Dogs killed all 6 of our chickens.

[chickenE]

Very sorry for your family's loss.

 

[Ms Kim]

Thanks Howard E for your thorough description and photo's. Good to know for future reference.

 

[Howard E]

That charger is powered by a 12 volt deep cycle battery from Walmart. About a group 24 as I recall. A single charge will run it for about 2 to 3 months, assuming I keep the fence clear and no weeds or shorts grounding it out. I check it all the time, as I want a full charge going all the time. I went the 12 volt battery route as I had one and a charger. It is also about $150 or so less expensive than a solar unit.

The unit I have is this one:

http://parmakusa.com/product/magnum-12uo/

Their solar version of the same thing is this one:

http://parmakusa.com/product/magnum-solar-pak-12/

Note the power level of these is for 30 miles, or 3.1 joules. I'm an advocate of a hot fence. I'm not interested in a tickle.......I want to light em up.

To keep the ground clear under the wire, there are a couple options. One is to weed eat under it, which works OK as long as the length is not great, or if the weeds and grass don't grow too fast. The other is the chemical option. Either a mix of vinegar, salt and dish soap (rapid burn down, but not a long term kill), or a more permanent solution like Roundup.

I also like to keep a wide margin clear on both sides of the fence. I do that by mowing. That way the birds don't go near it (bare naked lawn / grass area doesn't interest them as much as the tall stuff inside does). It also creates separation of the varmints and dogs from the birds. Any varmints interested in the birds is usually still in "stealthy sneak mode" when it encounters the fence, so is running slow and cautious. Focused on the birds and not the fence, which it then walks into.......upon which it forgets about the birds entirely and heads for the horizon.....usually at a high rate of speed.

A wire fence can be moved pretty easy. Not as easy as poultry netting, but easy enough and more flexible. Consists of steel T posts at the corners or places were you need to put a bend in the run (inside or outside bend). I use white plastic step in posts for the straight runs. Those cost about $2.50 each. Wire can be cut or spliced to lengths. With wire, I also use a ratchet style tensioner on each wire to keep the wire from sagging. They run about $2.50 each as well. You can usually tell when some varmint has tangled with the fence, as the lower wires may be off the clips or sagging. If it was a skunk, you may notice some smell. This fence is on pretty level terrain, but you can also use steel t-posts and the step in posts to keep the wire close to the ground through dips and rises.

Poultry netting (at least the stuff I have), comes in multiples of 80 feet.......so 80 or 160 linear feet. You can connect several of those together to make a bigger yard area. An interesting version of chicken math kicks in here. Double the linear feet of fence and you quadruple the area enclosed. So a 160' foot fence encloses 4X the area of an 80' fence.

Most netting has a hot wire about 3 inches off the ground, which makes it more likely to short out unless you keep it stretched out. But it can be moved easy with a tractor setup. Just mow the grass down tight.....really scalp it close......and you should get a week or two out of it. They make some specialty chargers that would work well with movable netting. Solar powered, on a box, with step in ground rod included. A simple and effective system.

Of the two, the netting is the most secure. Almost no varmint short of a weasel is going to get past that and maybe not even one of those if it hits a hot wire, which it most likely will do.

 

[centrarchid]

I use the poultry netting, usually inside a perimeter similar to Howard E's. The poultry netting when used to confine needs to be the 48" variety and with some breeds you may need to clip wings to keep them from flying over. You will also find the poultry netting needs more charger to keep it hot but you can not charge more than needed to keep four 164' stretches together.

 

[Birdinhand]

I had the same thing happen to a flock of 20 birds when I was young, for me it was a fox and that fox got so bold it would come back in full day light, running right across my feat as it chased my last few chickens. it was a sad day. a few years ago I got back into it and decided to build an impervious coop, framed and then covered with hardware cloth all the way down 2' into the ground at a 45 degree angle away from the coop, problem solved. but that doesn't work for a large area, just not practical, so the electric fence sounds like the ticket for you. good luck and good on you for jumping back on the horse and learning from the process.

 

[Pennychickens1]

Here where we live if a dog comes on your kills your chicken your chickens it's killing livestock and it's a fine for the dog owners.

 

[bastetgreen]

Just wanted to say that I'm so sorry for the loss of your birds. We've dealt with roaming dogs killing livestock on our farm, and to me it feels worse than a wild animal killing them, because it's so pointless. It led us to double-fence most of our property, and we've also considered the electric poultry mesh. Try not to feel guilty...it's not easy keeping our chickens safe.

 

[I'mTheDude]

That charger is powered by a 12 volt deep cycle battery from Walmart. About a group 24 as I recall. A single charge will run it for about 2 to 3 months, assuming I keep the fence clear and no weeds or shorts grounding it out. I check it all the time, as I want a full charge going all the time. I went the 12 volt battery route as I had one and a charger. It is also about $150 or so less expensive than a solar unit.

The unit I have is this one:

http://parmakusa.com/product/magnum-12uo/

Their solar version of the same thing is this one:

http://parmakusa.com/product/magnum-solar-pak-12/

Note the power level of these is for 30 miles, or 3.1 joules. I'm an advocate of a hot fence. I'm not interested in a tickle.......I want to light em up.

To keep the ground clear under the wire, there are a couple options. One is to weed eat under it, which works OK as long as the length is not great, or if the weeds and grass don't grow too fast. The other is the chemical option. Either a mix of vinegar, salt and dish soap (rapid burn down, but not a long term kill), or a more permanent solution like Roundup.

I also like to keep a wide margin clear on both sides of the fence. I do that by mowing. That way the birds don't go near it (bare naked lawn / grass area doesn't interest them as much as the tall stuff inside does). It also creates separation of the varmints and dogs from the birds. Any varmints interested in the birds is usually still in "stealthy sneak mode" when it encounters the fence, so is running slow and cautious. Focused on the birds and not the fence, which it then walks into.......upon which it forgets about the birds entirely and heads for the horizon.....usually at a high rate of speed.

A wire fence can be moved pretty easy. Not as easy as poultry netting, but easy enough and more flexible. Consists of steel T posts at the corners or places were you need to put a bend in the run (inside or outside bend). I use white plastic step in posts for the straight runs. Those cost about $2.50 each. Wire can be cut or spliced to lengths. With wire, I also use a ratchet style tensioner on each wire to keep the wire from sagging. They run about $2.50 each as well. You can usually tell when some varmint has tangled with the fence, as the lower wires may be off the clips or sagging. If it was a skunk, you may notice some smell. This fence is on pretty level terrain, but you can also use steel t-posts and the step in posts to keep the wire close to the ground through dips and rises.

Poultry netting (at least the stuff I have), comes in multiples of 80 feet.......so 80 or 160 linear feet. You can connect several of those together to make a bigger yard area. An interesting version of chicken math kicks in here. Double the linear feet of fence and you quadruple the area enclosed. So a 160' foot fence encloses 4X the area of an 80' fence.

Most netting has a hot wire about 3 inches off the ground, which makes it more likely to short out unless you keep it stretched out. But it can be moved easy with a tractor setup. Just mow the grass down tight.....really scalp it close......and you should get a week or two out of it. They make some specialty chargers that would work well with movable netting. Solar powered, on a box, with step in ground rod included. A simple and effective system.

Of the two, the netting is the most secure. Almost no varmint short of a weasel is going to get past that and maybe not even one of those if it hits a hot wire, which it most likely will do.

You have been EXTREMELY helpful. I cannot thank you enough. What a wonderful resource this place is! We're going to take a look at some fencing options at our local tractor supply this weekend and start planning.

 

[greggooo]

So sorry to hear that, that's horrible. We have really grown to love our birds and have just built our coop as strong as possible. Because we have a neighbor with some chickens, we knew that the local Fisher cats and black bears have attacked before. It felt kind like overkill getting a solar electric fence from Tractor supply, but they really work. Our camera caught it teaching the black bear not to go near them.

 

[I'mTheDude]

So sorry to hear that, that's horrible. We have really grown to love our birds and have just built our coop as strong as possible. Because we have a neighbor with some chickens, we knew that the local Fisher cats and black bears have attacked before. It felt kind like overkill getting a solar electric fence from Tractor supply, but they really work. Our camera caught it teaching the black bear not to go near them.

Tractor Supply is where we buy most of our goods from. do you happen to know the model name or anything of the fencing/charger you went with?