Hi!
I am ready to let my girls free range more - they have a big meadow bordering a creek, which serves as a wildlife corridor. There is an old fence separating the meadow from the creek, 4 feet high, t posts, woven wire with pretty big openings that get bigger towards the top of the fence. It seems to me that a fox could just march right through it, and one of the chickens has once gone off to explore the creek already, so I want to add something. Ideally I'd use up some of that 6' woven wire roll that I have lying around here, but I am not sure I am up for digging the holes for the corner posts. This fence just has three inch round metal posts as anchors and everything I read says 4x4 wooden posts are needed. It seems semi permanent poultry netting inside the existing fence might be a good idea, but we are in CA and the ground gets so dry in the summer it might be a problem delivering a decent shock (the creek is mostly dry, too then). Also, keeping the vegetation low enough might be an issue in the spring - everything grows so fast I might have to mow every week along the fence - plus, wouldn't I have to take it out for that?
Finally I am considering just adding some hot wire, top and bottom to the existing posts - the bottom wire could be a little higher to help with mowing needs and also mowing would be easier because I can mow just on the inside of the (one and only) fence. But issues with closing the circuit due to dry ground still exist.
What would you do?
I am ready to let my girls free range more - they have a big meadow bordering a creek, which serves as a wildlife corridor. There is an old fence separating the meadow from the creek, 4 feet high, t posts, woven wire with pretty big openings that get bigger towards the top of the fence. It seems to me that a fox could just march right through it, and one of the chickens has once gone off to explore the creek already, so I want to add something. Ideally I'd use up some of that 6' woven wire roll that I have lying around here, but I am not sure I am up for digging the holes for the corner posts. This fence just has three inch round metal posts as anchors and everything I read says 4x4 wooden posts are needed. It seems semi permanent poultry netting inside the existing fence might be a good idea, but we are in CA and the ground gets so dry in the summer it might be a problem delivering a decent shock (the creek is mostly dry, too then). Also, keeping the vegetation low enough might be an issue in the spring - everything grows so fast I might have to mow every week along the fence - plus, wouldn't I have to take it out for that?
Finally I am considering just adding some hot wire, top and bottom to the existing posts - the bottom wire could be a little higher to help with mowing needs and also mowing would be easier because I can mow just on the inside of the (one and only) fence. But issues with closing the circuit due to dry ground still exist.
What would you do?