How old do chickens have to be before you can free range them?

How to protect free range chickens from predators?

• I have chickens on fenced 2.5 acres. Some neighbor's dog got 3 of them. I will shoot next time I see the dogs in the yard. What about other predators.

• Answer:

  Your other answers must be some of those owners who lets their cats/dogs run loose. Their attitude is that WE are suppose to do the work of moving chickens/ducks to avoid predators or to build pens with wire over them to keep predators out. . . .why is it and where is it written that we are suppose to do everything to keep other people's animals out of and off of our property when all they gotta do is be as responsible are we are trying to be. I manage to keep 11 ducks and 12 chickens on my 3.2 acres and most generally within feet of my henhouses and pens but neighbors can't control one or two dogs? In Texas ,it is legal to shoot any animal such as a dog/cat if it is a threat to me or my property and by damn it is a threat when their loose animals attact mine therefore I have a loaded 22 rifle and it is ready at any time and I am NOT afraid to use it. Because we have a leash law in my Tx County,I call the Deputies and they bring me a dog trap.When I catch a dog they pick up it up and take it to the Animal Shelter.IF and when the owner picks the dog up they get tickets. . . one if they can't prove the dog has been vaccinated for rabies and one for allowing the animal to run loose. I have only shot one dog and called the County guys so as to make a report of the damage caused by the dog so when if and when an owner comes looking for Fido I have proof of what happened and how I was protecting my property. Another other dog that got into my pen and killed 3 birds.The owner was ticketed for allowing the dog to run loose and for that dog causing property damage. . . . that SOB is a pitbull that gets out quite often but one of these days he won't be going home. Me and my neighbors have had enough and this man doesn't think his dog is doing all this damage nor is that much of a threat but I am here to tell you,all 3 of my grandchildren live out here in this neighborhood and I don't need a cornered or scared dog be it a Pit Bull or other breed to take down one of my grandchildren. County won't deal with cats so I have my own cat trap and I shoot the damn things. People move out here in the country and think they need a cat for "mousing",only problem is that the cat roams and breeds and people like you and me are to put up with them. They stalk my ducks/chickens and rarely eat them but only kill them and I gotta be out the expense of replacing them. In that cat trap I have caught skunks which is just something you gotta put up with because they will dig to get to a chicken and so will a raccoon. If I am awakened by the noise they create when they get into my henhouse at night I get out there and either chase them off or shoot them. . . kinda like Ma and Pa Kettle use to do. . . lol Generally skunks and raccoons won't come up until dark so I have been forced to have to close up the hen houses at night and open them in the morning whereas I previously had it so the birds could come and go as they wished. Not all of my neighbors know what I am "Annie Oakley" but those that do have told others and personally I don't care. If the shoe was on the other foot they would be as mad as I am about losing property/birds. P.S. To the uneducated. . . . free range doesn't always mean that the birds don't have a hen house or a form of shelter for protection,it just means that they are allowed to run and eat food provided by nature.