What to do? Chickens afraid of dog flight to neighbors garden

[chickens really]

Let me explain:
On the east side of our garden the neighbours have a dog. In the west side of our garden we have a chicken coop and run. On the west side we have 2 neighbours because the street makes a strange turn. Nr 112 (large connection) and 110 (small connection).
Further east there are more neighbours. Our hen Ini was spotted in garden nr 106 on Sunday. Next morning she was spotted in garden nr 108.

Clip her wings..

 

[rosemarythyme]

The dog listens quit good. But sometimes he escapes out of the house. Or they let them in the garden to pee cause they dont have have to walk with him (then he is always on a leach). The neighbours do try to keep the dog away from our garden. But not always succesfull.

Besides it would cost a lot of money to close our garden with a dogproof fence.

I see 2 possibilities:
1sth is to keep the chickens in. Have less chickens or build a bigger run.
2nd is to leave the situation as it is now. And be a bit worried if a chicken sleeps outside. If eventually a chicken doesnt return it did have a good life after all.

I just have to weigh the pleasure of free ranging against the risk of preditors.

I know many people love the idea of free ranging but in a lot of situations it's not possible to free range and expect to have living birds by the end of a year.

My lot isn't fenced either, simply too big and we have water on 3 of the sides so fencing is impossible, so I have a fenced in run instead.

It's good that the dog seems obedient but even one slip up can have terrible results for your chickens, and since it's not your dog it will be much harder for you to manage it even if the neighbors are trying to train it.

Of your 2 solutions, #1 is what I would go with: a bigger run, or fewer chickens for the run space you have (not sure exactly how big your set up is vs number and type of birds).

 

[BDutch]

I have my adult chickens free ranging for as long as I have them. Over 5 years now. At least for a couple of hours if someone is at home. Never a problem until this young dog frightened the chickens.

The run is big enough. But the happiness of the chickens when they are set free for free ranging is (was) so pleasing. Also looking outside to see them walk, run and scratch make (made) my day.

If there is no good solution and the chickens don't get used to the dog I probably just stop to maintain the size of the flock till there are no more then 4 hens left. With less chickens there will be more grass and enough to scratch in the run.

 

[BDutch]

Maybe the chickens have found their own solution.

When I open the coop door the oldest chickens stay inside. Including Ini who was lost last week. The younger chickens come out but stay in the area near the run door. This is the area I described before.

When the dog is seen, the chickens flee in the run. And not on top of the run or to the neighbors.

 

[Chickenmeme]

I was free ranging my 8 and they loved it! Then the bobcat found them! I lost 4 to him befor I was able to figure out what was getting them. At first I just kept them in . Now I let them out at different times of the day and haven’t seen and signs of the bobcat. I tried traps to catch him but thankfully he moved on.

 

[BDutch]

I was free ranging my 8 and they loved it! Then the bobcat found them! I lost 4 to him befor I was able to figure out what was getting them. At first I just kept them in . Now I let them out at different times of the day and haven’t seen and signs of the bobcat. I tried traps to catch him but thankfully he moved on.

I do now there is a risk in free ranging. But we have e.g. no bobcats, racoons, snakes, coyotes and opossums here in the Netherlands. Weasels only come in the night. The preditors that I fear are foxes or a mean dog. Or maybe a hawk (a mile from here they have been spotted).
A good thing my flock can fly/flee to get away of the mean animals. The problem I adjusted was that they flee too far from home and not know how to get home after they have seen a ‘dangerous’ dog.

But it seems they have found a solution themselves. Smart chickens.
This week they all stayed near the entrance of the coop. One or two chickens are on the look-out. And they don’t flee to the gardens of our neighbors anymore but in the coop. Fingers crossed they keep on doing this.

 

[BDutch]

2 weeks have passed now and all is going well. But I don’t now for how long. The chickens start to wander around a bit more.

Today they where halfway between the entrance to the coop and the garden of the neighbors.

Instinct of chickens are good, But from what i have been reading memory often last no more then 1 or 2 weeks (stories about behaviour after predator attacks) .

Its seems a memory of 2 weeks is quit right for my chickens. Just have to experience what happend next. Or not. Because we will go on a short holiday trip soon. And our house guests / chickens sitters keeps them in the coop/pen.

 

[BDutch]

Update.

I posted this also on another forum about chickens remembering things.

Another 2 - 3 weeks have passed. The dog has been on a ’holiday’ for a week with Xmas. And my chickens where locked up for week because we had a holiday around new years day.

Now the chickens go further away again when free ranging. Roaming around as before the dog issues.

Has this to do with forgetting or with loosing fear after a few weeks?

I let them free range as before the dog issue. With a little more supervision and see what wil happen.

 

[BDutch]

After 2 months without any troubles with the dog this happened today:
The dog of the neighbours was outside and spotted the chickens. 6 chickens disappeared to a garden on the other side if the hedge.

He chased 2 chickens and grabbed Pino at her tail and wing. Luckily my son was outside to send the dog home.

After the attack Pino rests on the ground. One chicken accompanies her. She is fit enough to flee from my son who wanted to check if she was hurt. When I checked her 5 minutes later she seemed okay. No blood. Nothing seems broken. Only her tail is minimised. Pfff

The other chickens all got back before dark. And they all roosted before nightfall.