- Jun 19, 2008
- 409
- 9
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Hello everyone. This is my first post. My wife and I are preparing to get six chickens, and I'm hoping for some help with defending them with an electric wire (or twine). I've been reading this board, and it is clear to me that if I don't do more to defend them, my chickens won't last very long.
We have lived in cities our entire lives, so please assume that we know absolutely nothing; trust me, you won't hurt my feelings if you explain things like I'm in kindergarten. We have a barn that we don't use, and so we converted one of the stalls into a coop, connected to a small run outdoors. I wanted to find out about the best way to run an electric wire to help keep predators out. We have neighborhood dogs that have probably never even seen a leash, and we have raccoons, coyotes, foxes, etc.
We have two sections of chicken wire inside the barn (the other two sides are the barn itself), and outside is our rectangular run with three sides made up of chicken wire in the fourth the side made by the barn. The outside is a grassy area and I don't know how tall grass affects the wire; plus, we live in New England and get a lot of snow. The barn has power. So, if any of you would be kind enough to help me understand the best way to set up an electric perimeter, that would be great. As I said, I don't know anything. Can you attach the wire directly to the chicken wire or does it need to be not in contact? Does it need to eventually connect itself to make a circuit? What can it touch? Are there any potential fire hazards? What about the grass and the snow? Basically, any and all help would be greatly appreciated.
We have lived in cities our entire lives, so please assume that we know absolutely nothing; trust me, you won't hurt my feelings if you explain things like I'm in kindergarten. We have a barn that we don't use, and so we converted one of the stalls into a coop, connected to a small run outdoors. I wanted to find out about the best way to run an electric wire to help keep predators out. We have neighborhood dogs that have probably never even seen a leash, and we have raccoons, coyotes, foxes, etc.
We have two sections of chicken wire inside the barn (the other two sides are the barn itself), and outside is our rectangular run with three sides made up of chicken wire in the fourth the side made by the barn. The outside is a grassy area and I don't know how tall grass affects the wire; plus, we live in New England and get a lot of snow. The barn has power. So, if any of you would be kind enough to help me understand the best way to set up an electric perimeter, that would be great. As I said, I don't know anything. Can you attach the wire directly to the chicken wire or does it need to be not in contact? Does it need to eventually connect itself to make a circuit? What can it touch? Are there any potential fire hazards? What about the grass and the snow? Basically, any and all help would be greatly appreciated.