an electric wire is really all I need?

[joustinghill]

I'm getting the impression from this forum that I really don't need to bury skirting around my run if I set electric wire a few inches off the ground, a few inches out from the run. Is that an accurate assessment?

I'd love to skip all that digging in our rocky soil and since we're a horse farm I already have electric wire, insulators and a charger. We live in the middle of hundreds of acres of woods and we know for a fact that we have foxes living behind the riding arena, raccoons raid the cat food in the barn every few years, and we've had both skunks and porcupines on the property. Oh yeah, and turkey buzzards and hawks, so to say I need to predator-proof the chicken run is an understatement.


Thanks!
Trish

 

[wyliefarms]

I don't use electric wire and didn't bury anything either. I did put sheets of metal on the ground with cinder blocks on top of them. Haven't had anything try to dig around the coop since we did that. We did have a problem before then.

It's not the prettiest. But it was the easiest!

My cousin uses electric wire and she hasn't had a problem. Several inches away from coop and several inches off the ground. Coyotes are bad by her. This is just for her meat chickens that just live in a movable cage outside. The hen house has a wooden floor so no worry there.

 

[panner123]

If it can dig and you don't have an L shaped wire, you will lose some chickens. You don't have to do any digging, just form an L shape at the bottom of the wire. Then use some of the rocks you have and cover up the L shaped wire. I use an electric fence also. I run barb wire for my hot wires. This is used by sheep ranchers, but I use it for bear. It is the only way to get to the skin though their fur.