Please move if not in the right place-free range fence or fence in dog

[TipsyDog]

First let me say I live in the woods, no neighbors. We have a 4 foot fence that runs around the house, just into the woods, about 1,000 feet. The chickens have never flown over it yet. They seem to have plenty of room and roam the edge of the woods or pines and junipers. That keeps them out of view of the hawks.

My dogs are small breed, so I let them in that yard a couple of times a day when the chickens are in their run. The fence keeps my dogs in.

I have another yard of about 1/4 acre fenced on the other side of the house is which is the real "dog only" yard. They have access 24/7 through the doggie door.

This set up works ideal for me. We occasionally have a neighbor's dog come through here, but none has ever bothered jumping the fence. Coons come in at night, but the girls are locked in the coop then. They also have a fully enclosed pen which I can lock them in if I'm gone all day. Otherwise I leave them out with no problems. Feral cats come through here too and they don't bother the chickens. I do keep some food out for them on the porch, so they eat and leave ASAP so as not to run into one of my dogs.

I have found that the dogs will mark the entire outer area of the fence and it seems to signal other critters that "this space is taken". No critter has ever entered my dog yard in 10 years (OK, 1 rabbit, but he got eaten fast!). Dogs mark their territory and the wild animals respect that. That's why I let the dogs into the chicken yard everyday to "mark". It helps. They also love to "clean-up" after the chickens

Hope that helps you guys decide!

ETA: Realize you could always lose chickens to predators. It's natures way. I haven't lost any yet, but I realize the risk. I also like the girls to be happy and they are simply not happy if I go out in the morning and not let them run. They are chickens with short life spans, so I take the risk and let them have their happy chicken lives. They should be allowed to live the life nature intended. That includes an occasional predator dinner if we are unlucky. I watch them closely most of the day and do what I can to keep them safe.

The biggest clue that something is wrong has always been the wild song birds. I keep my ears open and have learned many warning cries which gets me outside quick! Feed those wild birds and keep them around. They are very helpful to flock management!

 

[warmwater]

Hello, we have a 1/2 acre fenced in for our house dogs...6 English Mastiffs and a border collie. Our hen house also has a large run inside our (dog fenced area). When our dogs are out, our chickens are in their run...when the dogs are in, our chickens are let out. We're always home when the chickens are out roaming the 1/2 acre, I am over protective of my girls. Plus I like it when I go out and they run up to me to get picked up and follow me around while I clean up after the dogs. This works for us.

 

[vkp23]

The main thing was the whole keeping our dog Sango away from the chickens while we work on the very long prossess of getting her used to them while still letting them be happy in life with plenty of room to roam so they wont kill each other. And in fact, when we went out for the evening feeding we found they had pecked the guy on the bottom of the todem pole to death. So space for them is needed quickly. My husband was being a smarty pants and said "well they will just fly over so whats the point of building a fence?" He was being a jerk cause he said it would cost too much money. But like I told him it would cost way more to buil coops and runs big enough to be sutible for them not to mention that fact that our property is very hilly and would be near impossible to get it secure enough anyway. The ultimate goal in the long run is to have the large area around our house down to the other end of the pipe line we live on fenced in and let the dogs and chickens and ducks run together in an almost one acre pice of land. Like I said about our older dog, it's going to take a LONG time to train her because of her high energy and lack of consentration. Also, to tackyrama, I wasne't getting riled up. I just don't like it when people assume I don't take proper care of my animals. My husband and I are big time animal lovers and do all the best we can to care well for our pets. I wouldn't do anything half hasard because they depend on us to care for them. And some dogs are hard to near impossible to train unless you have the money to send them to specialized obediance school which we don't have the money for. And personally I don't think that makes me a bad person or careless pet owner for not sending her to obedeance school. I'm not attacking or anything I'm just saying. I posted because I wanted to make a point to my husband that it is possible to safely fence in chickens. Also he asked me to ask here if basically should just let the chickens go and hope for the best or built the fence. The point of fencing the dog was to keep the chickens safe from her till we get her fully trained that chickens are not food. Not for her anyway! LOL! There have been a lot of great suggestions here that has put mine and my husbands mind at ease. Thank you guys!

 

[Beekissed]

just let the chickens go and hope for the best or built the fence.

I would build the fence!

Also, remember that clipping the wings makes it harder for them to fly but they can still hop up onto a good solid surface like a wooden fence post or gate. Those areas need to have a pointy or wired surface sticking up that prevents accurate landing places.

This I know from experience.......

Wouldn't hurt to have your one dog in a long, fenced run on your most vulnerable side....like the side of the fencing near the woods. That puts a big dog barrier between predator hide outs and your chooks.​