Video shows stray dogs slaughter Douglasville couple’s chicken flock

DOUGLASVILLE, Ga. - A Douglas County couple is trying to recoup after what they described as a massacre on their micro farm. They tell FOX 5 two aggressive dogs that wandered onto their property slaughtered nearly all the chickens they owned. 

"These chickens were my babies…this one hurts," Niya Matthews said Wednesday. 

She and her husband Eric rose to fame on social media sharing their life as micro-farmers. 

Matthews says she never imagined having to make a post like the one she shared last Thursday letting her followers know about a deadly dog attack that nearly wiped out their entire flock. 

"We got a phone call from my daughter that some dogs were in our chicken coop and had slaughtered our entire coop minus one and that’s Susie," she recalled. 

Pictures and videos of the aftermath showed 12 of their 13 chickens ripped limb from limb. 

Matthews says the dogs were still inside the coop when Douglas County Animal Control arrived.  

"It was for sport because they didn’t eat them… they just slaughtered them," she said. 

Matthews tells FOX 5 it’s a traumatizing two-fold loss. Not only were those chickens' family pets, but they also helped bring in a few thousand dollars a year in extra income. 

"We’ve been doing this for going on four years so all of our chickens had names, personalities, we shared them with social media...we also provide eggs to the community at the farmer’s market, at our workshops," she explained. 

While Matthews says their last hen is still shaken up by the attack, they plan to put added safeguards in place around the coop. 

"She’s not laying any eggs right now," she said. "We gotta take our chicken coop up a notch, electric fencing, possibly get a dog." 

Matthews tells FOX 5 Douglas County Animal Control checked to see if the dogs were microchipped, but they were not. She says so far, no owner has claimed them. 

An online fundraiser the couple created has surpassed its goal.