Can I just let them forage?

[Herbwifemama]

Predators are a huge issue, and it scares me. We have stray dogs, hawks (sharp shinned and red tailed), coyotes, foxes, possums, coons... And likely owls too.

I was thinking of getting a guard dog for the family,a nd then I read on here that there are whole breeds of dogs for guarding flocks!! ZOMG!

So, I'm looking into a dog as well. (My 5 yo has been begging for a dog for months, anyway.)

Thank you for all your advice, I think we'll get the fence to keep dogs OUT, kids IN, and keep the chickens in a spacious tractor that moves to new grass daily. While providing feed, of course.

 

[Judy]

I have 3 mutts who keep predators away -- they bark and chase anything that comes on the property. It wasn't that hard to train them to "leave it," even though one killed a chicken by "playing" with it, shaking it. They don't guard the chickens, they guard the property. They ignore the chickens.

 

[RIBill]

Sound like an OK plan, although I don't know if I personally would take on new dog AND chicken ownership simultaneously. Also, grass and weeds don't make very good sole chicken forage. It's fine to let them supplement, but you will either want to "enhance" your lawn with things that chickens like. Better still, rip up a decent sized area and plant a custom chicken pasture. One approach I like is making a large run/pen, with the coop in the middle. You use fence panels to divide the space in 4 and rotate the accessible area. You can plant successions of different plants in each area and give a good variety.

 

[LadyWoodsong]

I got 12 Black Stars last April and I let them free-range on our 5 acres from morning 'til late afternoon/early evening and even on 5 acres I needed to supplement with chicken feed. They don't eat as much feed when they're free-ranging but they still need supplemented, in my opinion.