How far apart do my electric fence and burn pile need to be?

[Finnie]

Mr. Google has not been very forthcoming in answering this question. So I thought I would ask on here and see if real world people with electric fences who also burn brush have any advice. Thanks!

 

[Howard E]

I would keep fire and electric fences apart for a variety of reasons, may of the components used....like insulators.........are mostly plastic and would melt. My plastic fence posts would melt and fence made from the poultry netting or plastic tape/ropes would also melt. Even a wire strand fence on steel posts has to have insulators that would burn/melt in a fire.

If you have brush, tall grass, etc. to clear our from the fence line (hope that is not the case), better to roll up the fence or move it away from the area before burning.

 

[makmm]

What is your electric fence made of? Is it poly and steel? I’m guessing it is chicken electric fence?

 

[Finnie]

What is your electric fence made of? Is it poly and steel? I’m guessing it is chicken electric fence?

We are going to build it something along the lines of this:
http://www.plamondon.com/wp/faq-simple-electric-fences-chickens/

But we will probably make it 3 or 4 wires, or maybe alternate hot wires and ground wires. The area I want to enclose includes our brush/burn pile where we pile up all our downed branches and unusable scrap wood, cardboard etc.

I asked DH if we should burn the pile first before building the fence, and then relocate the next burn pile to somewhere else. He just wants to get the fence done asap so we can move my chicken village out of the back yard and he can have grass back. I told him I couldn't find anyone on the internet talking about distances between fires and fences. His reply was to ask me how close I can stand next to the fire, and as long as the fence was farther back than that, it won't get any hotter than I will. I hadn't really thought of it that way.

So we put the posts in reasonably far back enough, and when we burn the pile, if it makes us uncomfortable, we'll just make the next pile somewhere else. Or burn it more often before it gets so big. (We have been known to procrastinate burning for a couple of years. )

 

[aart]

I asked DH if we should burn the pile first before building the fence, and then relocate the next burn pile to somewhere else.

This make the most sense to me.

 

[makmm]

We are going to build it something along the lines of this:
http://www.plamondon.com/wp/faq-simple-electric-fences-chickens/

But we will probably make it 3 or 4 wires, or maybe alternate hot wires and ground wires. The area I want to enclose includes our brush/burn pile where we pile up all our downed branches and unusable scrap wood, cardboard etc.

I asked DH if we should burn the pile first before building the fence, and then relocate the next burn pile to somewhere else. He just wants to get the fence done asap so we can move my chicken village out of the back yard and he can have grass back. I told him I couldn't find anyone on the internet talking about distances between fires and fences. His reply was to ask me how close I can stand next to the fire, and as long as the fence was farther back than that, it won't get any hotter than I will. I hadn't really thought of it that way.

So we put the posts in reasonably far back enough, and when we burn the pile, if it makes us uncomfortable, we'll just make the next pile somewhere else. Or burn it more often before it gets so big. (We have been known to procrastinate burning for a couple of years. )

Lol his response sounds about right. If you can stand there it shouldn't melt it. I'm a fan of the poly electric fence (its usually black and yellow or white) it creates a visual border as well as an electric one. Hope your fencing is going well

 

[Finnie]

This make the most sense to me.

Yes, I agree. And I don't want it taking up space in the new chicken area. Not to mention that my turkey hens have been known to lay their eggs under the brush pile where it's hard for me to reach.

Lol his response sounds about right. If you can stand there it shouldn't melt it. I'm a fan of the poly electric fence (its usually black and yellow or white) it creates a visual border as well as an electric one. Hope your fencing is going well

Thank you. Fencing is on hold for a bit while I work on my new coop, and then I will want the fence finished before I move chickens into the new coop. I'm nervous about having them out in coyote territory. Our actual back yard has a regular 4' fence, and even though coyotes can clear that easily, they choose not to. But in the snow, their tracks are all around the outside of the fence.

For electric, I've read that most predators will examine the new fence with their nose and get a bad shock, and then learn not to come near it again. I'm counting on that being true.

Here is a view of what we are fencing in. It just has the white posts outlining it so far:

Here is a shot where I am standing further out in the "coyote territory", looking towards the new chicken area and the house. (Objects are closer than they appear due to using the panoramic photo option.)