Electric fence in small backyard

[jahphotogal]

New chicken family here - our flock of (now) 5 is about 10 weeks old. Our neighbor's dog has come through a couple of times and killed 2 chickens, one in front of my eyes and my children's, a few days ago. I'm looking at electric fencing options so they can continue to free range from time to time - their coop/run is big enough to live in but they really want to come out like they're used to, and I won't let them out now.

The kits on Premier 1 fencing of electrified netting look great but awfully expensive for me. But also very convenient since you can just roll it up and move it. I'm only thinking of fencing off a small area (50 or 100 square feet) and moving the fence fairly frequently. I could buy posts and wire at Tractor Supply for a fraction of the cost, but I'd have to assemble and reassemble the whole thing every time I moved it, and I'm a full-time working mom - I feel a bit overwhelmed by that. Plus it doesn't seem that the wires would keep the chickens in, even if it keeps the dogs out, so it would defeat the purpose. Do people mostly use those to add an extra layer of protection to coops, rather than fence off an area of yard for ranging?

Are there any other options I'm not thinking of?

 

[mendocinosunris]

I'm sorry you're having such a tough time. It really sucks to lose chickens to a predator - and that's exactly what the neighbor's dog is.

How did the dog get in to your yard? You might want to find out about your local laws regarding predators killing your livestock. In many places, you have the right to shoot the dog if you catch it in the act. Just sayin.

I was looking at the netting too, but it must be made of platinum-plated gold. sheesh it's expensive!
what I did was to run two wires around my chicken yard - one at about 4" off the ground, and the other around the top. My main predators are raccoons & gray foxes, and this keeps them from digging under & climbing over.

The electric fence won't do much to keep the chickens in unless the wires are fairly close together. Also, their feathers keep them well insulated against the shock. They have to hit it with a beak or foot to really get zapped.

You said your backyard was small - is it possible to put a couple of electric fence wires around the whole thing? I'm in the process of doing that for my yard (1/2 acre). It'll take a while, but I've lost too many birds to foxes and I don't want to lose any more.

 

[jahphotogal]

Our property is weirdly shaped, and it's part of a larger parcel that it once belonged to (we're at the end of a long driveway that other houses share.) The dog just gets loose and runs onto our property. The first time he chased our old cat 30 feet up a tree. The second time I wasn't there, but a chicken disappeared and I suspect him. The third time he just ran right past me and grabbed a chicken and killed it while I was screaming at it to stop!

I've called the dog warden and she did say I could shoot it, or capture it and hold it til she comes to take it to the dog pound. I don't have a gun and don't plan on getting one, and I don't really want to wait around til it shows up again to try to catch it.So a fence seems to be my only option. The wires just don't seem like enough - I think I'm going to have to spring for the netting.

 

[mendocinosunris]

I think that's a good decision. Fences solve a lot of problems.
Good luck with it - let me know how you like the netting.

 

[JackE]

I use the electrified poultry net from Premier. It is not cheap, but it has been worth it for me, not having to worry about the birds EVERY time they are out. I've had a couple of fox attacks, lost 7 one time then 9 the next. Both attacks were in broad daylight. I also had a neighbor's dog come over and rough up a couple of the birds. I'll just say, that he won't get to do that again.
I have four 100' lengths of the poultry plus nets. The net is 4' high and has double spikes to stick in the ground. I read on here a couple of months ago about somebody wanting to build a wood framed run with hardware cloth. The run was going to be something like 12X20'. To have it built was going to cost almost $2000. 12X20!!!!, I have a 100X100' run for less than half of that. The netting is tough too. We had a serious storm blow through here last Fri. A BIG tree was blown over and landed on the back section of fence, flattened it. After getting out the chainsaw and tractor to drag away the tree, we were able to stand the fence back up and put it back into use. A couple of the non-electrified vertical strings were broke, but the electrified horizontals had no problems, still carrying 7000Vs. I intend on buying a couple of more sections in the future to expand the range a bit.
Jack

 

[featherz]

I've been thinking about getting some of this, but don't the chickens just fly out of it? Do you guys clip wings? I already have two 30 mile chargers charging a couple of wires around each coop, but two sets of 164' netting would cover a good amount of space extra..

 

[JackE]

I've been thinking about getting some of this, but don't the chickens just fly out of it? Do you guys clip wings? I already have two 30 mile chargers charging a couple of wires around each coop, but two sets of 164' netting would cover a good amount of space extra..

The first day I had the netting up, one bird went over. I clipped one of her wings and I haven't had a problem since.
Jack

 

[jahphotogal]

Is there somewhere on BYC that explains how to clip wings safely?

 

[mendocinosunris]

here's a great wing clipping video. She explains how to look for blood feathers, and demonstrates how to clip the wings.

I usually only clip one wing and it works fine for my geese. It is definitely a two-person job with geese, though.

 

[jahphotogal]

It looks quite easy! THanks!