advice on electric fence needed

[lalaland]

I have a large run enclosed with wire fencing, and I've run a hot wire about 6 inches or so from the bottom. My farmer neighbor down the road thinks that is sufficient protection, but then, he is more complacent about losing chickens to predators than I am.

Had an interesting skunk encounter last night, and a skunk somehow got INSIDE the yard. I don't know how. It didn't dig under the fence (I have a four foot wide "path" of a wire fence laid on the ground running all along the fence line and wired to the upright fence (lost a previous flock to a dog that dug under).

Skunks supposedly don't climb or are poor climbers.

Do I need to run a second wire along the top? Really don't want to....thanks for the advice.

 

[jenjscott]

I have two lines one at about 3 inches and another at about 6 inches. I live in a high predator area and have never had anything get in the run. The two problem areas of coverage have been 1) the corners, did you overlap the outside wire at the corners? 2) the gates, how did you handle those? sometimes there are small gaps things can slip through, especially at the bottom corner. A skunk could possibly walk under a 6 inch wire without getting zapped.

 

[MHF]

3in, 6in, up the corners and along the top seems to work for me.