Electric fencing, do you really need it vs non electric fencing

[Mtnboomer]

What breed of dog do you have? Did you raise it from puppy or later? What training does it have? our 15 year old border collie is afraid of the birds and will not go out into the yard with them, mostly due to her being challenged by a rooster last year.

He is a pure bred Pittadore. In other words a pit/lab mixed mutt. We got him from a rescue at 3mos. I trained him myself. Aside from all the basic "good dog" training, I introduced him to the chickens on day one. His time with them was short at first and very supervised and grew from there. He chased at first but never really tried to catch (even though he easily could). He was called off and would stop his chasing. He is just over a year old now and about 60lbs of pure muscle. He all but ignores the chickens except when the rooster mounts a hen. He is fascinated and his curiosity gets the better of him and he has to check it out. Or when we get a new rooster. He investigates the new comer who always runs from him and he playfully follows but I call him off just to remind him not to chase.

 

[Fire Captain]

My girls (6) live in an enclosed 10x20 roofed enclosure with a free standing coop on the inside. I would love to allow them to free range. A electrified fence partially provides security on one side of a fenced in yard. The property adjacent to the run is largely sage and desert plants So I’m not sure the girls would benefit from free ranging. Your thoughts and comments please.

 

[Mtnboomer]

My girls (6) live in an enclosed 10x20 roofed enclosure with a free standing coop on the inside. I would love to allow them to free range. A electrified fence partially provides security on one side of a fenced in yard. The property adjacent to the run is largely sage and desert plants So I’m not sure the girls would benefit from free ranging. Your thoughts and comments please.

If there are insects, seeds, etc to find they will. Variety of food plus the ability to explore creates environmental enrichment and can lead to happier healthier birds. Plus you get to be entertained. Win win

 

[Jordannoe70]

After a year we had our first daytime casualty. We have a 1.5 acre yard. Wooded all around us. No fencing.
A hawk took our hen midday right near her coop. No dogs, and I'm assuming plenty of predators because we have 25 acres around us. We had 8 hens and until a couple of weeks ago 2 Roosters. Maybe now that we have one rooster he couldn't keep and eye on all of the girls? They tend to split up through the yard and woods. The roosters watched over their own girls. I don't know. I'm guessing. We've kept them in the coop for a week because we're seeing the hawks everyday looking for our birds. Good luck.

 

[FortCluck]

I've had huge success with the neighbors coonhound keeping away predators. When we relocate, I'm going to be buying a coonhound for predators.

My chickens as you know are contained by deer fencing, but it's not really to keep predators out. It's more to keep the neighborhood dogs out, it has been very successful at doing that. It kept out a 150 lb mastiff who jumped on it.

I have a few chickens that can fly over the fencing and they go wherever. I also have a duck that goes wherever it pleases because it can fly. So far we have not really had any predator issues besides sky predators. I have not had any losses unless it is a chick. I've had a raven that picked up a chick and also a few that just disappeared out of the blue.

I do believe in learning what your predators are before you figure out what will work for you. All of us have different predators so it's hard to choose one type of fencing that'll work for you.

 

[BackyardiganAgain]

Hello . I put chicken in by myself . I am very athletic and chase my chickens .

 

[AgnesGray]

I was totally overwhelmed by the idea of planning an electric fence, but now that it's done (and wasn't that bad to put up)I'm relieved and glad I have it.

While I'm no longer in that kind of terrain, where I lived before our neighbors had a big tree lined pasture that was half woods. They had electric fencing through the wooded area that looked something like this, but was 3 wires. https://images.app.goo.gl/w87CiZvjBGNtMuga7. It was attached right to the trees in many places and they would go through and clear brush every so often. They had geese, turkeys, chickens, and larger livestock all in that one pasture.

It might be worth mentioning that the bottom wire close to the ground can be grounded rather than hot. Our tsc has a booklet of recommendations for which strands to make hot and which grounded depending on your goals.

One thing that we personally use on our electric wire fence is a series of lights we can see from the house that blink with the charge. If it is touching something, we know from inside and go out to clear it. I have a 30 mile ac charger that someone in a poultry group recommended and it is suggested to keep out bears, coyotes, foxes, etc.

I hope something in all of this is helpful.

 

[Beaglegal]

I want my chickens to free range behind their coop which is wooded. I've been thinking about this for years and this is the year Im going to do something about it. So, do you all think regular fencing like the Premiere one No Shock Hen pen fence will work good enough if I only let my chickens out during the day and they are cooped in a secure run and coop at night? I would go for it and spend the big bucks to get the regular premiere one electric poultry netting but my area is rocky and full of trees, stumps and sapling. So my concern is it would constantly short out from the bottom part of the fence coming into contact with saplings and ferns etc. Also, I must admit Im a bit intimidated by the set up and use of the electric fence. Also its pretty heavily wooded so I don't think a solar powered energizer would work. Do they have other options? I do have electricity in my coop and I want to run the fence right off the coop. Ill upload a pic of my property so all you experts can let me know which option would work for me. Help me get this project done, its been on my mind for at least two years! Thanks so much.

Good question, I have a similar situation... look forward to answers

 

[AbsterliniChicken4]

I want my chickens to free range behind their coop which is wooded. I've been thinking about this for years and this is the year Im going to do something about it. So, do you all think regular fencing like the Premiere one No Shock Hen pen fence will work good enough if I only let my chickens out during the day and they are cooped in a secure run and coop at night? I would go for it and spend the big bucks to get the regular premiere one electric poultry netting but my area is rocky and full of trees, stumps and sapling. So my concern is it would constantly short out from the bottom part of the fence coming into contact with saplings and ferns etc. Also, I must admit Im a bit intimidated by the set up and use of the electric fence. Also its pretty heavily wooded so I don't think a solar powered energizer would work. Do they have other options? I do have electricity in my coop and I want to run the fence right off the coop. Ill upload a pic of my property so all you experts can let me know which option would work for me. Help me get this project done, its been on my mind for at least two years! Thanks so much.

You'll want fencing - we used non electric horse fence because it is much stronger than regular fencing. As well, we have a wooded area that the chickens love - they perch on the lower branches of trees and take afternoon naps out there. However, don't think that the canopy will protect them...we've lost 3 so far from hawks swooping down on them despite the tree cover. We have hung netting up into the trees to keep the hawks from that area. Plain, but well made netting works just fine. The hawks vision is amplified and they see the grid of the net and move on. This has saved the rest of our chickens for sure!

 

[TLCMidMichigan]

I just watched the video on the mesh fencing. That's a good way to let your birds range and in a newer area. Or repeat the same area. Very good video.