Electric Fence (Different question than the recent thread)

[parkersmom120106]

I have some RIR chicks that are brooding now. We are getting an 8x10 metal shed from a friend and plan on putting it up in the goat pen. I wanted to just let the larger laying hens run loose in the goat pen and put the nesting boxes/roosts inside the shed and hope that they will go in there to lay. My goat pen is electric fence. We've found several dead birds and even a dead squirrel on the fence. I'm guessing that the fence will kill the chickens too if the roost on it. Any body have any experience with this? The fence was reading 1000v and now it's reading 600v.

 

[Chook-A-Holic]

Sounds like you have a constant voltage charger which are very dangerous with a 3yr. old running around. The problem with these is that the constant voltage contracts muscles which causes the victim not to be able to let go of the fence. That's probably why you are finding dead animals at the fence. I would recommend a low impedance pulse charger that is livestock/human safe. These chargers will have a UL approved label on them. My charger puts out a little over 11,000 volts for 1/100th. of a second every second. It hurts but it doesn't harm. I've seen small animals hit it and walk away stunned but unharmed. Also make sure the fence/charger is properly installed and tested frequently.

 

[parkersmom120106]

Hmm..I wonder what we did wrong installing it. It's this charger http://www.fishock.com/store/electric-fence-charger/ss-525cs

It worked well to keep the older goats in. The hit it once, hollared and stay away from it. We don't even have to plug it in anymore. We plugged it back up to train the baby goats and one just walked between the wires and didn't act like it got shocked at all even though it was reading 600v. We've been fighting with this fence for a while now. It's got 3 ground rods. I don't know why it's not pulsating. Can anyone help? If we get it working properly will it be safe for the chickens?

 

[parkersmom120106]

also..don't worry..my 3 year old doesn't go out back. He stays in the house when I or my brother go feed the goats. Also my brother says the fence will shock him even though he's wearing rubber soled boots. Is that normal? If this is off topic for this forum let me know..I can find someplace else to ask these questions. Thanks in advance.

 

[Chook-A-Holic]

It's not pulsating because it's a constant ac charger...be careful. FYI, they can also start fires,make sure you keep grass and weeds away from the fence.

 

[parkersmom120106]

Just read the description of the unit and it says that it's continious power..crap..coulda swore it was pulsating. I thinkt the first one we got was pulsating, but we didn't think it was putting out enough power and got this one. I still have the first one. I didn't return it. It's this one http://zarebasystems.com/products/ProductDetails.aspx?id=292

This is so irritating lol. I was trying to save some money and I should have just got field fence.

 

[Chook-A-Holic]

Here is the one I have. With the heavy predator load that I have here I can't mess around with a weak charger. Some on here have accused me of overkill, however most don't realize that a high voltage pulse charger(UL approved) is safer than a constant voltage weaker one. Yes I do turn it off if I or anyone else is at the coop/runs. I don't plan on getting hit by this thing. I know it won't kill me, but I don't like pain...LOL.

 

[Tala]

My only experience with pulsing chargers has been really crappy. As in my cat lays around with his tail on it and doesn't get shocked, my dog brushes against it and doesn't even notice....um yeah I'm really gonna rely on THAT thing to protect my birds. Same cat walked under my constant charger with his tail straight up, tail hit the wire, yelped like somethin else and took off like a bat outta you know where....and hasn't repeated the mistake.
I think I'll be sticking with my constant charger. Yes it kills squirrels that grab it and the grounded chainlink at the same time, but I'm ok with that.

The crappy charger was Zebra brand BTW,
I will ONLY buy FI-Shock products from now on because I've had a lot better success with them. Just my .02 on that.

Thing is, I have only used the fence for protecting my birds -- so the electricity is on the outside of their pen. No clue what it does to chickens.
However, if they simply roost on it and are not grounded they won't even be shocked -- that is how songbirds can roost on utility lines and squirrels can use them for super-highways. The rodents only get into trouble when they are touching the ground (ie another fence) and the hot wire at the same time.

 

[Chook-A-Holic]

Tala, now don't shoot the messenger, I'm just trying to help. Looking at your BYC page(chicken tractor) I see a couple of problems. The Zareba A5 charger is more or less a training charger, meaning you have to physically introduce the animal you want to control to the fence with his nose. The farmers around here use the A5 to train their livestock. In other words if I wanted to keep a dog from climbing a fence or keep him out of the garden, I would introduce him to the fence to get him to respect it. The charger is not meant to be a predator deterrent(too weak). Also your insulators are too short resulting in inductive losses to ground. The hot-wire should be a minimum of 4" from any metal surface/fence/run. It's not necessarily a crappy charger, it's just the wrong one for the job that you're trying to accomplish.

Keep them chickens safe and have fun!!!

 

[Tala]

Quote:
I originally bought that charger as a puppy training charger

It DIDN"T WORK ON THE PUPPY OR THE CAT.
The GOOD CHARGER is in-use protecting the perimerter fence. That one got relegated to the tractor coz it wasn't in use anymore. It's hard to get a decent ground rod on a portable chicken tractor anyway

I still say that Fi-Shock products are way better than Zebra. Even the quality of the plastic in the insulators is better.