I am old school, but have a job making so fence is more effective.
Dogs and Electric Fences
- Thread starter Howard E
- Start date
Mama Runner
Songster
Even with fencing they started coming along the fence till they got to the driveway. I got attacked this summer and so did my son. No matter how nice I seemed to handle it driving dogs home and calling animal control, it just never ends. I have dogs and my dogs have never once been off my property without a leash and harness.
- Thread starter
- #73
Fence or "electric fence"? I can assure you when it comes to dogs, there is a BIG difference.
BTW, you sound like one of the responsible dog owners everyone would like to live next to. Shame everyone else doesn't share your values. And if you have been attacked by dogs and had to deal with that, I can appreciate your point of view.
It may well be that the pit bull on my place was in fact coming at me to attack. I'll never know......she got walloped and was sent packing before I found out. A good thing for both of us.
- Thread starter
- #74
OK, time to do the tighten up on my fence.....brought on by a couple issues. One being animals have tangled with it and the wires are no longer tight. They need to be.....especially the bottom one. It hovers only inches above the ground and with most ground based furry varmints like coons, skunks, etc. the bottom wire is the one that meets out the punishment as they try to crawl under it. But you can't let it sag and touch the ground or it will short the fence out. So here is how I tighten it up.
Every wire fence should have a set of these somewhere in the run. If it's a big area, maybe one set per side. Available from most anyplace that sells the wire fence supplies....TSC, etc. They are not expensive......maybe $3 or so each. The white tool on the ground is made to fit two types of these, but isn't needed if you have the kind with a square hub on them. A simple adjustable wrench is all that is needed for those. But to tighten, you simply turn the ratchet wheel a couple clicks and all is well. These ratchets provide a level of tension and tautness you could never get by hand.
On short runs, these will tension wires through one or more corners......I use the donut insulators which act like a wheel.
The tension will flow through those. A little if you use 14 gauge steel wire......a lot if you use 17 gauge aluminum, which is softer and more flexible.
So when a god......errrrr.......dog hits a wire, what causes it to go slack? Some of it might be the wire is stretched.......but in my case, one corner has started to sag. The corner is simply a T post set deep, but not braced. Over time......and especially so during winter or wet spells when the ground is soft, the tension on the wire will pull it over.
Over time, the top of this post has moved maybe as much as a foot or so. It really should be braced, but then I'd have to mow around the brace wires. For now, I keep tension going by another click. Eventually, I will either have to reset the post, or set a brace wire. (to a screw in anchor)
Lastly, this view is of one leg of this fence area, where I had to decide what to do about making a run next to an existing livestock fence.
I chose to set my electric fence inside the livestock fence, such that it is just like all the others. In short, I ignored the livestock fence as any form of protection. I could have used the posts and placed offset insulators on it, but that had some issues, not the least of which was keeping weeds down and away from it. When I set the fence, a tenant had horses grazing inside this area, and I now use Roundup to keep the weeds down.
The cost of doing it the way I did may even be cheaper than hanging it on the livestock fence. The wire is the same either way........the difference is between the cost of insulators and 5 step in posts. Also, most varmints will crawl under or through the livestock fence to get to the other side. If they do, the electric fence awaits them on the other side......and likely as not, they get trapped between the two. In their haste to get free of the electric fence, they kind of panic and rush the livestock fence, trying to find a way out or under.....bouncing off it, spinning around or pinballing down the run between the two. As such, they may get popped by the electric fence multiple times before they get free of it. Each zap another reminder to not come back.
Lastly, the livestock fence to the left is also my ground rod system. I tied the fencer's ground connection to the woven wire fence, and it then uses about 10 or so of these steel posts to ground the fence. In the event a varmint does touch the electric wires and woven wire fence at the same time, it gets to experience the full brunt of what a powerful electric fencer can dish out.
Every wire fence should have a set of these somewhere in the run. If it's a big area, maybe one set per side. Available from most anyplace that sells the wire fence supplies....TSC, etc. They are not expensive......maybe $3 or so each. The white tool on the ground is made to fit two types of these, but isn't needed if you have the kind with a square hub on them. A simple adjustable wrench is all that is needed for those. But to tighten, you simply turn the ratchet wheel a couple clicks and all is well. These ratchets provide a level of tension and tautness you could never get by hand.
On short runs, these will tension wires through one or more corners......I use the donut insulators which act like a wheel.
The tension will flow through those. A little if you use 14 gauge steel wire......a lot if you use 17 gauge aluminum, which is softer and more flexible.
So when a god......errrrr.......dog hits a wire, what causes it to go slack? Some of it might be the wire is stretched.......but in my case, one corner has started to sag. The corner is simply a T post set deep, but not braced. Over time......and especially so during winter or wet spells when the ground is soft, the tension on the wire will pull it over.
Over time, the top of this post has moved maybe as much as a foot or so. It really should be braced, but then I'd have to mow around the brace wires. For now, I keep tension going by another click. Eventually, I will either have to reset the post, or set a brace wire. (to a screw in anchor)
Lastly, this view is of one leg of this fence area, where I had to decide what to do about making a run next to an existing livestock fence.
I chose to set my electric fence inside the livestock fence, such that it is just like all the others. In short, I ignored the livestock fence as any form of protection. I could have used the posts and placed offset insulators on it, but that had some issues, not the least of which was keeping weeds down and away from it. When I set the fence, a tenant had horses grazing inside this area, and I now use Roundup to keep the weeds down.
The cost of doing it the way I did may even be cheaper than hanging it on the livestock fence. The wire is the same either way........the difference is between the cost of insulators and 5 step in posts. Also, most varmints will crawl under or through the livestock fence to get to the other side. If they do, the electric fence awaits them on the other side......and likely as not, they get trapped between the two. In their haste to get free of the electric fence, they kind of panic and rush the livestock fence, trying to find a way out or under.....bouncing off it, spinning around or pinballing down the run between the two. As such, they may get popped by the electric fence multiple times before they get free of it. Each zap another reminder to not come back.
Lastly, the livestock fence to the left is also my ground rod system. I tied the fencer's ground connection to the woven wire fence, and it then uses about 10 or so of these steel posts to ground the fence. In the event a varmint does touch the electric wires and woven wire fence at the same time, it gets to experience the full brunt of what a powerful electric fencer can dish out.
Last edited:
SW31
Songster
We have 1.2 metre high electric fence. Works well except when I let birds out, see thread hens in the hall. I placed a bench with a high back too close to the fence and two of the little darlings climbed onto the back and jumped over the fence. Now I have to watch where I put the bench.
SW31
Songster
Forgot to mention that here in France we have the damned Chasse, the hunt. Idiots have uncontrollable dogs. I never, ever let the cat out or the birds into the garden on a Wednesday and Sunday morning. It’s a strictly no go area. Neither the hunters or the dogs can be trusted. It’s bad enough they keep shooting themselves or neighbours.
- Jul 19, 2016
- 25
- 6
- 79
So I just need to keep dogs off of my coop and run.... the chickens don't leave that. Do I use the step in posts, one every 5 feet or so, string three levels starting at 4" from the ground? Would like to be able to step over it so gate would not be necessary. And is polytape the best? When you say wire, do you mean an aluminum wire or the "wire" we use for the horse fences (braided)? And what do I use for a convenient on/off switch if my kids need it and don't feel comfortable stepping over it daily? TIA! This post is so helpful!!
I must reply
.in the past perhaps8years ago one of my dogs that wander was under the gun for getting a chicken from neighbor...she claimed it was him...black dog....yes yes yes....ok....I thought I'd get a good inventory of neighboring dogs....lotta black dogs around..took a few days...Roscoe does not go there....so...I talked with owner and set up a game camera...sure enough pic didn't lie...it was her own dogs that raided the coop....love game camera..Roscoe is RIP..but..exonerated
.in the past perhaps8years ago one of my dogs that wander was under the gun for getting a chicken from neighbor...she claimed it was him...black dog....yes yes yes....ok....I thought I'd get a good inventory of neighboring dogs....lotta black dogs around..took a few days...Roscoe does not go there....so...I talked with owner and set up a game camera...sure enough pic didn't lie...it was her own dogs that raided the coop....love game camera..Roscoe is RIP..but..exonerated
- Jul 19, 2016
- 25
- 6
- 79
I get that, but in our case, the guy knew it was his dogs... they brought a chicken home the first time, and they had feathers in their feet from the mud this second time. I just went to talk to him tonight, and he immediately knew it was his dogs, claimed that was the only night since the last time that he let them wander while he was outside, and they ran off. My question is, why didn't you contact us when they ran off so we could protect our chickens with our own dog that night? Also, not true since I've chased them away from our coop several times since the last time. You can't watch your coop 24/7, so I need an electric fence!
- Thread starter
- #80
Enid:
An electric fence is an ideal method to deter your neighbors dogs.......I'd pay cash money to watch the show the first time they tangle with it. The short video clip included at the beginning of this thread says it all. I've personally witnessed no less than 4 dogs tangle with mine and the response is always the same. They yelp.......they leave....and they never get near it again.
There are a number of ways to set it up and to switch it on and off.
So the goal is to surround your coop.......encircle it......with conducting wires, I'd suggest a vertical stack of 3 to 4 of them.......such that any animal.....dog, coon, fox, coyote, bobcat, skunk, possum, etc.........that tries to get into your coop is going to have to negotiate the minefield that is that array of hot wires. Touch it once.....just brush up against it and they risk getting hammered. But you also want to be able to come and go without risking the chance that you....or the kids......suffer the same fate. So that means a way to easily turn it on and off.
My battery powered fence charger makes this easy, as it has a switch on it. If kids are around, or I need to work on the fence, I just turn the charger off.
If you have an AC charger, you can also connect the outlet that powers it to the same kind of light switch we use everywhere. Just turn it on and off as you would a ceiling light.
But at any rate, the best switch will be one that kills the entire run. You don't need it to be hot when you are there and working around the fence. Only when you are done....and ready to walk away.....do you need to heat it up......where it silently stands guard.......ready to dish out some serious hurt......24/7. So my first choice would be to find a way to turn the whole thing off and do so in a manner that I or any kids tasked with this job can do so with little to no chance of running the risk of touching a wire. The fencer above is mounted on a post that is 3 feet away from the hot fence. The short drop of hot wire that connects the fencer to the fence runs through an insulated jacket so nothing can touch it, and nothing can ground it out as it passes through a lot of stuff to get to the fence. Pretty safe.
Second best option...and one typically found on really long runs......where you might find yourself hundreds of yards or more away from the fencer, is to have isolation switches built into the run. They look like this:
http://www.kencove.com/fence/HD+Single+Throw+Cut-out+Switch_detail_MCCHD.php
Still nothing more than a simple switch. Indeed, you could still mount an electrical outlet box on a post, run your hot wire connection through the switch and still turn it on and off like you do the lights. You could even use something like this to leave the fence surrounding the coop hot, yet be able to turn the hot wires on the coop gate or door on and off to come and go safely. The hot wire making the jump to the gate from the hinge side....all it takes is a short drop to make the connection.
So now on to the fence itself.......you can use a lot of things. The wire fences I show were made with 17 gauge aluminum electric fence wire. It is soft, pliable, durable and doesn't rust. You don't need anything as large or expensive....or hard to work with.....as something like the double braid wires they use on top of livestock fences. That would be an excellent option to use if you wanted to make the top wire on a horse fence hot........but not for this use. Light, flexible and visible are the keys here. So poly tape......or poly rope.......would be good.
These photos show two ways of making the corners (these were made with poly tape, which is flexible and is easy to work with by hand. 10X easier than wire.) The first corner shown is an inside bend....using the round donut insulators, which is my preferred way of doing it. The other is to use a clip on insulator and run it on the outside. The latter is simpler to do, but you have to be super careful not to let the tape get anywhere near the post or else the electric pulse the fencer sends down the line may make the jump through the air to short out. Mine will do that because my fence is cranked up so hot it jump through the air if it gets even close. But that is also what allows my fences to get past some fur, etc.
So you can use a variety of things........wire.....poly tape, poly rope, etc. It then gets down to what to hang it on. With a coop, that might might be stand off insulators like these........
http://www.kencove.com/fence/Offsets_detail_IWR6.php
http://www.kencove.com/fence/Offsets_detail_IT6W.php
On the 2nd one, there is yet another type that looks like the, but instead of clipping to a T post, it nails to a wooden post. I have some of those too.
Or......you can do as I have done and just set steel T posts at the corners and at the gate......and use the white poly step in posts to hold the fence up. Not as clean as the other insulators, but effective. These would allow you to offset the hot fence as much as you like.
Hope this helps and gives you some ideas on how to do this.
Feel free to ask questions and come back here to brainstorm as you start piecing this together.
An electric fence is an ideal method to deter your neighbors dogs.......I'd pay cash money to watch the show the first time they tangle with it. The short video clip included at the beginning of this thread says it all. I've personally witnessed no less than 4 dogs tangle with mine and the response is always the same. They yelp.......they leave....and they never get near it again.
There are a number of ways to set it up and to switch it on and off.
So the goal is to surround your coop.......encircle it......with conducting wires, I'd suggest a vertical stack of 3 to 4 of them.......such that any animal.....dog, coon, fox, coyote, bobcat, skunk, possum, etc.........that tries to get into your coop is going to have to negotiate the minefield that is that array of hot wires. Touch it once.....just brush up against it and they risk getting hammered. But you also want to be able to come and go without risking the chance that you....or the kids......suffer the same fate. So that means a way to easily turn it on and off.
My battery powered fence charger makes this easy, as it has a switch on it. If kids are around, or I need to work on the fence, I just turn the charger off.
If you have an AC charger, you can also connect the outlet that powers it to the same kind of light switch we use everywhere. Just turn it on and off as you would a ceiling light.
But at any rate, the best switch will be one that kills the entire run. You don't need it to be hot when you are there and working around the fence. Only when you are done....and ready to walk away.....do you need to heat it up......where it silently stands guard.......ready to dish out some serious hurt......24/7. So my first choice would be to find a way to turn the whole thing off and do so in a manner that I or any kids tasked with this job can do so with little to no chance of running the risk of touching a wire. The fencer above is mounted on a post that is 3 feet away from the hot fence. The short drop of hot wire that connects the fencer to the fence runs through an insulated jacket so nothing can touch it, and nothing can ground it out as it passes through a lot of stuff to get to the fence. Pretty safe.
Second best option...and one typically found on really long runs......where you might find yourself hundreds of yards or more away from the fencer, is to have isolation switches built into the run. They look like this:
http://www.kencove.com/fence/HD+Single+Throw+Cut-out+Switch_detail_MCCHD.php
Still nothing more than a simple switch. Indeed, you could still mount an electrical outlet box on a post, run your hot wire connection through the switch and still turn it on and off like you do the lights. You could even use something like this to leave the fence surrounding the coop hot, yet be able to turn the hot wires on the coop gate or door on and off to come and go safely. The hot wire making the jump to the gate from the hinge side....all it takes is a short drop to make the connection.
So now on to the fence itself.......you can use a lot of things. The wire fences I show were made with 17 gauge aluminum electric fence wire. It is soft, pliable, durable and doesn't rust. You don't need anything as large or expensive....or hard to work with.....as something like the double braid wires they use on top of livestock fences. That would be an excellent option to use if you wanted to make the top wire on a horse fence hot........but not for this use. Light, flexible and visible are the keys here. So poly tape......or poly rope.......would be good.
These photos show two ways of making the corners (these were made with poly tape, which is flexible and is easy to work with by hand. 10X easier than wire.) The first corner shown is an inside bend....using the round donut insulators, which is my preferred way of doing it. The other is to use a clip on insulator and run it on the outside. The latter is simpler to do, but you have to be super careful not to let the tape get anywhere near the post or else the electric pulse the fencer sends down the line may make the jump through the air to short out. Mine will do that because my fence is cranked up so hot it jump through the air if it gets even close. But that is also what allows my fences to get past some fur, etc.
So you can use a variety of things........wire.....poly tape, poly rope, etc. It then gets down to what to hang it on. With a coop, that might might be stand off insulators like these........
http://www.kencove.com/fence/Offsets_detail_IWR6.php
http://www.kencove.com/fence/Offsets_detail_IT6W.php
On the 2nd one, there is yet another type that looks like the, but instead of clipping to a T post, it nails to a wooden post. I have some of those too.
Or......you can do as I have done and just set steel T posts at the corners and at the gate......and use the white poly step in posts to hold the fence up. Not as clean as the other insulators, but effective. These would allow you to offset the hot fence as much as you like.
Hope this helps and gives you some ideas on how to do this.
Feel free to ask questions and come back here to brainstorm as you start piecing this together.
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