Electric Fencing

[tlbrooks]

I live in western washington state and we have major problems with possum, skunks, coyotes, racoon and even the occasional bear or bobcat. I'm not talking living in the country, I'm in the city limits with houses everywhere! I'm just now putting everything together to start my little backyard flock. I'm planning on using an electric fence, along with hardware cloth buried two feet out from the perimeter of the coop. Mostly to deter domestic dogs & cats, but also racoons and skunks. We also do get the occasional coyote wandering through the neighborhood too. Heck, my buddy is a Pierce County Sheriff deputy and lives close to downtown Gig Harbor and he had a cougar in his front yard a few years ago! Not sure if an electric fence would work on one of those? Nowadays electric fences are fairly inexpensive too. Even one of the solar powered, battery operated fences can be had for around $100 or so. And those are supposed to be good for up to 4 acres!

 

[MeepBeep]

Check your local laws as to avoid liability, a lot of communities, towns and cities have outlawed electrified fences within their limits...

 

[WichitaKSClucks]

Can an electric fence kill a chicken?

 

[wamtazlady]

Electrical fences are pretty safe for livestock. It's not a continuous current. It pulses so that most of the time there is no current in the wire at all. However, every couple seconds it pulses. You can actually, if you time it very carefully, touch the wire without getting zapped at all as long as you touch during that short time when there is no current. The chickens test the fence once, maybe twice, then they know not to go near it again. I've been using mine for about a year now with none being killed by the fence. Did have one wild pullet that refused to stay inside the fence and insisted on sleeping in the trees. The fox got her.

Game cam shows a fox living across the street from me. They have lost several chickens to the fox. I've lost none this year with my electrical netting set up.

 

[paula307]

I am hoping to get 8-10 chickens soon. I haven't had chickens since I was a kid, and growing up, we had chickens in a coop and a real nice pen. Now I am starting to read about using electric poultry netting to move the chickens around in padocks. Anyway, I work full time during the week, and wondered how safe it would be to let the chickens roam without anybody being home during the day? My husband and I have talked about making a permanent coop and run for the times when we are gone, then using the electric netting when we are home in the evenings/weekends. Those of you who use electric poultry netting: How confident are you that it will keep your chickens safe from coyotes/fox/neighbors dogs, during the day, when nobody is around? I appreciate all your help in advance.

 

[MeepBeep]

How confident are you that it will keep your chickens safe from coyotes/fox/neighbors dogs, during the day, when nobody is around?

I personally would not trust it unattended on it's own... It offers no protection from overhead threats like raptors, so that is certainly something to consider... Some predators like coyotes can clear jump a 6 foot tall fence, so they could avoid it by simply jumping... And there is always bound to be that one domestic dog or wild animals that has a heavy coat of fur or simply doesn't care about the shock that could bulldoze it down if they had the urge... Will those happen, who knows but they are all probable...

 

[paula307]

Thank you MeepBeep. That is what I was thinking too, just didn't want it to be true. I really wanted the "free range" chicken idea to work for me, but I don't think it is going to. I appreciate your input!

 

[wamtazlady]

I am hoping to get 8-10 chickens soon. I haven't had chickens since I was a kid, and growing up, we had chickens in a coop and a real nice pen. Now I am starting to read about using electric poultry netting to move the chickens around in padocks. Anyway, I work full time during the week, and wondered how safe it would be to let the chickens roam without anybody being home during the day? My husband and I have talked about making a permanent coop and run for the times when we are gone, then using the electric netting when we are home in the evenings/weekends. Those of you who use electric poultry netting: How confident are you that it will keep your chickens safe from coyotes/fox/neighbors dogs, during the day, when nobody is around? I appreciate all your help in advance.

I am so confident in my electric netting that I don't lock up my chickens in their coop at night. I don't even close the door to their pen. In the last couple days I've put the goslings and ducklings out in the area protected by the netting. They even spend the night out there. I know the fox comes by regularly as we get pictures of it on the game cam. In over a year nothing has dared to enter the fenced area, not even the rabbits that used to eat my chicken feed. We also have skunks in the area as well as raccoons and occasionally cougars.

If you want to make sure a predator checks out the fence before jumping over, I read where you could put a little peanut butter on the hot strands of the fence. Predator comes by, is curious about the fence, smells the peanut butter, and licks. I haven't found the need to do this.

I've had my fence for over a year. Others on the forum including JackE have used electric poultry netting for several years without a loss due to 4 legged predators.

 

[paula307]

I am so confident in my electric netting that I don't lock up my chickens in their coop at night. I don't even close the door to their pen. In the last couple days I've put the goslings and ducklings out in the area protected by the netting. They even spend the night out there. I know the fox comes by regularly as we get pictures of it on the game cam. In over a year nothing has dared to enter the fenced area, not even the rabbits that used to eat my chicken feed. We also have skunks in the area as well as raccoons and occasionally cougars.

If you want to make sure a predator checks out the fence before jumping over, I read where you could put a little peanut butter on the hot strands of the fence. Predator comes by, is curious about the fence, smells the peanut butter, and licks. I haven't found the need to do this.

I've had my fence for over a year. Others on the forum including JackE have used electric poultry netting for several years without a loss due to 4 legged predators.

Thank you for the encouragement! We have TONS of coyotes and a few of everything else. I have heard people say (a lot) that a coyote will jump that fence. I LOVE the peanut butter idea. I am just hesitant, I don't want to spend a bunch of money and then my birds get wiped out. What kind of electric netting do you use and how tall? I have been interested in Kencove's pos/neg 48" but don't know if I am even leaning in the right direction. We have super hot and dry summers here. I appreciate your response!

 

[wamtazlady]

Thank you for the encouragement! We have TONS of coyotes and a few of everything else. I have heard people say (a lot) that a coyote will jump that fence. I LOVE the peanut butter idea. I am just hesitant, I don't want to spend a bunch of money and then my birds get wiped out. What kind of electric netting do you use and how tall? I have been interested in Kencove's pos/neg 48" but don't know if I am even leaning in the right direction. We have super hot and dry summers here. I appreciate your response!

i am using Premier1 PoultryNetPlus. It's 48". It has double spiked posts and the posts are only about 6' apart which keeps the netting from sagging. It cost a little more than some of the other netting but for me it was worth the extra price. I also bought the gate.

The main problem I have heard about using Kencove netting is that it sags a lot. However, there was one person who thought their Premier1 sagged more than Kencove so do your research. Use "electric fencing" or "electric netting" for your search term here in the forums to read what others say about electric netting and Premier1 versus Kencove.

The idea with the netting is that a predator will sniff the fence before jumping over. They are curious and check out anything new. After the tender nose gets zapped they won't try again. Foxes could jump over my fencing. They don't because they have been zapped by it. They won't take the chance that the whole area might also be painful. We have fox and skunks on a nightly basis here and they all stay away from the chicken area. The 6 local dogs that sometimes run loose also avoid the chickens now and I have one neighbor's big black lab that we know is a chicken killer.

No one can guarantee that nothing will harm your chickens if you use the electric netting. I'm just saying that it's unlikely anything will harm your chickens. I'm saying that because many people in the forums are using it with excellent results. I am completely satisfied with my netting. It's worked even better than I'd hoped.

You might want to go to YouTube. There is a video there where they put food inside electric wire and electric netting. The bears really wanted that food but couldn't get it because they didn't want to get zapped. There are also videos on how to set up your fencing. YouTube is great for researching.