Chicken Tractor - electric predator deterrent

[puddleglumWI]

Hi all,

I bought lumber and am starting to build a chicken tractor. It will be an A-frame style, with fully hardware cloth covered run. I am going to have an auto door on the roost area to keep the hens safe at night, but would like to add a little extra security to the run to discourage predators.

I have seen some people use a folding apron around the perimeter of the tractor's run to prevent digging in, so that is one option. Another option would be to have a live wire around the tractor, with a solar battery that I wheel along with the tractor to power it. I have read some people say a good zap from a live wire is the best deterrent to keep racoons, coyotes, etc. from showing too much interest in the contents of the coop.

Anyone have experience using an electrified wire for discouraging predators from their coop that can speak to its effectiveness?

 

[fat brown hen]

Electric wire needs to have a good grounding rod, so it does not work well for a mobile tractor. Electronet with alternating hot/ground wires would work.

 

[puddleglumWI]

The grounding rod can be moved can't it?

 

[fat brown hen]

The grounding rod can be moved can't it?

If you have a tractor and a winch, maybe.
https://www.zarebasystems.com/learning-center/installation-guide/ground-rod-installation

 

[puddleglumWI]

I wonder how large complex of a grounding system is required for a small single wire circuit encircling a small chicken tractor. I'll have to do more reading. Thanks for the info

 

[Ridgerunner]

Electric wire needs a ground to work. That does not have to be a grounding rod. One way for a tractor would be to ground to your wire mesh fencing and have your hot wires on insulators around it so you keep the hot wires insulated from your ground.

My electric netting is different, the soil is the ground. But with an electric fence you can set it up where the soil is the ground, your wire fence od the ground, or both are the ground. You just have to keep the hot wire separated from the ground. That's what the insulators are for.

If it is set up so the critter touches the hot wire and ground at the same time so the critter gets shocked it is very effective at keeping them away. My electric netting totally stopped all ground based predators.

 

[puddleglumWI]

That is interesting. So if I grounded to the wiring of the run, it would zap the critter if it was trying to climb up it, and was touching the hot wire.

I think I might be able to get away with a shorter grounding rod with a small energizer as I would only be looking at 32 feet or so of wire. Lots of clay in the ground here, famously bad drainage, so probably will only have grounding issues if there is a drout.

A folding apron might be a little easier for moving the tractor around, but if the live wire is going to discourage the ground critters from coming back that might be worth a few minutes to drive a new grounding rod when I move the tractor.

All good things to consider

Thanks,
-pg