Electric Fence for Chicken Protection

[cmom]

They are pure Rhode Island Red cockerels in a bachelor coop and pen.
Other cockerels. This hen was a champion at a show.

 

[Chicken Heel]

They are pure Rhode Island Red cockerels in a bachelor coop and pen.
Other cockerels. This hen was a champion at a show.
View attachment 2125419View attachment 2125423

Once again, beautiful birds. My first large breed rooster about 50 years ago was a RIR but not of this outstanding quality. At around 18 weeks of age I put him with a flock of around 8 older hens and he promptly got his butt whooped. But within a week he was king of the roost.

 

[Happy Helper]

Your coops and pens are really nice. My son-in-law, as he states now is that he built our area for around 10 hens, not a herd. The coop will easily hold 30 chickens and be comfortable for them but I like them to be able to be outside in the grass and find worms, bugs, etc. The electric wire around to keep the dogs out is probably all I can ask at this time and until that gets installed, I will let them out late afternoon and baby-sit them. I think I will keep a few rocks in my pocket.
Thanks for all the advice, your chickens are beautiful.

 

[Happy Helper]

Thanks Chicken Heel, I had thought about using a paint ball gun to give those dogs a little color.

 

[cmom]

It's been several years ago, a BYC member was being plagued by a neighborhood dog. As I recall she did talk with the owner and he denied it was his dog so the next time it came on her property and went after her birds she shot it with a paintball. I don't remember what happened after that.

 

[Happy Helper]

The paintball would maybe work a little but it requires sitting around waiting for them to come around.
We do have a video of the dog in our horse barn on the day we lost 4 chickens. The chickens in the barn had run away but he was still snooping around. He probably then went into the chicken coop and killed 3 young ones in the coop and found the other hen wandering around the yard. This happened a week after they had killed around 8 chickens. I think now we will put additional cameras around the chicken coop.
We can again confront him and ask that he contain his dogs. It would be easy for him to put in a dog fence and the problem would be solved. His dogs also killed all the neighbors chickens.

 

[Chicken Heel]

In my experiences, most dog problems are related to the people that own them being irresponsible. It definitely sounds like the case here. The dog will not stop killing chickens so losses will continue.

 

[Happy Helper]

It is definitely the dog owner's fault. I grew up on a farm and never encountered dogs that would attack chickens. Our dogs are perfectly fine with them and don't bother them. The other dogs in the neighborhood also never attacked the chickens.
The only thing I can do is let them out later in the day and just be out there and baby-sit them until they come in at night. I'll get me a glass (or two) of wine and a book to read.

 

[Daisy6]

We installed an electric fence summer of 2019, after a bear attacked and killed two chickens. We also installed a wildlife camera. The fence has kept bears, coyotes, raccoons, dogs and a bobcat out. The bottom wire is about 6 inches off the ground and the space increases as the fence gets higher. It's worked great but the only thing I would change is that we used the electric fence tape. We are going to change it to regular fence wire. The tape sags very easily and during the winter it get too close to the ground, so I'm out there in freezing weather working on the dang fence.

 

[Chickidee26]

We installed an electric fence summer of 2019, after a bear attacked and killed two chickens. We also installed a wildlife camera. The fence has kept bears, coyotes, raccoons, dogs and a bobcat out. The bottom wire is about 6 inches off the ground and the space increases as the fence gets higher. It's worked great but the only thing I would change is that we used the electric fence tape. We are going to change it to regular fence wire. The tape sags very easily and during the winter it get too close to the ground, so I'm out there in freezing weather working on the dang fence.

I am very new at this and trying to design a run around our coop (i.e. the coop will be totally enclosed inside a larger run). My initial plan was to put up wood posts around the area and enclose with chicken wire and a 2nd layer of hardware cloth on the lower half as well as an apron along the ground. Also going to cover the top with chicken wire. I feel that the only way I will be able to sleep at night is to have an electric fence. This is a stupid question, but can the fence be run around the same posts as the run or does it have to connect with metal posts? If I have a run enclosed with wire, how many rows of electric fencing are recommended? Also, does the electric fencing use up a lot of electricity? I'm trying to understand how the electric fencing works...I've seen it used on it's own but I am not comfortable enough having just the electric fence as we have all shapes and sizes of predators here.