Electric Fence Reality

[clyde]

I have read that a single electric wire 5 inches of the ground is enough to the chickens in and the predators out (plamondon). I knew a farmer when i was a kid that used this method for his chickens ducks and pigs, all in the same yard. I have also been told that it is better to have three charged wires starting at 5, 10, and 20 inches.

my chickens will be cooped in a barn before dusk and let out in the morning.

is anyone out there using the single wire system with success? It sounds too good to be true but installing 500 linear feet of chicken mesh or welded wire will be very expensive for me.

comments welcome...i'm new to this.

 

[Germaine_11.20]

No answer, but I would really like to know too!

 

[Beekissed]

Nope! I've tried to use the electric wire to keep my free rangers out of the garden and they just go under or over it...no problems. I expect it would be the same for predators.

A deer will stay out of the garden with a single strand at knee high but everything else? Nah.

 

[MIKE555444]

I have to admit I am planning a single electric wire strip for security around the top of our run. I plan to run it within a few inches of the top to prevent a raccoon/skunk crossing over. I have a great deal of cofidence in the chain link that is burried in the ground so I am not planning to run it next to the ground.

The main reason not to put a hot wire near the ground is because of my 1 yr old granson may wonder in that direction.

If I have problems with dig attemps the I may have to put one on a timer.

Good luck

Oops I should have said my run is already enclosed with 6' chain link and the single wire would be as a extra preditor guard but no used to keep my chicks in.

 

[tamlynn]

I'm pretty sure a bird of prey will not care one bit about an electric wire.

 

[CMV]

I use the mesh and 500' cost about $300. Not too pricey. Found it on Ebay.

 

[Wolf-Kim]

I have never, nor will I ever consider a simple electric wire fence to keep the chickens IN. I have wire strands below my quail cages to keep the preds and pets from chewing on little quail toes and the chickens still continually go under the pens to scratch in the dirt. The strands are charged using a horse charger, as we use it to keep the horsies in. But the chickens don't mind it one bit, occasionally they get zapped and run and squak like they're dying but they're back minutes later. So honestly, I just don't believe that the chickens have the mental capacity to realize that it's the wire that shocks them and if they stay away they won't get shocked.

Electric mesh fencing is a different story, since it provides both a physical and mental barrier. People have used the portable electric mesh fencing with much , but as for one to three strands of electric wire keeping chickens in, I wouldn't waste my money trying.

-Kim

 

[clyde]

Thanks all. Just what I suspected.

I am going to use a 3 wire electric to deter coyote and coon predation because it is cheap but my main barrier will have to be a mesh fence of some sort.

Thanks for the replies.

 

[TexasVet]

I have to agree that chickens are too stupid not to get tangled (and fried) in the fence. The big ones can get away, but the 2-3 month old birds can't. (I lost two that way) I solved the problem by adding a photoelectric cell to the circuit; it turns off at dawn now, and back on a dusk. This keeps me from getting zapped too.

I started with a wire about 5 inches off the ground. A month later I added a wire to the top. I'm using dog kennel panels as a run, and TSC carries a clip that hooks directly to the chain link. It was a snap to put up, and the whole setup was less than $100.

To keep the bottom wire from grounding out, I use Roundup to kill the weeds/grass around the edge of the run.

Kathy, Bellville TX
www.CountryChickens.com

 

[scogind]

When I was a kid my dad put up a single-strand electric fence around our pea patch. The next morning that wire was strung out across the road and out thru the woods. Took him for ever to get it back together. I guess it worked cause it never got knocked down like that again.