Fencing to Protect Chickens and Keep Out Dogs

[Pico_Banana]

BlockquoteWhile I agree it is the neighbors responsibility to keep their dogs at home / restrained etc… No way would I rely on them to do so. We fence to keep our animals in and predators out. That includes any dogs who might pass through.

This is the issue. I agree with everyone that in an ideal world, my neighbors would take responsibility to keep their dogs out, but the fact of the matter is that they won’t and I need to keep a friendly relationship with them. We have a shared driveway and we need to cooperate on things like driveway maintenance, snow removal, etc. I’m not going to put the relationship at risk when I could do something relatively simple to deal with the issue.

I think wire is the way to go. I just want to find something hopefully inexpensive that will still be safe for the horses. We already had to replace some of the post and board and that was ridiculously expensive, so I don’t really want to have to spring for the cost of no climb in addition to what I just paid for lumber.

[Djones]

Do what LCDR posted: It’s horse safe. That little flimsy green stuff is not suitable - I have some for keeping my dogs out of my garden beds and it’s pretty tacky looking and flimsy

[EssexFells]

I agree that 1) you shouldn’t have to build fort knox to overcome the neighbor’s inadequate control over their dogs AND 2) from a practical standpoint, making this The Big Issue with your neighbors isn’t worth it, when you have other solutions available.

Couple ideas: Coordinate with the neighbor where you get an underground fence that will be compatible with the fence he’s using, and bury a zap line all around your pasture. (I have no idea how pricey that stuff is, I’m hoping this idea isn’t ludicrously expensive). On your system, crank the power up as high as you want so the dogs will be given serious correction if they approach. Put the underground line fairly close to your fence, so they’d have to spend some time in the zap zone while trying to navigate how to get under/over/through the wire fence protecting the birds. In other words, don’t put in in wide open space that they can barge straight through and then be in the clear.

But no matter what, you’re going to have to get some cooperation from the neighbor.
Tell them that you’re investing in some pretty expensive enclosures for the chickens since their own fence won’t contain their dogs. But that if the dogs are going to be digging up your fenceline in a frenzy or running your horses into a fence, you need their help to figure out and pay for additional solutions. They could add a second zap line on their side.

Also need to discuss the plan on how to get the dogs off your property, if it happens. You can’t just chase them back home since they’re going to get zapped again when they try to cross back over the line. One idea is to ask the neighbor to pay for one of those 4x6’ chainlink kennels that you put on your side of the property line, so you can kennel the loose dogs and leave them there with a bowl of water until the neighbor can come get them.

It’s very likely that free range chickens just aren’t worth it, given these dogs and your limited options to restrain them. I know lots of people who came to that same conclusion–the cost/effort to keep them safe wasn’t worth it. I mean, I love our free range setup, but it’s not like chickens are going to actually eradicate the ticks anyway. They instinctively avoid wide-open areas to stay safe from aerial predators, so you’ll probably find they don’t range all that far from their coop. Unless you provide ground cover for them (shrubs, loose piles of branches), which now you’d have to mow/weedwhack around.

[trubandloki]

I think if the OP is going to spend money to keep her chickens safe from the neighbor’s dogs, they might as well use that money to keep their chicken’s safe from many predators, even those not wearing a specialized zapping collar.

[poltroon]

@Ghazzu

electronet with step-in posts. Easily moveable.
I’d also let your neighbors know it is their responsibility to keep their dogs contained.[]

Premier1’s electronet is a super great product and extremely effective in keeping predators out. It’s movable and portable. The net is built in to the posts so it already has proper spacing for your species. Small animals bop their noseys on it once and don’t mess with it again. They sell portable solar chargers that work well with it. I have used it for years with both sheep and chickens.

It is important to keep it hot, because this fence is not much of a physical barrier. It breaks fairly easily but there is some risk that an animal could become entangled in it if it is not hot and they try to push through it.

The one caveat for your use is that it’s maybe questionable as horse-safe fencing, but in fact I have sheep inside an enclosure like this inside my horse pasture and it’s been okay. I protect the ground rod with an orange safety cone and worry a little about them messing with the charger but I keep tempting grass away from it and my horses have left it alone. I would not use it to keep horses in, for sure; but the sheep eat their grass faster and it’s not that interesting to the horses to be on the other side of it. My horses are older and have also learned to respect electric fence.

But, it would definitely be functional for putting chickens out for the short term with your horses elsewhere. Or, it might work well just inside your existing fence and enclosing the whole area.

I personally prefer the double staked bottom on these fences. It makes them heavier but for me it’s easier to set up if I can step on the bottom. If your ground is softer than mine, the single spike may be fine.

[EssexFells]

My suggestion assumes there’s also a mesh fence attached to the post 7 board fence. It solves teh concern that mesh fence alone isn’t enough to keep out determined dogs, and the OPs preference not to have ugly electric tape fence.

But it’s not true that chickens can’t safely free range. The setup on my farm provides sufficient ground cover that they can hide from aerial predators – the rooster does a great job of keeping on the alert and warning the flock, and we’ve never lost a single bird during the day. And they’re cooped at night where they’re safe from the 4-legged predators.

[trubandloki]

@EssexFells

The setup on my farm provides sufficient ground cover that they can hide from aerial predators – the rooster does a great job of keeping on the alert and warning the flock, and we’ve never lost a single bird during the day. And they’re cooped at night where they’re safe from the 4-legged predators.

Consider yourself lucky!

A fox got one of ours one night while we were out there, just not right with the chickens. They were only like 30’ from the barn.

[clanter]

@CrazyGuineaPigLady

I was simply explaining that if it’s not those dogs, it could be others or wildlife the chickens need to be protected from.

coyotes here easily jump over six foot fences. so the only way to protect an area is to have a something they do not want to tangle with …which makes them go look for neighborhood cats and small dogies

[CrazyGuineaPigLady]

@trubandloki

Consider yourself lucky!

A fox got one of ours one night while we were out there, just not right with the chickens. They were only like 30’ from the barn.

I had an oversized, super fortified coop & run and let my chickens out in the yard when I was home. Never had any issues but there was an East to West traveling fox that stopped by every morning and a West to East every night. Like clockwork they made a loop around the chickens to see if anything changed. My girls were so used to seeing them, they didn’t even pick their face up from the food bowl a foot away. The coop was also covered in Raccoon prints and it was funny to see how they focused on opening the doors.

[trubandloki]

@CrazyGuineaPigLady

I had an oversized, super fortified coop & run and let my chickens out in the yard when I was home. Never had any issues but there was an East to West traveling fox that stopped by every morning and a West to East every night. Like clockwork they made a loop around the chickens to see if anything changed. My girls were so used to seeing them, they didn’t even pick their face up from the food bowl a foot away. The coop was also covered in Raccoon prints and it was funny to see how they focused on opening the doors.

Our coop is predator (well not bear) proof. I was talking free range, which I understood the post I was replying to was about.

[CrazyGuineaPigLady]

I know. I was just pointing out that bold predators are out there whether you see them or not. It might have been worse for me in the suburbs because they had to share their habitat with people. I had to carefully time the free ranging so the foxes didn’t catch on to a free lunch.

[Mosey_2003]

I’d rather use the pesticide than deal with the neighbors, lol.

[Pico_Banana]

Haha, that’s almost where this thread is taking me. I just worry so much about pesticide on grass the horses actually eat.

Although someone pointed me to Mosquito Barrier, which is garlic oil. I would be willing to give that a try as a pesticide.

[Mosey_2003]

I wish there was something amazing, cheap, and easy for ridding places of ticks. They are the bane of my existence and ever since we stopped mowing the pasture 15 years ago or so they’ve been creeping and have now made it up to the barn area. Gack!

[CrazyGuineaPigLady]

I know you said Guineas aren’t your thing but they are a bit less vulnerable than chickens. What if you tried that first to see how it goes with the neighbor dogs?

My dog hates chickens. It’s not prey drive, just hates the way they look or flap or cluck or something. While I would have never left her alone with one, she got used to being on the other side of a fence and never reacted to anything they did after that.

[TheDBYC]

@Pico_Banana

Haha, that’s almost where this thread is taking me. I just worry so much about pesticide on grass the horses actually eat.

Fwiw, my pest control guy won’t spray even suburban yards for ticks. Says it has little to no effect. I’m inclined to believe him given that we live in one of, if not the worst county in the US for ticks & he could surely make a killing doing it. Not to be a Debby Downer here, but we used to have large flocks (500- 1000 chickens) for the farm business and I still contracted Lyme disease! Guinea aren’t as effective at tick control and are definitely more susceptible to predators than common lore would have you believe. They’re also horribly noisy and freak a lot of horses out. (And drive humans nuts. There’s always people on our local poultry keeping FB board trying to give them away.)

Your best bets are: 1) A completely covered run inside electronet poultry fencing. 2) Electronet poultry fencing inside blackboard fencing with no-climb welded wire stapled to it + a 1’ skirt of hardware cloth attached to the bottom & extending out flat on the ground + hot wire on top of the fence. Neither of these are cheap propositions ( $1k to build ). Option 1 is as close to foolproof as humanly possible. It’s still not 100%.

Personally, I would worry about attracting the neighbor’s dogs into my horse paddocks. Even thoigh may not be horse aggressive in normal circumstances, things can change in a heartbeat if they start chasing chickens around the paddock.

[Djones]

My free range full size rooster was killed by a hawk. Saw it with my own eyes. My chickens go a little ways out in the pasture, but not far. They focus on shredding horse poop piles and following me around.

[EssexFells]

Never said that there will be zero daytime predation. If the goal is to never lose a single chicken to predators, they’re probably not the right addition to your farm. All I can say is I’ve had free range chx for more than 10 years and haven’t lost one to daytime predators.

If all you have is wide open areas, for sure your flock will be less safe. If you have fox and coyote lurking nearby during the day and well-habituated to being around human activity, ditto. We are rural enough --surrounded by either dense timber or cropland, no other houses within 1/2mi-- that predators have plenty to eat all around, and steer well clear of the immediate household/barnyard. Our chx have lots of cover where they can scoot to if they sense aerial danger (which they have a VERY keen eye for – I usually see them scatter well before I can locate the raptor overhead). While coopers hawks and kestrels are very acrobatic and comfortable zooming in/around obstacles, they prefer smaller meals. And the large raptors like red tail hawks, eagles, and GH owls prefer open clearings to swoop down and grab their target. They’re typically not super acrobatic fliers.

YMMV. But again, it is possible to have free range chickens without wonton exposure to mortal danger.

[TheDBYC]

@Djones

My free range full size rooster was killed by a hawk. Saw it with my own eyes. My chickens go a little ways out in the pasture, but not far. They focus on shredding horse poop piles and following me around.

That’s another good point. Chickens are actually pretty territorial. Even Heritage breeds seldom wander more than 100 yards. Production breeds, even less. Once bought 500 9-month old hens for a $1 each from an Amish organic egg farm (they considered them ‘spent’ at that age). They’d never been outside before & had no idea how to chicken, so to speak. They drove my other hens nuts following them around trying to imitate them foraging, etc. Lol. They never strayed more than 50’ from the barn and loved to follow me around like “New lady who feeds us! We love you & must be this. close to you at all times!!”

[Libby2563]

@TheDBYC

Once bought 500 9-month old hens for a $1 each from an Amish organic egg farm (they considered them ‘spent’ at that age). They’d never been outside before & had no idea how to chicken, so to speak. They drove my other hens nuts following them around trying to imitate them foraging, etc. Lol. They never strayed more than 50’ from the barn and loved to follow me around like “New lady who feeds us! We love you & must be this. close to you at all times!!”

That’s so sad/sweet. How wonderful that you gave them a chance at a happy chicken life!