My dogs are demons.

[BelovedBirds]

$50 for hardware cloth won’t get you very far.
I always get a little irked at all the “all you have to do is hardware cloth” posts. That stuff is very expensive and to cover a run, you are talking several 100 bucks.

You aren't wrong, I just spent about 300 on new wire and it hasn't even covered the whole area.
Still, I feel like that's a part of keeping poultry and a consideration that should be made ahead of time, or at least invested in soon as its possible to do so. Dogs aren't the only predators who need keeping away

 

[BelovedBirds]

On a philosophical level I am a weird one. I’ve served in the military, maybe my experiences there broke something in me, I’m not sure. But I feel that consuming a living thing, be it vegetable or animal, is a violent act. If you think about it logically, then anyone can see that it is as you are actively destroying another life to sustain your own. So, commonly I find myself at severe dissonance with my own existence. I’m not in anyway suicidal, and I’m not saying that I see this extreme viewpoint as a practical way to live. I recognize it for what it is and I do my best to live with it. In practice the way that I force myself to look at it is that I have myself and I have mine. I do my absolute best to maintain a nature that is as peaceful as possible, with the caveat that I will protect all of those that are mine with what ever ferocity or means I deem necessary. “Mine” include all of the people and the animals, even plants, in my life. What threw me so far out into left field on this issue is that was that mine hurt mine. I had never dealt with anything like this and I had no idea how to react to it. I was in completely uncharted waters emotionally, and it took me a few to grasp back onto reality.

I find your view really interesting.
Way I see it, all beings have a right to their life. All beings are part of a cycle, there has to be death in order to live, its sad and terrible and sometimes its beautiful. In my view, we can only do, and ought to do, the best we can. I try to keep a balance, both in my way of life, and in my animals lives. I'd protect them if need be, but I try to maintain peace so that I won't have to.
I think you have a complicated but right train of thought- but don't resent yourself for having needs too.

 

[TexasBlues]

I take the risks and let mine free range in the yard that is a surrounded by a chain link fence.
The coop is partly fenced with chicken wire. If I could’ve afforded it I would’ve used hardware cloth, but the chicken wire is secured well. No weak corners like those Amazon runs I’ve seen.
My biggest expense so far was the automatic door I just put in.

 

[AGeese]

I take the risks and let mine free range in the yard that is a surrounded by a chain link fence.
The coop is partly fenced with chicken wire. If I could’ve afforded it I would’ve used hardware cloth, but the chicken wire is secured well. No weak corners like those Amazon runs I’ve seen.
My biggest expense so far was the automatic door I just put in.
View attachment 3885664

Looks like that Roo could handle anything that comes over the fence.

 

[TexasBlues]

Looks like that Roo could handle anything that comes over the fence.

He mostly goes after my wife

 

[RiDaGeckoGuy]

He mostly goes after my wife

Mine is super gentle and not intimating at all behind the fence… until you go in there and he flings his 10lb lavender Orpington butt in your face and shreds your legs with his spurs.

 

[Nym]

I would like to throw it out there that I don’t have the time or money to train a dog and if she isn’t suitable for me and my family then the pound is a last resort. Also where I live a chicken killer will never be able to be rehomed and I’m not going to lie and her end up killing someone else’s birds. I don’t like talking about this because I know some people don’t value the lives they loved over ones they don’t know and also 1 life over 30 at risk I don’t need the 1 risk.

With a solid correction by the owner / master Any dog can be made suitable around chickens.

 

[ChickenMama1958]

Our Great Dane is like a mother hen to our chickens. But that being said we never leave her unsupervised with them. A dog is a dog!

 

[calychicken]

Once a dog gets the taste of blood there is no way to retrain it. Put it down. Sorry, but he will kill again and maybe get into other's chickens.

I don't think that killing the animal is necessary. It was doing what its instincts told it, and it's the not the animal's fault. If you were put in a room full of donuts (or something else you find tasty), you would eat them. Most of the time it's not the animal's but the owner's fault.

 

[AGeese]

With a solid correction by the owner / master Any dog can be made suitable around chickens.

This guy