Premier One electric fence not working

[michickenwrangler]

Our chicken run has the above as a perimeter. While our neighbors were visiting, one accidentally brushed the fence and indicated that she felt no charge. Her husband ran home to get his voltometer and tested it. No charge.

There are no weeds around the bottom and it worked a few weeks ago when another neighbor got zapped quite soundly. My husband is going to check the ground rod. I need to dig up the paperwork on it to troubleshoot.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

 

[photo chick]

I don't know ...but....your poor neighbors!

Is it a solar powered fence? Our friend lost his chickens last weekend when his electric fence failed. We found it was due to there being no sun for ages so it wasn't powered up.

 

[greyhorsewoman]

I think the fencing is more about keeping predators out than chickens in. Unless they touch it with their combs or feet, our don't seem to feel it. (Of course ours was at a low voltage, but it sure made the corgi run.) s

Check for breaks ... rabbits are known to chew through the little squares and that cuts your current.

 

[TexasVet]

I have to check my fence every night, just to make sure it's on. Sometimes a small limb will touch the wire, or a chick will get stuck on it, or it's slipped and is touching something that's grounded. I just keep the fence tester (about $5 at Tractor Supply and most feed stores) on a nail in the hen house so I don't forget.

To keep neighbors, errant chicks, and myself from getting zapped, I plugged the fence into a photoelectric timer (the kind made for Christmas lights). So the fence turns on at dusk and off at dawn.

Kathy, Bellville TX
www.CountryChickens.com

PS: My big chickens feel a zap when they touch the fence, but they can escape it. Chicks, on the other hand, "seize up" when zapped and can't get away. I've lost 4 or 5 that way already.

 

[michickenwrangler]

Thanks for advice.

It's not solar powered. we use a 2 mile charger plugged in to our garage. My husband has the wires going out through a small crack in the garage window so the charger is in a protected environment.

I'll check the wires tomorrow. It's wet and storming now.

 

[ray2310]

When the one around my corn acts up it is usually the grounding rod.

 

[patandchickens]

Yep, if an electric fence is Important (like, if it fails then bad things are likely to happen) then it is really an awfully good habit to get into to check it every day. Like with an actual fence tester to check the voltage, not just to see whether it makes an Ow when you touch it.

If you know for a fact that the charger is plugged in and working, the likeliest problem is that it's grounded out (doesn't take much, just one good wet goldenrod stalk where you don't see it...) or in some climates another likely scenario would be that the charge was only marginal before and the ground is too dry now. If not that, then you've got a bad connection somewhere (fencer to ground, fencer to fence, or the individual strand of fence you tested was damaged between there and the charger). Should not be difficult to diagnose as long as you have a reliable fence tester and approach it systematically.

Good luck,

Pat

 

[michickenwrangler]

It has been very dry--almost 2 weeks without rain, which for MI = drought.
We had been using a short ground pole but we are going to get a longer one to go deeper into the ground. The chickens have the perimeter "weed-whacked" and the grass was longer before so I don't think it is the weeds, although I may have to let them our to free range, coil it up, weed whack and them set it back up.

 

[Snakeoil]

Nine out of ten times its the ground rod as your root problem, you have to have at least six foot of ground rod, and you have to have moisture. If you use a short ground rod you have to keep the ground moist in order for your system to work, this can be done by simply watering around your ground rod.........

 

[michickenwrangler]

This normally is not an issue in Michigan--keeping things moist.

We've just been through a dry stretch. Now it's supposed to rain for 6 days straight.

Just gotta wait for the rain to stop this morning before I go out and check.

Thanks again!