan Pullets - $40.00

In all I lost 30 birds worth about $890.00

I am really pissed off tonight!!!

I don't understand how someone could do that to someone ! Time to put up cameras and catch who ever is doing it !! I do feel for your loss's ! Unreal !!!!!!!!!!

Sounds like you are in a bad area for shitty ass stink butt criminals (is that proper English??). Should maybe invest in a Cane Corso or something like that, rather large enough to make them think twice. Ah man, sorry bout your luck though.
Piet

Wow! That SUCKS big time!!! I'm so sorry to hear about your loss - simply unbelievable! Are you sure nothing will be done if you file complaint with RCMP - at very least it's b&e, destruction of personal property...

Piet wrote:Sounds like you are in a bad area for shitty ass stink butt criminals (is that proper English??). Should maybe invest in a Cane Corso or something like that, rather large enough to make them think twice. Ah man, sorry bout your luck though.
Piet

Piet is right! Why don't you have a BIG dog, or dogs, and at least an alarm on your barn? Unbeliveable! I'm so sorry for you loss. It sounds like time to arm yourself in several ways.

That stinks! Any way of bait trapping the ones in the bush?

Thats awefull! I agree, time for some camera's and canines! Hope you can recover some of you birds

How horrible! I would suggest reporting it to the police anyway. Probably won't do any good but that is a significant financial loss! That should count for something!! Do you have any idea who might be behind this - just a nasty individual, or something like green peace?

I am so sorry for your loss. This is outrageous!

Hi

I have closed the big door to the shop, and put a padlock on the entry door. I also locked up my other main poultry house door ( I have about 60 started birds in it ), and the main pheasant pen (have 5 cages in it). It is such a pain to have to lock them since if I forgot the keys I have to go back to the house every time to get them. I have a large yard. The problem is I have about another 12-15 small pens about my yard which I do not have set up to lock. I will go in this morning and report it to the police. Not expecting them to do much.

Perry

I am also going in this morning to Costco to look at security cameras.

Lets see this happened before and you did nothing. I feel bad the first time a bad thing happens, but if you didn't fix the problem so it could not happen again, your fault stop complaining. I find it hard to believe that you would notice some pens opened and not check the rest till noon. Closing the barn door after the horse is out never works well, but then tring to remember to carry key every day can be such a chore.

For the pens that don't have a 'door/latch (whatever) to put padlock on, try a bike lock (loop of coated chain with combination lock on it) or buy suitable lengths of chain and padlock them together.
If you can find a set of 4-6 keyed alike padlocks it saves a lot of time trying to find 'right' key etc on keyring and makes it so u only need to carry the one key. I'm bad with keys too - can u tell?

lazyfarmer wrote:Lets see this happened before and you did nothing. I feel bad the first time a bad thing happens, but if you didn't fix the problem so it could not happen again, your fault stop complaining. I find it hard to believe that you would notice some pens opened and not check the rest till noon. Closing the barn door after the horse is out never works well, but then tring to remember to carry key every day can be such a chore.

Geez, who peed in your corn flakes?

Ah man, why on earth could someone get some jollies out of doing such tragic harm to someone else. Obviously they got off on doing this thing and that is awful. Sometimes you wonder what planet some human beings are from. This is awful to hear and it is also so nasty there isn't enough words to describe. Personally I like what Piet said, some nice choice of words that were, well....just right. Perry, this has hit you hard, and we all empathize with you for surely. I have to re-read your post to get a deeper grip on what you have lost. What can one say, not really much, but you have a place where people will listen to you, and venting is one of the most powerful healing manners. Wishing you will find something in this day to make it much better than it is. Finding your pheasants and returning them to the fold comes to mind. Chins up, CynthiaM.

I can't quite grasp what happened in total. I know the cages were opened. The pheasants are in the bush. The dog killed 4? Did these creeps or singular creep steal the birds? Did they turn them loose and they are flying away gone? Where did the birds go? I just need to know things better sometimes than what I have been able to figure out. I feel sick for you. Still have to hope something good comes your way to brighten you up, sad, sad, CynthiaM.

Sounds like kids to me, Perry.

Lazy farmer, I have some vinegar here that you can borrow. I find it especially effective to pour on wounds.

lazyfarmer wrote:Lets see this happened before and you did nothing. I feel bad the first time a bad thing happens, but if you didn't fix the problem so it could not happen again, your fault stop complaining. I find it hard to believe that you would notice some pens opened and not check the rest till noon. Closing the barn door after the horse is out never works well, but then tring to remember to carry key every day can be such a chore.

Happened several years ago. Locked doors for about two years and thought the problem was gone. The brooder boxes were on the opposite wall of my big shop from the open doors for my poultry pens. When I look at them they looked like they were closed. Not untill I went to feed at 1 did I see they had been unhooked. More worried about getting all the chickens running around back in to right cages then worrying about doors that looked closed.

Perryschofield wrote:I am also going in this morning to Costco to look at security cameras.

Sorry for your losses.

They have some pretty decent security systems at costco, same brand as the ones we use at work and they are very effective. Even dummy cameras mounted in an area you can't get power to can be effective too.

Schipperkesue wrote:Sounds like kids to me, Perry.

I'm thinking kids too.

The only other possibility I see is if someone wanted to steal a couple of birds, let them all out and voila, "Looks like the work of rowdy teens and I couldn't find all my birds".

CynthiaM wrote:I can't quite grasp what happened in total. I know the cages were opened. The pheasants are in the bush. The dog killed 4? Did these creeps or singular creep steal the birds? Did they turn them loose and they are flying away gone? Where did the birds go? I just need to know things better sometimes than what I have been able to figure out. I feel sick for you. Still have to hope something good comes your way to brighten you up, sad, sad, CynthiaM.

Hi

I have seen a few of the young pheasants in the bush yesterday and this moring. The ones turned out are over half grown. Pheasants head for cover and will travel several miles when released. The two I saw yesterday were Dark Throated Goldens, two of the cheaper ones. Bought new padlocks this morning, the type you can use words on.

Perry

lazyfarmer wrote:Lets see this happened before and you did nothing. I feel bad the first time a bad thing happens, but if you didn't fix the problem so it could not happen again, your fault stop complaining. I find it hard to believe that you would notice some pens opened and not check the rest till noon. Closing the barn door after the horse is out never works well, but then tring to remember to carry key every day can be such a chore.

On this list we dont respond to others with contempt and disrespect please dont do this again

Same thing happened in ON, someone broke in and stole birds, there was an ad on kijiji about it. What a sad state of affairs. Costco has the best cameras-don't go to Staples, we found they were crap. I would post large beware of dog signs-regardless if you have a dog or not. Leave a large dog bowl visible, piece of chain or rope, etc. I too, would go to police at least then there is a report.

Hi

Have reported to police. Will fill in report again. Officer will drop by. I have put locks on the main pens doors. I guess it is my fault in believing most people are good and considerate. After 2 years I thought the problem was gone. I actually gave the name of the three boys to the RCMP the last time. Two of the three boys who did it actually came and apologize to me after, saying they had been drinking. The main leader, and the real trouble, has been gone for about a year and a half. Just found out he is back in community. Have passed his name on to police.

I am not a large dog person. My wife does not want one. I have a lot of people come to visit, especially kids. This is what makes the hobby special to me, having everyone able to come and see my birds. I worry to much about what might happen if a kid or adult was bitten.

Finally, some good news. Two of the six doves missing returned this evening. They flew right in the door and landed on top of their pen. I was able to net them and put them back in with their friends. When I was shutting up the pens outside at dusk, two of the young pheasants were walking along the top of the big pheasant pens. I waited till after dark and went out with a light and big net. I was able to catch three as a third one had showed up. Got 2 Dark throated Goldens males, and a Red Golen hen.

Hopefully more are hanging around where I can catch them. Very happy to have some of them comeback after thinking they were all lost.

Perry

Excellent news! Yay