Adding a hot wire or electric fencing to existing run?

[gladahmae]

We had a pretty awful incident this morning in which my "secure" run (welded wire, apron, hardware cloth, heavy duty chainlink roof) that I grow chicks out in was breached by 2 dogs, and our 100% hardware cloth covered meat chicken tractors were infiltrated as well. I'm STRONGLY considering running a hot wire high and low on the fence of our runs to discourage this type of event from happening again. I'm just not sure exactly HOW to do this. And does anyone have input on how much it costs to run a charger? My husband thinks it would be cheaper to just make the fence taller (which doesn't address digging) and is unsure of running an electric fence because of the cost of having it hooked up and running.

Help?

 

[RedDrgn]

We've got a solar-powered fencer that powers 3 hot wires around a 100 square foot run and keeps a voltage of 10K on each wire; plenty of punch and we've got bear, fox, dogs, skunk, opossum, etc. In the 2.5 years we've had this system (which is on 24/7), we've had to replace the battery once (whopping $65), the fencer itself was a little over $100 at TSC and the wire and insulators, ground spikes, etc. were all around another $100 (also TSC). The hardest part was driving the copper grounds into the earth and then running the wire around, but it has been more than worth it and hasn't cost us a cent more on the electricity bill.

Actually, here you can see the fencer (on the porch in upper front corner) and the wires:

 

[gladahmae]

That's pretty much what I'm looking to do....I've just got a more irregular shape, and quite a bit more run space. Hmmm...$200 for a lot more peace of mind. Next Tuesday (processing day for my remaining 5 meaties *sigh*) can't come soon enough.

 

[Clodbuster]

The draw by an energiser is very low, 4watts for a 3joule unit. Compare that to a 40watt light bulb so you are looking at about £12 here in the UK. Power is only really drawn when there a completed circuit, an EF is an incomplete circuit so energy will only flow when something is creating a short.

Mains is a far better option than solar or battery if you can plug it in.