Electric fence info needed

[jjdward]

In the past I have used surveyor 's tape before. It come is neon colors and is about $1 per roll. Amen on the part about chickens sucking up the extra cash!!!

 

[lalaland]

I use an electric fence. Last fall, I had it off with because I had young pullets who were flying over the fence occasionally and I didn't want to electrocute them. fence off, dog dug under and killed all but 2 -turned fence back on and one of the remaining pullets got caught between two fences and electrocuted herself.

so, yes, you can kill a chicken. So far, have also killed one grey squirrel and two red squirrels, 3 voles, and one shrew. Yuck. but, have bears, fox, coyotes, dogs, skunks, dogs, coons, did I say, dogs? so...fence stays on.

getting new chicks in a few weeks, don't know what I'll do when they get to the flying stage - it only lasts a few months, but that is plenty of time for predators to strike.

 

[Tala]

I kinda like the fact that the wires are hard to see, makes it look less junky IMO - but I live in a subdivision not in the woods. I put a few random pieces of surveyors tape on it - so I can see it at night.
Believe me, your dog will KNOW where the boundaries are, just like some learn to respect an invisible fence and never even go in the warning zone after they learn where it is.

They can see the plain wire just FINE. My dog can even see them in the dark - because one day we were walking at the city park after dark and they had taken down a section of chainlink fence and the bottom tension wire was just kinda flopped over near the sidewalk. My dog walked up towards it and when she saw it she jumped back a little because she knows what wires mean!! It was pretty dark and she could see a single wire in the dark just fine.

I'm with lalaland, I've fried 2 grey squirrels and my uncle has fried several wild birds. They all had one leg on the grounded regular fence and another on the hot wire.

 

[Big dreams]

My DH thinks its to risky to have only the electric fence, says the dogs will know when its not working, anyone here believe that? It most likely would happen on occation when we have storms as we do lose power sometimes for days, my thought was leave the runs in the pen and when we have bad weather put them on their runs again until we are sure the power will stay on. I don't know I just want my dogs to have room to run without leaving my property.

 

[jjdward]

not a bad idea to leave the runs in the fence but I'm pretty sure the dogs will not test it to much.

 

[Chicken Rustler]

Quote:
Yes the dogs (and other critters) can tell when electric fence is off. If you are really worried about it during power failures, you could always go with a solar fence charger. They will run several hours on the battery and recharge during "daylight" hours. Solar tend to cost a few more $$$$ but the nice thing is that you don't have to worry about making sure you have a place to plug them in, you can put them anywhere.
I have always used just plain electric fence wire then I put "tattle tails " of surveyor's ribbon. I have used this for horses, dogs and goats and once they learn they will avoid most anything with the ribbon on it hot or not.

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

Quote:
I use 12.5 Ga Aluminum wire for all my fencing. It's a little more expensive than steel, but will NEVER RUST, and carries more current. It's also large enough to be visible to the animals.

 

[Tala]

My dog avoids the wires, hot or not.
The fence has been off since we cut down the tree in March, and she only went outside of the yard where I had taken the wires down to drive the truck through.
She once stuck her nose on the wire while I was working on it hot ---- so now she's not even brave enough to "test" it even if I'm standing there touching it.
Some dogs can tell if it's on or off, but mine's not willing to test those theories.

I also use aluminum wire, it's Red Brand and it came from the e-fence section at TSC.

 

[KYBOY]

I am wondering about the same thing..I have used electric fence much of my life for one stock or another..We are now getting our goat herd back and as anyone who has raised goats knows they require some "punch" to stay out of the fence..I bought a 2 joule low empedence 50 mile unit..Though I will only be fencing in a few acres right now I wanted the 2 joule output but now Im wondering about the poultry getting into it? Its a pulse box not a continuous..

 

[Clodbuster]

To put you in the picture, I've been marketing Electric Fencing for 30 years.

The reason poultry is largely unaffected by EF is because their feathers are a natural insulation. This is also true for woolly sheep and deer. Most energizers run at 6000v which is inadequate to bridge the gap through the feathers. There are new models that run at <9000v that force the spark to jump this insulation and are far more effective. Fox, wolves and dogs don't need this high voltage.

Don't be concerned about the high voltage as it is coupled with very low Amperage, about 25 milliamps (Amps kill, volts shock). Plus they pulse at 1/300th of a second every second - very short.

Joule rating gives you length of fence energised, the higher the longer. It does not change the energy going into the fence. A 5 joule energizer will energize a 10 mile fence at 6000v and also a 50 yard fence at 6000v.

Baiting is a very effective tool in improving the effectiveness of a substandard fence.