Electric fencing and security camera

[canalcolt]

we are looking at electric fencing and will be putting it up around the 2 chicken coops and two goat pens . We haven't built the second goat pen yet but wanted to put close to a tree. Last year around this time until may we had raccoons.. and a raccoon family killed half of our chickens this time last year (now we r dealing with foxes!). If we put up a fence has anyone seen or experienced a raccoon climbing up a tree and hopping over the electric fence?
Also what's better a poultry netting or the wires?
Anyone have suggestions on security cameras to attach to coop or by it?
Thanks

 

[Howard E]

Poultry netting is the most secure form of electric fence, but is also the most expensive and requires the most effort to maintain. Multiple strands of metal wire, poly tape, or poly rope are also effective, provided you build it correctly, which means it will need to hug the ground contour, and leave no gaps between the ground and first strand, or between the strands, that a coon, fox or other varmint could manage to crawl under or through without making contact with a hot wire. Make that a really hot wire. 7,000 volts plus shock experience. Once trained, most varmints are reluctant to try again.

The maintenance factor between netting and alternatives is evened out if you are willing to use Roundup of some such chemical to kill all the plants that will grow up into it to ground it / short it out. Othewise, you have to take it down or move it to mow under it. Worse luck, closely cropped grass grows faster than tall grass does, so this means you have to mow often to keep the area clear.

Or, you could use something else, like a strip of black plastic or heavy landscape cloth to physically smother out any vegetation under the fence. Yet another option for this is paper feed sacks or even newspapers. Use a mower to scalp the grass down to nearly bare dirt and lay your faux mulch on that. Some of that depends on how large an area you want to build. Either way, plan on keeping wide swathes mowed on either side to create a visual opening adjacent to the fence. Each side of the fence kept clear at least as wide as the fence is tall.

As for trees and coons, they can easily use a the tree canopy as a highway to cross over any fence. Or a tree to shed or building. Don't know if they would jump from a tree branch several feet to the ground, but with coons, you never know.

 

[Enid Stowers]

How is the gate done? I am interested in doing this around our coop and run because our neighbor's bird dogs have killed all of our chickens twice now, busting out small windows each time. The last time I thought the professionally made walk in chicken coop was sound, but I didn't pay attention to the screened windows and how flimsy the screens were. Screwing in hardware cloth over everything now. Is there a way to put up a net fence that clears the ground by about a half a foot (since the dogs can't get under that), but also allows my children to easily go through without the risk of getting shocked? Could they turn it off each time they access the coop/run? Or is the gate not charged too? And if I keep the net about 6-8 inches off the ground, I could weed wack underneath it frequently?

 

[Howard E]

If you simply want to protect a coop and run from your neighbors dogs......not a larger yard area.......then it would be easy enough to place wires or poly tape on insulators surrounding the coop. A lot of folks have done that. The gates and doors would get a grid too, that could be either de-activated by a switch or use one of the hot wire fence gate connectors (these are spring loaded), or else mount your fencer right by the entrance gate and simply turn it on and off when you want to come and go.

No need to do the netting for this use. Wire or poly tape would be cheaper and just as effective for this purpose. Beyond that, once the dogs have had the crap zapped out of them a couple times, they won't be back. So the threat is lessened. Others might come around, but properly zapped dogs rarely do.

This might also help..........same fence works for dogs, coons and a host of others like a fox or coyote.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/dogs-and-electric-fences.1210854/

 

[canalcolt]

How is the gate done? I am interested in doing this around our coop and run because our neighbor's bird dogs have killed all of our chickens twice now, busting out small windows each time. The last time I thought the professionally made walk in chicken coop was sound, but I didn't pay attention to the screened windows and how flimsy the screens were. Screwing in hardware cloth over everything now. Is there a way to put up a net fence that clears the ground by about a half a foot (since the dogs can't get under that), but also allows my children to easily go through without the risk of getting shocked? Could they turn it off each time they access the coop/run? Or is the gate not charged too? And if I keep the net about 6-8 inches off the ground, I could weed wack underneath it frequently?

Good questions!

 

[canalcolt]

Poultry netting is the most secure form of electric fence, but is also the most expensive and requires the most effort to maintain. Multiple strands of metal wire, poly tape, or poly rope are also effective, provided you build it correctly, which means it will need to hug the ground contour, and leave no gaps between the ground and first strand, or between the strands, that a coon, fox or other varmint could manage to crawl under or through without making contact with a hot wire. Make that a really hot wire. 7,000 volts plus shock experience. Once trained, most varmints are reluctant to try again.

The maintenance factor between netting and alternatives is evened out if you are willing to use Roundup of some such chemical to kill all the plants that will grow up into it to ground it / short it out. Othewise, you have to take it down or move it to mow under it. Worse luck, closely cropped grass grows faster than tall grass does, so this means you have to mow often to keep the area clear.

Or, you could use something else, like a strip of black plastic or heavy landscape cloth to physically smother out any vegetation under the fence. Yet another option for this is paper feed sacks or even newspapers. Use a mower to scalp the grass down to nearly bare dirt and lay your faux mulch on that. Some of that depends on how large an area you want to build. Either way, plan on keeping wide swathes mowed on either side to create a visual opening adjacent to the fence. Each side of the fence kept clear at least as wide as the fence is tall.

As for trees and coons, they can easily use a the tree canopy as a highway to cross over any fence. Or a tree to shed or building. Don't know if they would jump from a tree branch several feet to the ground, but with coons, you never know.

If I use metal wire would I need to keep the grass from touching it or is that just with the poultry net? Thanks for all this information!

 

[Howard E]

Any and all hot wires, netting, tapes, etc. need to be protected and isolated from grass, weeds or anything else that offers an alternative pathway to ground, as these weaken the shock felt by the animal. In many cases, when folks have an animal get past their fence, they generally find the fence has been grounded in some way. Weeds, grass, sticks, branches, or the fence has been knocked off the insulators and is grounded. Animal may only feel a tickle.....if anything at all. To act as a deterrent, you want them to feel a violently painful shock. Do that and most will never test it again.