Basic: 20ft x 10ft chicken coop being attacked by loose blue pit bulls. (Weight 60,80 lbs malle and female). I’m trying to address the problem by finding the owners and what not but I first saw them 3 weeks ago. Tried to break in and I told them to stop, they listened and left. They came back today between 2-4pm and broke in and the one rooster that was there (missexed at birth) fought them off, died doing so. It is a very low gauge wire surround the pen, chickens aren’t to strong. After the situation I reinforced the entrance where they broke in with higher(lower) gauge wire to about 2.5 ft it’s what I had available. They came back at 11pm and broke in above it. I had to let one of the dogs out of the door so they could leave. I don’t wish to shoot the dogs, and am dealing with it on other fronts… I was hoping maybe someone had cheap ideas I could use to reinforce the pen in case they come back before the issue is sorted. As a gun owner, I never want guns to be the answer
.410 or 20 gauge open bore with a rock salt load.
Pepper em up every time you see em. Mostly non-lethal (even blanks can be lethal at point blank)
However
Canines can be tenacious. You’ll have to kill them, dissuade them to the point of absolute fear, or harden your coop with a full enclosure of welded fencing. But your chickens will definitely be stressed if you let them keep coming, hardened enclosure not withstanding.
Is getting a donkey an option? Personally if I were in your shoes I’d either kill them or pain them so much they have Regret. Yes they are following their instincts, but if they’re feral (and possibly if they’re tame) their instincts will also allow them to kill a small child. An 80lb dog can do a lot of damage.
If you eat meat you’re already okay with taking life out of necessity. This would, in my mind, be a necessity