Electric fence

[billmac]

I want to (eventually) turn my chickens out into the pastures that my sheep and goats occupy. The fence is woven wire with a hot wire about knee high. While this may be generally above the height of a chicken, it might be possible that they will contact it. I need to keep my larger livestock in, but I don't want to kill chickens either. Anyone have a similar scenario? Suggestions?

 

[dsedler]

From what I understand, a chickens feathers generally insulate them pretty well from an electric fence shock. However, even if they do get shocked, I don't think it's strong enough to kill them. If they will only be in contact with it if they fly up, the fence won't shock them if they are not touching the ground at the same time as the fence. For an electric fence to shock, you have to have your feet on the ground to complete the circuit. There is a manufacturer that make electric woven fence designed for chicken runs. I can't for the life of me remember who it was. Wait, maybe Premier Fencing? Someone else will know for certain.

 

[patandchickens]

dsedler is thinking of www.premier1supplies.com and www.kencove.com (not that these are products the o.p. would want to use, but, if you were curious

)

The way chickens get killed by electric fencing is usually by getting *tangled* in it so they are shocked repeatedly til dead. A knee-height hot wire is not too likely to be a problem (when chickens try to go thru the fence it's likely to be lower down) but you can never totally rule out the possibility of an accident. You will lose WAY more chickens to hawks and other predators than to electric fencing, though.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[cmjust0]

I can tell you that 6kV+ won't kill a kid goat that gets shocked nose-first, so I'm with Pat on this...it's not gonna be a problem.

I

electric fence, personally.

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

Near the charger, my fence tests at 8000 volts.

The chickens will sometimes step on the lower wire to go through, and often dont get shocked at all.

When they DO get a shock, they just go through faster!