A treatise on Electric Fencing

[Howard E]

Thank you Ms. Diva. I can't get over it......62,000 posts and still going. Wow.

Anyway, I don't recall where I read it, but the comment from an experienced grower was something to the affect of "the only way a person can raise chickens on a continual basis is to either confine them permanently inside a predator proof coop and/or run, OR, if they are allowed outside such a coop, they have to be confined within a perimeter surrounded by an electric fence". Short one of those two solutions, you are just serving your birds up to the varmints on a silver platter. Lacking that, the birds are already dead. Not a matter of IF, but only WHEN. With nothing to stop them, varmints can and will assume the buffet line is open for business and they are the happy customers who will line up in infinite numbers to relieve you of your birds. Why not? What is stopping them? The answer is nothing.

The electric fence is not so much a physical barrier (poultry netting being one exception) as a psychological one. I have three horses grazing out back that think nothing of sticking their necks out to graze over and ride down a tight wire on top of woven wire being held up by steel posts. That fence is a minor nuisance they don't respect at all. But those same three horses won't get within a foot of a single poly tape electric fence that they could easily break anytime they wanted to. The biggest problem I have with them and the pasture and electric fence surrounding it is to get them to walk through the gate to go inside. They get anywhere near that fence line and they will stop dead in their tracks and start pulling back. They want nothing to do with it.

That is the response we want with predators. They want nothing to do with it. No chicken is worth another dose of that.

 

[Howard E]

BTW, I know there are a number of folks on this forum who have a lot of experience with electric fences. I encourage them to post pictures and descriptions of their setups and how them maintain them. We might all learn something.

 

[centrarchid]

Things I like to stress not directly related to fencing itself involves how landscape itself is managed. You can provide variations in the plant community that keeps poultry from being as likely to challenge perimeter which can put them at risk from predators. The same approach can make predators more aware of fencing and even funnel their patrolling to make detection and management by means in addition to fencing more effective. Foxes here like to follow closely mowed trails that can be easier for myself and dogs to monitor. The same open areas can make so chickens themselves can monitor approach of predators promoting more appropriate responses.

 

[Howard E]

A few more things. A couple posts up I made reference to a fence being used to confine some horses. I checked it the other day and the line voltage is starting to drop. Still pretty hot, but not as hot as it was. Nothing on the line, so I figure it is time to charge the battery.

So the test is with a digital tester. Again, test at the beginning.......I test at the leads coming straight out of the fencer.......that is the maximum shock voltage fencer is capable of delivering. Then pushing the tester probe into the ground at the fencer.........that confirms a good ground........then at the end. Unless they are all about the same, there is some problem to go looking for.

Batteries: If you use a 12 volt model as I'm using, you will encounter a number of options. Best one is a deep cycle marine battery. These are different that starting batteries used in cars. Deep cycle batteries are capable of repeated deep discharges and are used where the loads are not a heavy sudden burst as is the case when trying to start a car, but rather are long extended load. In marine use, that means things like navigation lights, radios, electronics, trolling motors, etc. So for an electric fence, a deep cycle marine battery is the best choice. Starter batteries will work, but if you use one, charge it often. Also, if you ever get weeds on your fence or for some reason the fence gets grounded to the point the battery is pulled way down or even goes dead, car starting batteries may not come all the way back up to a full charge. Deep discharges affect them.

It used to be simple. Go get a lead acid deep cycle battery. That is all there was. Likely as not what you may find now is one called an AGM, which stands for Absorbent Glass Mat or gel cell. For fencer use, I'd suggest you avoid the AGM and gel cell and stick to lead acid, which are less expensive and can be charged with a normal automotive type battery charger. Not only are the AGM and gell cell batteries more expensive, they require a special type of 3 stage battery charger to charge them. If you use an automotive battery charger, you will likely damage if not destroy them. But, if you get one, and get the charger to match, they will work. It is the more expensive option, but will work.

 

[aart]

Great explanations Howard, thanks!

 

[Catnip5]

Hello! Question for the OP or anyone who knows the answer! I purchased the premier1 poultry net plus last year after dealing with a problematic fox. This fence has been the bomb and I haven't had any issues with ground predators since (other than a mink that could fly through it - trapped and relocated). I have 3 sections - 100 ft. x 48 which circle a ledge, some trees and of course the coop and hoop run. The fence is essentially in a big circle with each section connected to another meeting back together with a premier1 hot gate. I am adding another 100ft due to arrive tomorrow and I'd like to maximize the fence parameter by butting it against the corner of the house on one end ... here's my question: Does the fence have to connect back to itself or can the sections just be connected and the ends be secured to a building? If all sections are technically connected with one connected to the charger do they necessarily need to meet back together at all? I'm losing about 30 feet running alongside the house so I'd like to just place one post at the corner - this means it won't connect back to the hot gate but it would be connected to the previous section which extends the the next and the next back around the other side of the house where the gate is. I wouldn't necessarily need the gate then either but would use it in a different spot. Sorry so long-winded... THANKS ALL!

 

[Howard E]

As long as you have a good connection between sections, it should work fine. It does not have to loop back to itself and be connected on both ends. Do test it at the end or ends to make sure you hot all the way to the end.

With 4 sections of poultry netting fence, you will want a powerful fencer to charge it all. You can check your fencer against what Premier says is needed for that many sections of fence. Your tester should also help with this. If your shock voltage drops off at the ends vs. right at the fencer, the charger may not have enough ooomph for that much fence.

 

[Howard E]

Update on the one and two wire low fences........the last fence shown in my original post. I never did have a raccoon raid the sweet corn, so it appears to work well with them.

However, now that my birds have access to and are using that section of garden, it is not reliably keeping them in. They quickly duck through it or simply hop over it. I watched a rooster slowly step on it this morning and got zapped (he was still cackling about that 30 seconds later), but later went right back to it and simply stepped over it faster the next time. I've watched excited hens just hop over it with a single flap of the wings. I also watched our small house dog get zapped by it, but on a later occasion when he wanted to join us on the other side of the fence.......he ran back and forth several times, then finally worked up the nerve to simply jump over it. He would be a bit smaller than a fox, so that suggests to me a really hungry fox or coyote might get by it the same way. This is on an area that is about 60 to 70 feet square, so relatively confined. For an area that size, a section or two of poultry netting would work better.

 

[Catnip5]

Thanks for the feedback Howard. The sections connect via the metal clasps at each end of the fences. I just tie the shoelace things around each pole and connect the metal clasps. As for the charger, I have the Kube 4000 which is supposed to be able to charge up to 7 sections of fencing I believe. I got the tester thingy when I bought the fence so I'll test it. It's a lot of work for me (all by my lonesome) to move and relocate the sections to get them where they need to be as my ground has a ton of sandy rocky ledgy soil. It's wet enough most of the time, just really rocky. I will say the fence holds up well even in tall weeks which have been out of control this year - it doesn't ground out which is pretty lucky so far. Since I need to add the additional 100ft I'll be moving all of the fence to mow and weed so that should take care of it for what's left of summer.
Any suggestons on how to secure the end pole to the house - I just want to be sure, since it will no longer be "enclosed" that nothing tries to squeeze between the pole and the house. The pole being plastic isn't "hot" - is the fencing wrapped around it? Maybe it's not an issue?

 

[Howard E]

Can't speak for the Premier, but my Kencove fencing terminates the fence by wrapping the same poly wire strands around the last end post. So anything touching it would bleed off volts. So if it is touching a building, etc, probably best to isolate it from the building somehow. One way might be to go to a hardware / box store and find some of those black rubber foam strips used to insulate metal pipes. They are split down the side and might slip on. Not sure how much UV resistance they have, so not sure how long they might last. Or, a gap of an inch or two may not matter, so you could either screw in an eye bolt and tie the top of the terminal post to that to anchor it, or else set a metal T post next to the house and anchor to that. Issue would be finding a way to brace the last post to prevent it from sagging if you tension it up from the other end. Not much different than finding a way to anchor corners to prevent them from "leaning" in.