Electric fence questions

[Del Cielo Chickens]

Hello!

Will a strand of electric wire on the top of the fence keep out bobcats, mountain lions and coyotes? I have a problem with bobcats getting my ducks, but we also have mountain lions and coyotes in the area. Any advice? And do you use electric fencing?

 

[gallusdomesticus]

For an electric fence to work, the animal has to touch the electric wire and a ground simultaneously to complete the circuit. Electric fences are designed to engage an animal that is standing on the ground and then touch the wire to complete the circuit. An electric wire on top of a fence will not affect an animal that crawls or jumps on (or over) the fence. That's why you see birds perching on high voltage electric wires with impunity....they're not completing the circuit.

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

An electric wire on top of a fence will not affect an animal that crawls or jumps on (or over) the fence.

If it climbs the fence and touches the hot wire, it will be grounded.
Nothing works for one that jumps over it​

 

[Chook-A-Holic]

Due to poor soil conditions I could not get a good connection on my dog kennel run(cage itself) even though it was sitting directly on the ground. I ran the ground circuit through ground rods 1,2,3,4,5,6, then to the kennel and apron of the run. It was stated in my instructions to hook up the fence/run only after first connecting to the ground rods. I now have a good ground to the run and the dirt. The bottom of my hoop coop is 4x6 lumber so I ran a ground wire from the dog kennel run to the cage and apron to it as well. Works great.

To answer the OP's question, I would at least run one more hot wire closer to the nose level of the predator you are trying to keep out.

 

[cracking up]

Ours has been great. We have it close to the ground and parts of it are a lot higher. The bob cat hasn't been around since we've been using it.

 

[debbie_95959]

We installed an electric fence after losing 10 of our first 14 pullets to a hungry mama bear last May. Our coop is now surrounded on all sides with an electric fence that has 3 strands of wire -- the first is about 3-4 inches above the ground and the other 2 strands approximately 12 inches above the other. In addition to this, we have a chicken wire "sidewalk" so that any unsuspecting critter gets a good ground prior to touching the wire......knock on wood, the only thing we've zapped since installing this last May was our dog!

 

[NateinFL]

I only have one strand going around the base about 7 inches from the ground. My main concerns are fox and raccoon. Yes, I tested it and it works great. Hopefully that's all I need. (Run is covered btw)

 

[JeStoneIV]

I just put a wire 3" up from the ground (making sure grass is trimmed short around it) and a strand up at 18" plus or minus. I had to go all the way down to 3" because my neighbors dog was getting under it when it was higher.

 

[Clodbuster]

You can effectivly set up an Earth Return system by running a wire through insulators around the top (about 6 inches away) then connecting the wire mesh fence to the earth rod. If the Bobcat then climbs up the wire mesh it will come into contact with the hot wire and complete the circuit.

It would be better to have the wire lower down at the target animals nose height. All animals utilise their noses to investigate an obstacle. It is nice and wet and a great target for the sting. Another tip is to bait the hot wire with a bit of chicken innards wrapped around. Works a treat.

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

On our fence we have a strand at 3 inches for short critters and another at the top for anything that misses the bottom wire and tries to climb over. Additionally, the wire goes along the bottom and top of the pens (southern for coop

) . We turn it off in the mornings just before letting the girls out to free-range and turn it on as soon as they are put up in the late afternoon. Haven't had anything get into the pens since putting it up...and we do have fox, bobcats, coyotes, possum, skunks, coons...and God only knows what else!!

I did lose my sweet silver spangled hamburg girl yesterday to a hawk or owl during the day. There are woods on 3 sides of our property and the girls go under the fence to get back there. And don't tell me owls are nocturnal!! I see them all during the day, flying around and hooting!

As much as I hate to do it, we are putting up an "aviary" type fence around 1/4 of the backyard and that will be their only place to free-range. Their pen will be inside this area so they can go in and out as they like, but the "fence" is 8 feet high with netting all the way around so they can't fly over or get underneath. Additionally, there will be netting across the top to keep out owls and hawks.