Sweet, predatorial neighbor dog

[Ragna]

I've got pretty spectacular neighbors. It's actually one of the reasons we fell in love with the house.

Our chickens went into their yard. We have a 6 foot fence around the property, except for that one side, which is 4 ft. I think the chickens went over the wood pile looking for bugs.

Personally I kept my chickens in crates ot locked up outside at night. I spent a LOT of time with them. And I definitely do things less traditionally... I even let my girls spend the night inside on the couch with me... But I did that because I wanted them to see me as a part of their flock... So they don't really venture out too far away from me. They follow me around the yard and will respond when I call out to them, and if they don't feel like running to me I can always count on her calling back lol. In my opinion it may take some qualilty time... Clipping their wings can be dangerous but only if they get out and can't fly away from other animals... If you make a secure coop for them than you shouldn't have to clip their wings... Youll have these old Kat's here saying my methods don't make sense or that chickens have no sense of loyalty so it's weird how my method works but there is always another way to do one thing you just got to reinvent it lol. But there are places my girls know they can break out of... They've done it before but they know what they aren't supposed to do

 

[Ragna]

I free range them now while I'm home only because I don't want them to be stuck out in the heat without water if they spill it because they like doing that. But I'd trust them for the most part to stay in the fence

 

[WVduckchick]

All good advice. Sorry for your loss.

 

[aart]

Hard lesson.
Big secure run is best, doesn't mean they can never range.