Electric fencing

[Agilityscots]

While DH was at Lowe's yesterday, he saw an electric fence kit for $80. I'd love to do electric fencing instead of hardware cloth--at this price, it would be a heck of a lot cheaper, and hardware cloth is SUCH a pain to deal with. Anyone else use electric fencing on their runs?

Amy

 

[justusnak]

I dont use it...but I know there are several that do! $80.00 is ALOT cheaper than hardware cloth. great find!

 

[Gracefulspice]

We installed electric fencing around the original run. My husband bought the wire at TSC for $20, the unit to run the electric from he paid $22. The yellow knobs to hold the wire $5 and a ground rod, he's thinking $15. Our run is approx 20X30. We have 2 lower wires and 1 upper. You can look at my coop page and to get a better idea.
I only have the fence turned on when I'm not home or sleeping, I have a 4yr old daughter and don't need her getting zapped. Plus the hens are out when I'm home and they don't need to get zapped either. We also placed chicken wire along the inside of the run so the hens can't stick their heads through it. It was well worth it!!

 

[Agilityscots]

Great, thanks! DH is on his way to Lowe's for the second time in less than 24 hours and will pick up the fencing kit; I had always thought that electric fencing was so much more expensive than it is! Seems like a real bargain, even with putting chicken wire in (good idea, Gracefulspice). This chicken project is topping $1,000 now and has taken on a life of its own. I can't wait until it's done.

Amy

 

[Gracefulspice]

Just be sure it has enough wire to go around. The spool we bought was 5 miles long.

 

[Agilityscots]

Wow, five miles long! Yikes! DH is already at Lowe's...we'll see what he comes home with!

Amy

 

[Gracefulspice]

We didn't need the whole thing. But nice to have extra just incase.

 

[AK-Bird-brain]

Take a look at the power supply for the fence also to make sure its correct for the varmits your trying to keep out. some of the fences will keep out small dogs, some large dogs, (and the one we have) bulls or bears. then be sure to get the wires close enough they cant squeeze through.

Last you can get a power checker, looks like a marker but lights up when close to electrical power, cost about 7 bucks but comes in handy to verify that the power is on and working. its a lot friendlier than touching the wire yourself.

 

[CoyoteMagic]

Quote:
We were out camping one time and decided we were going to go jump in a creek that was running along a horse pature. Dunno if it had some kind of intermitent current or not but my 2 buds go thru the fence with no problem. Let me draw you a picture. Swimsuit, Elec fence, step over on tip toes cuz it's a tad bit high and ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZAp!!

 

[MissPrissy]

An electric fence is not the answer to replacing hardware cloth. Lots of animals can still get through an electric fence without any problems. They can go under and over and some right through the middle. I would never use an electric fence without my other fencing in place. Read carefully and check to see what type of animals the eletrical unit is made to keep out. Sometimes you will have to run as many as 5 or more rounds of wire to secure your perimeter.

We bought the low impedence electrical box - it sends out a pulse instead of a steady current. They start at a range of 2 miles and go up to 300 miles and run from $20 - $300 generally speaking. 1/2 mile of wire is $30. The yellow insulators are 25/bag at $3 and some change per bag. We fenced in our middle pasture for our goats and used 2/3 of one spool of wire for over 2 acres. $80 might seem like a good deal but exactly what are you getting for your money? It may be cheaper to buy it not as a kit. Make sure you buy one of the fence tester units because the least little thing could ground out your fence. It took us 2 days and a tester to find the tiny little place that was killing our wire.

Good luck with your fence.