Electric fencing around coop/run questions

[Ciqala]

I have horses, so I already have a pretty strong charger/electric fence outside. It's electrical tape {the narrow strips} with step in, plastic posts. I'd like to utilize this around the chicken coop and their attached run for added protection. This is my first time with chickens and am in the process of building their coop, which is raised on cinder blocks {two blocks in height}.

My question is basically how to go about it. Do you think I can use the plastic, step in posts right up against their run with the width of the post as the separater from the hardware cloth? Should I run the electrical tape on the lowest point of the post and then a strand each spot up to above large dog height? With having electric right outside of the hardware cloth, do you think I should still bury the hardware cloth 6"-12" deep or can I get away with not going so deep? In this sort of set up, what are thoughts on me sticking with using the electrical tape - would wire be better?

 

[backwoodstexas]

Be careful. I have used electric wire around the yard fence trying to keep a dog from digging out. I have found rabbits, squirrels and snakes dead laying across the wire. Probably kill a chicken pretty quick.

 

[Ciqala]

The chickens wouldn't be able to go near the electric fence, it'd be outside their run. I'm not hot wiring the hardware cloth. Our charger sends out a pulse, not a steady charge of electric going through the wire/tape. I've had it out there for years and never found a dead animal on it or near it for that matter. And we're on 3 acres with state forest behind that, so there's plenty of critters out there and that stroll through.

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

Quote: I'd put the first strand as low as possible, and then a couple more higher up.

Wire will carry more voltage, and blow around less in the wind, but if you have the tape, and can keep it tight enough to stay off the wire it will be fine.

There is NO NEED to ever bury wire, because simply laying it flat on the surface and covering with enough dirt so grass will grow up through it will serve the same purpose with far less wrok

 

[4 the Birds]

I'd put the first strand as low as possible, and then a couple more higher up.

Wire will carry more voltage, and blow around less in the wind, but if you have the tape, and can keep it tight enough to stay off the wire it will be fine.

There is NO NEED to ever bury wire, because simply laying it flat on the surface and covering with enough dirt so grass will grow up through it will serve the same purpose with far less wrok

+1

The tape is nice because it is more visible but it can be kinda ugly in my opinion. You could set a perimeter fence set out from the run/coop to keep the horses back away. The goats nibble on corners of my coop and goat house but it is pretty sturdy. Dogs can get through electric fence pretty easy if they are after something. If you are in a snow region then any electric tape/wire in the snow will be rendered useless.

 

[fiddlebanshee]

Quote:

I, and many other people, have Premier electronet and a couple of times my chickens have come in contact with it as they were scratching around. It gave them a jolt, they run away from it and that's it. None of my chickens have died from it. That would only happen if they got tangled in it and couldn't move away from it after the first pulse. There is about 7000 volt on the net.

Now the chickens have learned to respect it and that took only a couple of them to get zapped. The others learned from that experience, it seems. They will scratch near the net but not so close that they'll actually touch it. Also, their feathers are pretty good insulators.