Fencing to Protect Chickens and Keep Out Dogs

You do your best with chickens, but yes, predation is always a worry. They do need some sort of cover against hawks and there are definitely some breeds that are better choices than others.

In an act of desperation to separate some suddenly aggressive young roosters out, at one point I put some out with the sheep. To my surprise it actually worked out pretty well for them. The sheep made it less attractive for hawks and the sheep actually really seemed to enjoy having pet chickens. Sometimes the chickens would ride the sheep, too.

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The predator problem is probably pretty location dependant. Domestic dogs seem to be an issue anywhere there are neighbors! My boarding barn owner had chickens for a while. Although the property backs up to state forest with plenty of wildlife, reinforcing the coop kept them safe at night. But when she tried to let them free range during the day, the hawks started picking them off regularly. It got so you would often see one perched in a nearby tree just waiting. And the turkey vultures circled a lot for leftovers. When the hawks were swooping right in front of us she gave up and gave the survivors to someone with an enclosed run.

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You’ve had better luck than me.
Or maybe you have a hawk-free environment.
I freeranged for 10+yrs & lost:
1)2 hens (including my “pet” Houdan) & a rooster to a fox.
Left the bodies for me - they will kill, then return later - rooster was most torn up, so he put up a fight for his girls :sleepy:
I saw said fox eyeing the coop/fenced yard the same weekend when newly-contained survivors put up a fuss.
2)1 hen to a raccoon when I forgot to lock the coop door to their fenced yard overnight. Found her decapitated body in the coop. Hate 'coons :rage:
3)1 hen to internal injuries from a loose dog that shook her
4)& the final straw: 2 hens the same week to a hawk, hens were too heavy for hawk to carry so I got to see hawk lift off from the 1st & find the body of the 2nd :confused:

My current flock stays in their roomy, fenced yard.
Added protection from hawks is a crisscross roof of baling twine.
I was told it appears solid to hawks & allows snow through in Winter.

Predators are definitely location dependent. They also depend on micro conditions - ie IME daytime predators are less likely to come at chickens if there are more people around or other species around in the immediate area compared to other areas they might like to hang out.

One thing is that once you have a predator incident you generally have to upgrade security immediately because otherwise you will be that predator’s new favorite restaurant.

In general keeping chickens means that there will be chicken deaths on fairly short timescales. There might be different levels of security for your best breeding and show chickens than the random egg-layers or the extra cockerels. But you have to decide for yourself what works.

Chicken ‘tractors’ are another option - enclosed cages with a roof that are ‘easy’ to drag over the ground. As a practical matter, I find it a challenge to make them both predator safe and portable enough. At night I need my birds surrounded on all six sides with plywood, concrete, or hardware cloth.

Also: breed matters. Some chickens are more active and better at free ranging both in the seeking bugs and in the evading predator department than others. Larger, active chickens are a good choice.

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