G'day @Old-gal24
Hmmm, interesting as the dogs complicate things a little.
1) I would assume the chickens s would move away from the fence with barking dogs and ignore them, but it would worry me that it is stressing them out.
I don't know if you can obscure the view with old sheets or something?
2) I would imagine that the chickens could flap and fly their way out of the water if they fell in. My girls will flap and fly up onto things, but I've not seen them in water though. Maybe have a couple of things floating for them to reach safety? YouTube might have videos to check on chickens with water/pools. There will be lots of poop around the pool to deal with.
3) My girls free range around lots of veggie beds, but I use chicken wire or the white fruit tree netting either as a border about waist high or over the top of my beds. Anything that grows near the fencing or nets, usually gets pecked and eaten. No biggie as it's usually outer leaves.
4) I have 1 chicken in an enclosed orchard and she keeps all the grass and weeds down under the fruit trees, it's great! Maybe they'll do the same with your fruit trees. Without seeing the yard, I'd imagine that they'd do ok in that area, but not too many. People keep them in smaller spaces with less ability to move around.
I'm not sure what you can do without seeing it all, but good luck and they are such good companions and the eggs are always a bonus!
- Daz.
