Electric netting height

[Ridgerunner]

For a chicken to be zapped it has to touch the hot side and the grounded side at the same time to complete the circuit. With the netting your ground side is the soil. Unless the chicken is standing on the ground when it touches a hot wire it will not be shocked. That's why a songbird sitting on a power line is not in danger.

My young chicks go through the electric netting until they get too big to squeeze through the holes. They jump up off of the ground and go through.

My adults get zapped when they are standing on the ground and peck at grass in the netting. Their beak or wattles touch a hot wire, they squawk, jump back two or three feet, and go back to grazing. They eventually learn to not eat the grass in the netting.

 

[Aunt Angus]

If they don't have a foot on a ground they would not get zapped when they jump on top of the gate.
The squirrels go through my premier one by jumping up through the larger squares.... some chicks follow

Right, but once they get zapped, they stay clear of the fence and don't even make the attempt. And, yes, the holes are too large for chicks. I put garden netting around my run when I have chicks. Very good point!