Dog kennel or electric poultry netting?

[ZoeFlower]

Need to enclose the flock all the time for now because we’ve lost too many hens to predators. We do live in rural SoCal mountains and we have bobcats and coyotes here daily as well as hawks.
Electro netting seems easy enough (though we’d need to work around trees and fences) but I can’t cover the entire top with netting. I’m leaning toward this option because they’ll have more room to roam, and it seems to be more economical as well!

 

[DobieLover]

Need to enclose the flock all the time for now because we’ve lost too many hens to predators. We do live in rural SoCal mountains and we have bobcats and coyotes here daily as well as hawks.
Electro netting seems easy enough (though we’d need to work around trees and fences) but I can’t cover the entire top with netting. I’m leaning toward this option because they’ll have more room to roam, and it seems to be more economical as well!

I used three 165' rolls of 42" high poultry netting to enclose about 1/3 acre of my property. I bought enough extra poles to double the number provided with the net. I power it with a 10,000 volt/1.2 Joule output energizer and used two 8' ground rods near what we call 'the moat'.

This fence packs enough punch to keep the local momma black bear at bay and I've not lost a single bird that has been inside the pen. I had one known and utterly unsuccessful hawk strike. There is a lot of cover and a vigilant rooster in the flock so all made it to safety. The neighbor's dogs have both been zapped by the fence and avoid it like the plague.

The one predator that you have that could easily jump the fence is the bobcat. However, all predators typically come at something new with caution and investigate it using scent. That is good. One pop to the nose should be enough to deter a bobcat.

 

[lizo97]

I am interested as well -- can't predators just jump the electric fence?

 

[3KillerBs]

I am interested as well -- can't predators just jump the electric fence?

As a general rule, most predators don't jump barriers as their first thought. They investigate it with their nose first and run when zapped.

It's not a guarantee, particularly with big cats, but it would be unusual.