Guard dog

[ejtrout31]

The during the day the dog can free range outside of the fence at night the dog would be locked in the fence and there would be chickens in the fenced area but by that time they should be roosting.

 

[llombardo]

Yes. I had the feed dishes on the ground while I checked for eggs or was messing with the gate or something and when I turned around my dog had polished off nearly the whole bowl behind my back!

My dog always gets the fermented feed--doesn't matter where I put it, he finds and gets it on the third day when it's time to feed the chickens. The first couple times it was outside on top of the grill.

 

[llombardo]

A few thoughts...

One, dogs will eat chicken food and chickens will eat dog food. If you could figure out a way to separate it, it would be good. The chicken food doesn't always agree with the dog's digestion, and sometimes dogs are prone to food aggression and you would not want the dog killing a chicken over a bowl of food. But it is not the end of the world if they eat each other's food, it's not toxic or anything like that.

Two, I like that my dog can fully circle the coops. I'm not sure if I 100% understand your drawing, but your coops all appear to be along one side of the fence. I Think it would be good if the outer fence is in a way that the dog can walk on all sides of the coops so that you are not leaving one side vulnerable to predators. Yes, the dog nearby will be a deterrent, but if the dog had access to all sides it would be more effective.

This is the route I went. They(the dogs) can get around the whole pen and they do perimeter checks often. They are not guardian dogs do I have an electric fence around the run, so they can't get to the chickens.