ELECTRIC FENCE

[HickoryHollow]

Ok, here's the story:
My daughter and I both have enlarged our flocks. We have been free ranging them, selling eggs faster than we can sqeeze them from the hens! Free range chicken eggs have become VERY popular around here and bring a good fair price. My daughter started having problems before I did, but we have both had some problems with roaming chickens. The neighbors at both our places..(several miles apart) are getting a little tired of visits from our chickens.

I started doing some research and found a couple of different articles about fencing larger fields with electric fence to keep chickens in. I had never heard of using electric fence for chickens, but sure enough, a visit to Tractor Supply and I discovered most of the fencers have a picture of a chicken on the packaging indicating they can be used for poultry!

Since my daughter has a more serious problem with roaming than I do, she took the plunge first. She spent almost $400.00 on posts, insulators, wire, and a charger. I spent 3 nights after work helping her get it all installed. Friday evening, we turned on the fencer and released the chickens. They walked through the wires (4 strands, 4 inches appart) like they weren't even there. I grabbed the fence to make sure it was on and working. I assure you..........it was on and working!

What gives? Any ideas? Anybody tried this before? Anybody have success with this idea? HELP!

 

[JackE]

Yeah, they'll hop right through regular electric fencing. A fence like that is more for keeping predators away. What you might want to look at is electrified poultry netting. That keeps chickens in, and predators out. I have some of it myself, and it has worked great for me.
Jack

 

[conny63malies]

Is that the Premier 1 supplies poultry netting? How far are the poles apart? I thought about buying some to use for my future flock.

Yeah, they'll hop right through regular electric fencing. A fence like that is more for keeping predators away. What you might want to look at is electrified poultry netting. That keeps chickens in, and predators out. I have some of it myself, and it has worked great for me.
Jack

 

[Jaybo]

Quote:
How pricey is that?

 

[4 the Birds]

Yeah, they'll hop right through regular electric fencing. A fence like that is more for keeping predators away. What you might want to look at is electrified poultry netting. That keeps chickens in, and predators out. I have some of it myself, and it has worked great for me.
Jack

+1
Mesh or netting would be much better than wires. It is just too easy to go through wires regardless if they are hot or not.

 

[Clodbuster]

The problem is that feathers are very good insulators so birds frequently waltz through without getting a shock so general energisers that run at say 5-6000volts are inadequate. You need something like this fence energiser that runs in the region of 9000v to bridge the gap through the feathers. The other problem is if they get a shock behind the head it forces them to jump FORWARD so getting through the fence. You may still use a wire fence but the strands must be close together to prevent them getting through.