Neighbors with consistent patterns of loss provide little or no protection for the birds while free-ranging. Some use fences and some have dogs although none use both. Most have the birds foraging over well manicured lawns to the birds are prone to cover much larger areas and most often without cover of any sort. They also keep their birds as a single loose flock that is out all at once.
My yard has a more diverse forage base, dogs that chase predators, fencing in what is actually multiple layers that my dogs can navigate, lots of cover, chickens broken up into multiple flocks (each with a rooster), and not all flocks are out at a time. Each flock has its own roost site that can be, when needed closed up predator tight at night or even during the day. I also deploy feeding stations around cover patches so I can direct foraging into areas where dogs are most effective.
