Electric fence questions

[Del Cielo Chickens]

Thanks for all the advice!!

 

[gsim]

Bear foot got it right. And do be sure to bond the ground side to the fence AND gate mesh as well. That way it will continue to deliver a jolt as the pred climbs, each time he is touching both the fence and on of the hot wires. I would recommend a 50 or 100 mile charger. I would also recommend a 6 ft fence and I would put 6 courses minimum around it. Galvanized 17 gauge wire or 14 gauge wire will do well and is really cheap. Plastic insulators are cheap too. Use the 2" ones at least. Any shorter risks grounding out the hot lead somewhere if it touches the fence for any reason) One should be 4"-6" above the top of the fence. I would also recommend putting a 1" dia spring,( maybe 6" long relaxed length) in series with each course of hot wire. This will ensure that the wire is always tight. I did that by using an 18" 2x4 block with two nails driven in it. Then I took a spring and stretched it over the two nails. Then I ran the leads to each side of the spring (which I located at the halfway point of perimeter) and formed eyes that were looped thru the eyes of the spring. Then I pulled one nail out and voila! The spring pulled the hot wire tight. I repeated for each course of hotwire I installed. (4 in my case since I have no bobcats or mountain lions hereabouts)

Do NOT underestimate predators.

 

[LaurelRidgeDreams]

If an animal climbs a metal fence and that fence is touching the ground, I believe this would serve as a ground and the electric wire would shock. But, a better place to put the wire might be about 6 to 8 inches from the ground. This would most likely keep an animal from trying to dig under the fence and also keep it from climbing the fence.

 

[True Grit]

I just read this thread but have some questions particular to my situation.
Our fence is a 3 rail with wood posts. We lined it with chicken wire so I could have the dogs in there at times. It encloses 1/3 to 1/2 acre of which our shed comprises part of the fence. We have a wire gate wide enough to drive the lawn mower through. We put our playhouse coop and 4x8 run within the fenced area. The coop and run are secure but I saw a fox before roosting time last night so I was going to run a wire around the outside of the fence 6 inches off the ground. We only have small predators up to coyote size.
1. How do I deal with crossing the gate? I don't want to go underground and leave a weak spot.
2. If I run the wire from one end of the shed around the fence to the other is that ok or do I have to run it all the way around and back to the energizer? I know nothing of electricity.

Thanks for your help.

 

[welasharon]

Quote:
Three Cedars...not sure if you are subscribed to this old post or not...but do you have a picture of your aviary? I need to do this as well. Also maybe a pic of your electric wire set up? I had a racoon walk up on my porch tonight...and the yard is surrounded by picket fence so he is climbing it.
sharon

 

[lishah2000]

Quote:
I'm not an expert, but the hot wire doesn't have to go back to the box.

I ran wire across my gates and used the gate handles so I can open the gates. They are plastic handles - wire attaches to one end and the other has a hook that attaches. You can unhook to open the gate and hook when the gate is closed.

On one of my runs the fence is grounded, so no problems with a climbing animal. The others are coated fencing, so I ran a ground wire about six inches below the hot wire (on the top of the fence). I hope that anything climbing would touch both and get shocked.

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

1. How do I deal with crossing the gate? I don't want to go underground and leave a weak spot.

It's going to depend on how tall your fence is.

If it's tall enough, run the hot wire over the gate to do the other sides.

It doesn't have to run back to the charger.

If it's short, you will have to run a piece of insulated wire in some PVC under the gate.

For the gate itself, you can run a continuous piece of wire around 6 insulators.

What you want will be an "H" shape, but with wire across the top and bottom also.

Then use a piece of insulated wire to connect to the closest hot wire on the hinge side with with enough slack to open and close the gate. "Polywire" works well for that sort of thing.

The Nylon kind works much better than the Polypropylene

Another option would be to use "gate hooks" as long as you realize that when they aren't hooked up, you lose power to part of the fence unless you have the underground wire too