Quote:
My Dog kennel coop was very secure.... but not big enough nor could I access it without crossing through the goat pen.... Its mostly dog kennel panels and they are good for dogs but dont keep chickens safe from other predators without going to extreme measures.
So in the new coop the chain-link will be just for the interior partitions. The goats destroyed enough of my kennel panels that I will be stripping off the chain-link and replacing that with Either wood or Aviary wire and using those for exterior walls to defend against predators. I used to raise finches and parakeets in walk in Aviaries. So with existing aviary materials I can cover 24 linear feet of the chicken coop. Someone gave me four aviaries when he retired each was four by six by six.... So that gives me another fifty Linear feet appx of Aviary wire... Its all 12.5 gauge and in order to cut it you have to either use a saws-all or an angle grinder.
The problem With hot wire here in Southern California is getting a good ground. Goats are naturally insulated.... between hair and hooves... My horse is a Percheron and only seventeen hands.... when I boarded at a nice boarding stable there were three percherons and one Clyde living in a row of pipe corral set up for them 24 x 48 pens.... The Big Percheron gelding named Knight was eighteen hands plus and about 2200 lbs... Hagrid was his barn name Lol because of all the mane and forelock he had.. The big guy didn't respect fences and was known for bending pipe corral.... So they put hot wire on his fence... what a hoot. He would stand there and leave his upper lip on the hot wire.... and you could see his lip twitch with the charges.... He LIKED it... Thank goodness Katee pretty much respects fences....
At my house which is in the high desert the ground rod has to be about ten feet deep... But it doesn't make the connection to the animal... So in order to do hot-wire that works you have to do a double line or a bi polar charge.... meaning positive and negative are running right next to each other.... The best way I have found is a tape
http://www.horseguardfence.com/
The rest of the fence will be Cattle panels Areas where they will want to rub .... Chainlink doesnt do the trick because it stretches over time and the dog kennel panels I have been using for coop construction are put together with Aluminum wire fasteners.... Not strong enough for goats. Cattle panels are four gauge....
deb
