Electric fence

[Mark]

Hi,

I've been looking into electric fence as a way to keep hens in the orchard. Our hens free range near the house, where there are plenty of dog and human smells to warn off the local raccoons. Down the hill, in the orchard, we have lost a two hens, though.

Here is an interesting link by an electrical engineer who caught the chicken bug:

http://www.rawpaleodiet.org/bird-sanctuary-1.html

and a price sheet, I came across:
http://www.kencove.com/fence/Electric+Net+Fencing_products.php

Getting power down to the orchard is another concern, but I'm done researching for today. Since there are no chickens in the orchard, I've got to go mow!

 

[patandchickens]

Also check out www.premier1supplies.com for electric fence stuff and really great advice/customer-service. They have EXCELLENT QUALITY materials - durability, conductivity, etc. Premier is where virtually all my horse and chicken electric fencing comes from (except the chargers).

Pat

 

[plapczynski]

Electricity is never a problem.

You have two other options.

A. A battery powered fencer (the ones that run off a 12 volt deep cycle battery can run for several days/weeks)

B. A solar powered fencer. Cost is a lot higher here.

Both can provide the same level of power as your plug-in-the-wall type.

If you are not using the netting, run 2-3 hot lines. I near the ground, another a few inches up and another at the top of the fence.

 

[Mark]

I'm new to the electric fence concept. I was thinking about enclosing a perimeter of about 300-400 feet in length. All the portable fences come in 164' lengths. Aside from the cost, is it practical to create bigger pens? I suspect that the longer the perimeter gets, the more difficult security becomes.

 

[raindrop]

I'm not enclosing such a large area, but I love my Premier poultry net fencing. I am using it for the duck/geese nighttime pen (they will free-range during the day when they are grown) and it was very easy to set up and is very well made. I think you would want some sort of net fencing for poultry and for predator control. Won't help with hawk predation though.

 

[patandchickens]

Mark, the main problems with longer electromesh fences (and it is not too severe a problem to keep lots of people from using 'em!) are:

1) longer runs of the fence are bothered more by wind, and thus will need *extra* strengthening of corner posts and extra tying-back or stiffening via T-posts or whatever at a point or two along each side.

2) electromesh has pretty high charge requirements, partly because it's awful hard to guarantee that none of it is ever grounding out at all, and partly because if you add up all those strands it is a LOT of wire to charge. Thus, electromesh in general needs a bigger charger than you might expect from the length of the fence, and longer electromesh fences can need pretty substantial chargers (exceeding what may be available in solar-powered... but you can get some pretty serious battery-powered units).

Remember that unless you want to be using Roundup periodically, you will need to move the fence (even just a few feet) and mow underneath every so often (actual interval depends on grass growth rate).


Pat

 

[raindrop]

Yes. My 100' of electric netting is running 4000 amps(?) and the same energizer could give a 2 strand fence enclosing 6 acres 7000 amps. The net sucks up the energy.

The other thing to consider is that the netting is very portable, you may be able to enclose a smaller area and move the fence to rotate the chicken grazing.

 

[Mark]

Thanks for all the help! I'll have to think about this more. The idea of additional night time protection is appealing right off the bat.