This....^^^^..........and look at the 5 inch version of the stand off insulators. One strand of fence about 6 inches or so up from the bottom. Make it easy on yourself to maintain it, as you will get weeds, brush, etc. growing up there and they cannot touch the hot wire of the fence. If they do, the weeds will short it out and lesson the shock. This bottom wire will thwart predators who might try to dig in or try to force their way in by ripping through the chicken wire. To do either will mean they will have to work around this hot bottom wire and likely get zapped in the process.
Then a second wire up near the top to scrape off any predators who step over the bottom wire and try to climb over. Same stand off insulators. If you put it right at the top, climbing predator cannot get a foothold on anything to get over the top but the hot wire. No need to bend down the top of the chicken wire fence. Just run the hot wire along the top.
Chicken wire fence is already grounded......a good thing. (edit......will only be grounded if you connect your fence charger's negative (-) side to it. The fence and steel posts that hold it up can also be your ground rod so you don't need another one of those). Any predator touching the chicken wire ground fence or standing on the ground.....literally the ground or dirt around the fence....... and one of your hot wires at the same time will get it. But since the chicken wire part of the fence is grounded, your hot wires cannot touch it. Close, but not touching.
If you are not clear with the concept, an electric fence works like a lamp, flashlight or any other electric device. There is a potential electric charge on one side (+) and negative on the other (-). There is a switch between them. If the switch is off, nothing happens. Turn the switch on and the juice flows...lights come on, etc. With an electric fence, the animal/predator is the switch. When they contact both hot side and negative side, juice flows through them, which they feel as a painful shock.
But anything else that acts like a switch......weeds, brush, wires contacting, etc. will bleed off the shock potential and make it less effective.
Then a second wire up near the top to scrape off any predators who step over the bottom wire and try to climb over. Same stand off insulators. If you put it right at the top, climbing predator cannot get a foothold on anything to get over the top but the hot wire. No need to bend down the top of the chicken wire fence. Just run the hot wire along the top.
Chicken wire fence is already grounded......a good thing. (edit......will only be grounded if you connect your fence charger's negative (-) side to it. The fence and steel posts that hold it up can also be your ground rod so you don't need another one of those). Any predator touching the chicken wire ground fence or standing on the ground.....literally the ground or dirt around the fence....... and one of your hot wires at the same time will get it. But since the chicken wire part of the fence is grounded, your hot wires cannot touch it. Close, but not touching.
If you are not clear with the concept, an electric fence works like a lamp, flashlight or any other electric device. There is a potential electric charge on one side (+) and negative on the other (-). There is a switch between them. If the switch is off, nothing happens. Turn the switch on and the juice flows...lights come on, etc. With an electric fence, the animal/predator is the switch. When they contact both hot side and negative side, juice flows through them, which they feel as a painful shock.
But anything else that acts like a switch......weeds, brush, wires contacting, etc. will bleed off the shock potential and make it less effective.
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) I just used plastic tubes cut that would fit over the top piece of the of the post above the fence for my insulator (my dads idea not mine..). He cut the black plastic tube on the side to let it sit onto the fence post then cut a hole farther up the plastic tube for the wire to be threaded through. I also would like to add a lower electric wire towards the bottom also, but have not done that yet. I am going to use plastic holders (have plenty left from the horses' fence) to place at the bottom of the fence posts and have the lower electric wire about 6-8 inches above the ground.
