Just a warning. Dogs can easily get a chicken through a fence. Chicken just has to get close enough to the fence to be grabbed and it's all over.Right now we're letting the babies range for a few hours a day under supervision, until my electric netting from Premier arrives (hopefully this week). After that, they'll be allowed to range all day within the fenced area when we're not home. If we have trouble with hawks or eagles, we'll have to revise our plan, but for now I hope that this will give them sufficient day time protection (the run will be long and narrow with lots of cover, so it will take a bit of effort for a hawk or eagle to get in there.) We're also going to put our dogs on an invisible fence (summer project) so they'll be able to be near the chickens, though the chickens will still be behind the electric netting because we're not sure if our dogs are trustworthy or not. If they prove to be reliable, we may eventually remove the netting and put it to use in another part of our yard when we're ready to raise meat chickens
Lots of trial and error, but we're lucky to have the space and many options to test out.
As for the rooster, since it looks like we already have at least one, we'll keep him and see how he grows up. Hopefully not too mean!
