Are chickens smart enough to keep away from dogs and the street?

[CovertS2]

I am hoping to allow my chickens to free range in my yard, but two of my next-door-neighbors have dogs and the street is close too. Will they stay where it is safe or will I need to shepard them everywhere they go? ( I have three young chickens)

 

[AlienChick]

Chickens generally do not wander into the street (unless their coop is right next to the street).
I would be more worried about the neighbor's dogs taking advantage of a free chicken dinner.

 

[nuchickontheblock]

Welcome to chicken-keeping and

Chickens are curious creatures who will wander around and check out whatever they can. They will not stay out of the road or away from neighbor dogs. Please go onto the coop design and predator sections of the forums where there is lots of information about keeping chickens safe.

Most folks have some type of fencing if they free range their chickens. You will need to make sure that they are protected from dogs and other predators. Even if you are right with them, if a dog came into your yard, your chickens could be killed before you could do anything to help them.

Good luck and enjoy your new flock.

 

[AuroraSprings]

We have officially lost two hens to our dogs now. The chickens should know where the dogs are and where it is safe but they continue to wander into the dogs fence. It pretty ridiculous. The ducks have figured it out and the geese are experts at staying JUST out of reach,but not the chickens.

 

[CovertS2]

The neighborhood dogs mostly all have electric fences, but that won't stop the chickens! We have a fenced in area that is about 20 feet wide and 30 feet long. Will they get enough exercise if they can free range in that area?

 

[Daisy8s]

My run is approx 20x30 and it wasn't big enough for 6 chickens. They ate the ground bare and were bored. It isn't so much about the physical exercise as it is keeping their minds busy with typical chicken behaviors--scratching, foraging, dust bathing, etc. If you can't safely free range them outside the run then you could add fruit and vegetable kitchen scraps, or yard trimmings to the yard to give them something to scratch/forage amongst for interest.

I added a sand pit for dust bathing to our run--use playground sand as construction sand is coarser so it can cut skin. And, remember to have plenty of shade for them. Chickens can overheat easily. Mine seek the shade even on cooler days.

I've let them free range for over a year now and generally they are okay. We live close to a road and they have no sense of staying away from it. If a car is coming they'll run away from the car, but they haven't learned to associate the road with cars. I notice them ranging closer to the road in early spring when there isn't much for them to graze and so they're seeking new ground.

It is incredibly difficult to "herd" chickens since their instinct is to scatter so I wouldn't plan on being a shepherd. It is better to attract them where you want them to go with treats (my birds go crazy for a bit of of cheap wild bird seed) rather than trying to chase them or direct them from behind.

A dog kill can happen extremely fast. You probably couldn't prevent it even if you were there. Also, you really wouldn't want your chickens venturing into your neighbor's yard because they leave tons of poop wherever they go and are avid grazers. They'll eat about anything and that could include your neighbor's garden or flowers.

One key to successfully free ranging your chickens is having adequate cover for them. We have a large pine tree with low branches. They use this as their central location and range from it but return to it at any signs of danger...or to take a nap or a dust bath!

After several losses to wildlife I also added a rooster to my flock. He does a good job of alerting the hens to danger and could potentially be a first line of defense if it came to that.

Good luck! Even if they can only free range for a few hours under your supervision it's so entertaining for you it's worth the hassle.

P.S. My neighbor has horses and so I add horse manure to my run occasionally. The birds LOVE it! And, in a year or so I'll have great compost since their scratching does the turning for me!

 

[rikithemonk]

Im fairly new here although I have been lurking the site for several months. From everything I have read, im fairly certain that your going to loose your chickens. Chicken deaths from preditors seem common and the two most common preditors from the forum posts seem to be Racoons and Dogs. I built my coop using chicken wire due to cost and monitary reasons, but I added an additional $150 in electric fensing around my coop because of a feeling of responsability for the chickens. Both the neighbors on my right and left have large dogs that roam their fenced in yards. Its very possible for the dogs to jump the fences. While I would love to allow my girls to roam the back yard, I would never do so because I know for a fact that it would only provoke the neighbors dogs and will only invite trouble. So, sadly the girls will have to make due with their runs

 

[MissChikaDee]

We live close to the road, but have 4 green acres for ours to free range on. I keep an eye on them while they're out because we lost a rooster to something in the middle of the day. It can happen pretty quick.

It's surprising how quick chickens will travel to some place they're not supposed to go. One day I couldn't find them anywhere on our property, I started thinking someone had stolen them. Well, we found them across the road and down the hill in the woods foraging. We learned the answer to why the chicken crossed the road.

We've also had stray dogs come through and get a hold of one of our BR's. Fortunately all they got were a bunch of feathers because we were right there when it happened.

 

[ReikiStar]

It's not a matter of chickens being smart. As far as being birds, they are smart as they need to be. The real question is...are you smart enough to make sure nothing can leave your property and nothing can get on to your property? It's not up to the chickens to protect themselves. That's YOUR job. Fence off the road to keep your chickens in and any ground traveling predators out (cats and some dogs will jump/climb fences) -- but no one likes to mess with an electrical hot wire appropriately placed: One across the bottom to prevent digging and one across the top to prevent climbing.

Don't use chicken wire, it's like tinfoil to dogs, racoons and anything other than a chicken or a cat. There are enough threads and stories about what not to do and how cunning predators can be -- do your research because everything you need to know can't be given to you in one posting.

 

[RedDrgn]

No, they're not "smart enough" to do that. Generally, they'll stay within the realm of their coop/run and food/water sources, but if a roadway or a dog is within that realm (which, depending on the size of your flock and how much food they can find in a space can be a pretty big area), they'll wander into both.

Our chickens will regularly head for the road edge, which is just over 175 feet from the nearest portion of their run. If a car comes, they'll shuffle to either side of the road and wait. It doesn't bother them. It DOES bother me, and my DH and I do our best to keep them away from the road. Since we've added a roo to our flock, they've been a whole lot better about sticking together and staying away from the road, and dogs, and crows, and whatever else happens to irk him. But occasionally they head there anyway. They can't really be trained to stay within specific parameters.