DH and I are first timers at running an electric fence, so forgive if these seem like noob questions.. After having a fox chowing down on the free range chickens, they have been confined to their coop and run for a few weeks with only supervised outings. Main predators here are foxes, coons, skunks and fisher cats. Oh, and there's always a possibility of a dog although none have visited us yet.
The coop is made from a horse run in so it's large, about 12x14, about 10 feet high. Coop itself is wood, with a tin roof. Run is about 16x16, wood with welded wire, a HW cloth skirt and up about 2 feet and covered with flight netting.
We ran two wires, on the run there's one near the bottom 6-8" and one up near the top of the run at about 5 feet. On the coop the bottom is similar and the top is about 6 feet high or so. All voltages are correct, the charger is running and we know at least the bottom wire is working to scare the critters- have scared off a very stinky skunk and our own cat.
However, I had a thought - We put the other wire up high to avoid predators that would jump the bottom wire and climb as well as those that could drop down from the trees above onto the roof (there's venting there that with work they could rip into, I believe). Now I realize the animal needs to be grounded to get shocked (duh).
If the animal climbs a welded wire fence and touches a high wire like that, will the fence itself be enough grounding for it to receive a shock? (it is touching ground via the hardware cloth).. Or do we need to attach the fence to a ground pole to properly ground it for that situation?
Also, obviously the high up wire we placed on the wood coop isn't going to work for anything smaller than a bear - since I am trying to prevent climbing predators from up top and down below, should I add one or more ground wires near that top wire?
I'll post pics if it would help!
Again, we tested all the wires with a fence tester and they are all properly grounded and pushing out a lot o' voltage (14.4 ouch). But if animal isn't on ground I am thinking no shockie.
The coop is made from a horse run in so it's large, about 12x14, about 10 feet high. Coop itself is wood, with a tin roof. Run is about 16x16, wood with welded wire, a HW cloth skirt and up about 2 feet and covered with flight netting.
We ran two wires, on the run there's one near the bottom 6-8" and one up near the top of the run at about 5 feet. On the coop the bottom is similar and the top is about 6 feet high or so. All voltages are correct, the charger is running and we know at least the bottom wire is working to scare the critters- have scared off a very stinky skunk and our own cat.
However, I had a thought - We put the other wire up high to avoid predators that would jump the bottom wire and climb as well as those that could drop down from the trees above onto the roof (there's venting there that with work they could rip into, I believe). Now I realize the animal needs to be grounded to get shocked (duh).
If the animal climbs a welded wire fence and touches a high wire like that, will the fence itself be enough grounding for it to receive a shock? (it is touching ground via the hardware cloth).. Or do we need to attach the fence to a ground pole to properly ground it for that situation?
Also, obviously the high up wire we placed on the wood coop isn't going to work for anything smaller than a bear - since I am trying to prevent climbing predators from up top and down below, should I add one or more ground wires near that top wire?
I'll post pics if it would help!
Again, we tested all the wires with a fence tester and they are all properly grounded and pushing out a lot o' voltage (14.4 ouch). But if animal isn't on ground I am thinking no shockie.
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