First of all, though the dogs are illegally roaming and it's probably perfectly legal for you to shoot them and be done with it, you need to get a fence up. I'm not saying it's your fault, by any means! If your bird are on your property and the dogs came onto your property and killed them, the dog's owner is liable and completely at fault. I free range my flocks, have for nine years. That's what I wanted to do from the beginning, however, each coop has a pen attached, I do not free range any birds when we are not home, and we have a perimeter fence with driveway gate to keep the birds in and dogs out.
I'm only saying that a perimeter fence is one level of defense for your birds-keeps them in and dogs from easily being able to just run across your property and slaughter as they go. We fenced two acres of our over five, one 330 ft roll of livestock fencing at a time, with steel U-posts, as we could afford it. We live on military pension alone and we did all the work ourselves. It took probably six months to complete, a roll bought each month or so. It can be done. It's not perfect, of course, but it has helped. Coyotes and foxes scoff at a 5 ft fence, and once a dog climbed over and tore the fence off a tree it was nailed to (no birds lost, fired shots, heard owner whistling for dogs) but the predator's act of going over the fence or trying to dig/squeeze under is a visual alert to the birds (I have roosters on guard in several flocks) to get to safety and we've never lost one to predators. No livestock guardian dogs here. Would love one, but don't think we can afford it.
A barrier of some sort may help give you some relief, but if those dogs are hungry, they may be more motivated than most to get through that barrier and you may still have to deal with them. If you have no pens attached to the coops, that would be my first thing to do, erect very strong pens with dig barriers (no chicken wire!). Then, you can get to the business of dealing with the dogs in whatever way you choose. If you can't shoot them or have no firearms or are not proficient, I hope animal control is of some use in your area. Many areas, it's worse than having nothing and just gets in the way, sadly.
I'm only saying that a perimeter fence is one level of defense for your birds-keeps them in and dogs from easily being able to just run across your property and slaughter as they go. We fenced two acres of our over five, one 330 ft roll of livestock fencing at a time, with steel U-posts, as we could afford it. We live on military pension alone and we did all the work ourselves. It took probably six months to complete, a roll bought each month or so. It can be done. It's not perfect, of course, but it has helped. Coyotes and foxes scoff at a 5 ft fence, and once a dog climbed over and tore the fence off a tree it was nailed to (no birds lost, fired shots, heard owner whistling for dogs) but the predator's act of going over the fence or trying to dig/squeeze under is a visual alert to the birds (I have roosters on guard in several flocks) to get to safety and we've never lost one to predators. No livestock guardian dogs here. Would love one, but don't think we can afford it.
A barrier of some sort may help give you some relief, but if those dogs are hungry, they may be more motivated than most to get through that barrier and you may still have to deal with them. If you have no pens attached to the coops, that would be my first thing to do, erect very strong pens with dig barriers (no chicken wire!). Then, you can get to the business of dealing with the dogs in whatever way you choose. If you can't shoot them or have no firearms or are not proficient, I hope animal control is of some use in your area. Many areas, it's worse than having nothing and just gets in the way, sadly.
