Electric Fence for Chicken Protection

[Happy Helper]

Earlier in my post, Howard E gave me some good advice. I'll bet he could answer your questions. I don't know much about electric fencing but I don't think it would work for me. I have woods on one side and I have been told that if the wire touches any branches, etc. it will short out. We have a drive that goes around the chicken coop and barns so it is almost impossible to put up a fence since it would interfere with the driveway.
We have predators that come out at night also, skunks, coons, fox. The chickens go into the coop at night. I don't think they would survive a night outside. The dogs are my most aggravating problem that I have not been able to solve.

 

[Howard E]

Hmmmm......not sure what your question is???

As for going through woods, etc, it can be done.....works best to clear a pathway......enough to have a clear pathway on both sides of the fence. Serves two purposes: you don't want any weeds, shrubs, brush touching the fence to ground it out.....and want an opening so predators and birds recognize it as a boundary.

Perimeter of 240 acre farm across the road is fenced with single strand of wire fence. It is powered by ancient ParMak 30 mile fencer......AC.....and not on a GFIC outlet. It is grounded out all over the place, yet still serves up a good shock without going south, as it is an AC fencer. A battery powered one wouldn't last more than a few days with that level of weed load. It is basically the only thing keep in a herd of over 100 cow/calf pairs and some bulls.

Downside of going through woods for chickens is if there is a connected tree canopy over the fence. If there is, coons can go over the fence through the trees.

 

[Happy Helper]

Hmmmm......not sure what your question is???

As for going through woods, etc, it can be done.....works best to clear a pathway......enough to have a clear pathway on both sides of the fence. Serves two purposes: you don't want any weeds, shrubs, brush touching the fence to ground it out.....and want an opening so predators and birds recognize it as a boundary.

Perimeter of 240 acre farm across the road is fenced with single strand of wire fence. It is powered by ancient ParMak 30 mile fencer......AC.....and not on a GFIC outlet. It is grounded out all over the place, yet still serves up a good shock without going south, as it is an AC fencer. A battery powered one wouldn't last more than a few days with that level of weed load. It is basically the only thing keep in a herd of over 100 cow/calf pairs and some bulls.

Downside of going through woods for chickens is if there is a connected tree canopy over the fence. If there is, coons can go over the fence through the trees.

 

[Happy Helper]

I thought you might have an answer to Chickidee26. She had questions about installing an electric fence using wire.

 

[Howard E]

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.

Yes.......they may insulators that just nail on to wooden posts.....trees.....etc. Works the same way.

If you have a covered run.......hardware cloth, plus apron along the bottom.......is there really any way a varmint can get in? But if you want the belt AND suspenders......you can run a single hot wire along the top to shed any climbers. The wire fence that makes up the run is the surface they would be climbing, and that run wire can act as the earth ground....that would give them a good shock when they reach the top and grab the hot wire. You could sell tickets to that show.

Unless it is grounded out, a fencer does not use much juice at all. And that only matters if it is battery run vs. plugged in to an AC outlet. If the latter, you won't notice it much on your bill, if at all.

 

[Al Gerhart]

Let me guess that the neighbor would also really get pissed if the marauding dogs succumbed to lead poisoning.

You mean the high velocity kind? Works every time.

 

[Howard E]

When shooting the neighbor's dog, you never know if killing the dog is the end of your problems, or just the beginning. Kinda depends on the neighbor.

 

[Al Gerhart]

Well be sure and not be seen doing it!

I had a small farm up in a hollow years ago and the closest neighbors were in a small town about a mile North and down the mountain. Constantly dealing with packs of dogs, not feral dogs, these were well fed and wearing collars. People think their pets are harmless but you get three or four working as a pack and they can harass and kill goats, chickens, even foals and calves. And they will kill your own dogs if they put up a fight. I had to put down many dogs over the years and it isn't like in the movies. They don't get knocked over or go flying when hit with a .223 round, they just slump to the ground where they were running or standing when you hit them. Usually the other dogs don't connect the bang with their buddy dropping and will come back to see what happened. Then bury the dogs after pulling the collar. Sad business all around but full grown dogs in a pack left to roam by irresponsible owners are responsible for what needed done. They don't suffer, a high velocity round to the center mass kills them instantly.

 

[Daisy6]

You may be able to use the posts that you will have the chicken wire attached to, it depends on which connectors you use. Tractor Supply has a variety. You will want the electric wire to be far enough away from the chicken wire so that it doesn't cause sparks or the elctric pathway doesn't get cancelled. If it gets cancelled, such as if it touches the chicken wire, which is touching the ground, it will not work. We did 7 rows amd attached them to 6 foot metal posts. We have our coop (4x4) and run(8x8) attached to each other and the electric fence goes around the entire area. There is about 4 feet of space between the electric fence and the coop/run, so that the grass can be cut with a push mower. I do not believe it has raised the electric bill very much and we have a very strong one that will deter a bear. No worries, there are no stupid questions.

 

[Chickidee26]

You may be able to use the posts that you will have the chicken wire attached to, it depends on which connectors you use. Tractor Supply has a variety. You will want the electric wire to be far enough away from the chicken wire so that it doesn't cause sparks or the elctric pathway doesn't get cancelled. If it gets cancelled, such as if it touches the chicken wire, which is touching the ground, it will not work. We did 7 rows amd attached them to 6 foot metal posts. We have our coop (4x4) and run(8x8) attached to each other and the electric fence goes around the entire area. There is about 4 feet of space between the electric fence and the coop/run, so that the grass can be cut with a push mower. I do not believe it has raised the electric bill very much and we have a very strong one that will deter a bear. No worries, there are no stupid questions.

Thank you. I was thinking of having the chicken wire on the inside of the post (4x4) and the electric fence on the outside of the post? In other words 4” apart...do you think that is too close?