as stated, absolutely with smart dog..I have two retrievers, Golden and Lab, both hunt, had no problem at all simply by strong voice NO and they backed off. The Golden is older and has a harder time restraining, especially when the chickens take to wing, but they are around em all the time...
I have had chickens for 2 years now and i find them extremly cheap. I did buy an "A" frame coop for about $400 i think i paid. And after dealing with algea in the plastic waterers, I upgraded to the metal (2) water containers. But food is cheap. I d0 free range them 2-4 days a week...
i am somewhat the same....I hunted ducks, geese, dove for many years, Cleaned hundreds, hundreds of all 3.
But at 60, I have pretty much given up hunting, just lazy, and don't have the desire any longer, FIsh alot these days.
Last year I raised a dozen mallads for our pond and also started...
i noticed you have a "mean old tom cat"....i am trying to figure out foes.....since you have a 4' fence then the cat could "go over it" huh? bottom line, will a house cat kill a chicken? I noticed one of the neighbors sitting looking at them? my fence would have your regular wood fence post...
ok, here is my predicament...i have 10 acreas but neighbors, dogs etc..I got my first 3 chickens 3 months ago at 2 months old. I have them "trained" to return to the coup at night. I have the coup in a horse corral (50 x 100) ..the coup is small......I begin by fencing off part of the coral...
i got my first ducks (12) at 2 days old back in April (24th) and it was several weeks before I could tell any color...the wings got the blue stripes first....I'm just wondering if it has something to do with the time of year. I know in the wild they have to start getting color etc. probably...
I am a newbee in several ways BUT so far I've been lucky....I got 2 day old "flying" mallards and started them on chicken starter that day. Then in a few weeks I started adding floating catfish food and they love it.....today they are nearly 4 months old (4/24) and I feed them floating fish...