electric mesh poultry fencing

[TammyD]

I've heard of electric mesh poultry fence. It's to keep OUT the predators, not to keep IN the chickens. I have no idea of where to look for this or if it even exists. Anyone know of it? And, if so, have you tried it for predator-proofing? How is it? TIA!!

TammyD

 

[greginshasta]

I saw some of this at the local grange co-op which is a store that caters to the agricultural community.

 

[patandchickens]

www.premier1supplies.com is the best source I know for QUALITY electric fence stuff. You want their "poultrynet". They do excellent advice and customer service. You might choose to get your charger elsewhere, esp if you just want a very small battery-op one, but at least talk to them about chargers, too.

Also www.kencove.com sells a different brand of electric net, never tried it myself.


Pat, with lotsa electric fence for horses, also some electric poultry net that i haven't tried using yet

 

[patandchickens]

Afterthought...

...if you are already familiar with electric fence installation ignore me here, but if not, you should definitely do a little research into it before buying anything. Electric fencing can't safely be installed just "anywhere"....

It's not safe around young children who might crawl up against it; it can't be run too close along overhead powerlines (not along them, I mean, crossing their path is ok), and you need somewhere to put the ground rod(s) that isn't too close to buried water or utility lines or utility grounds. (If you ignore the latter distances, you can screw up your phone or cable reception, accidentally electrify water piping, and/or potentially end up with dangerously more current in the fence than you think you'll have). And a few other things.

So, google, or go to the Premier1 Fencing site given above, for details including actual distances etc.

Good luck,

Pat, who has used electric fencing for years and STILL did not contemplate the distance-from-ground-rods issue before buying her poultrynet, and then realized there's nowhere in the back yard I can actually PUT it, *Doh!*, which is why it's in the garage still, waiting to be set up in the horse pasture next year.

 

[TammyD]

Electric fencing is familiar to me. We've horse-camped for several years & use a portable charger w/electric fence tape (resembles lawn furniture tape) & step-in posts. When we moved onto this property last year a buddy & I built 5 stalls & strung 4000 (YES! 4000! ) linear feet of 2" fence tape w/pound-in t-posts in 15 days. I can confidently say, "I've passed Fence Building 101"

. I have a 20 mile & a 10 mile & a 3 mile pulse charger. I'll use the 3 mile charger for the chicken run outdoors &, if I get it, indoors, too, with the poultry mesh. I'll check out the sites tonight, probably.

Gotta run, right now, tho. My daughter worked a Cowboy Mounted Shooting Club shoot this afternoon & we're meeting the gang (Northern Illinois Outlaws) for dinner at the only place in town (well, there are 2 restaurants, really). Instead of working the shoot (we haven't practiced recently so we didn't shoot), I took my son to shop for my daughter's birthday gift. (Not chickens

)

TammyD

 

[aran]

so how much is the frikin electric poulty fence? i cant find the price on the website.

 

[KrisRose]

Aran-Get in the Primer site, then click on fencing on the left, then click on the poultry picture. This should give you three choices-Permanent(not this one), Semi-permenant or Temporary. Choose which one of the last two you want, the prices should come up.
I've done some hair putting over this site also, seems like you go around in circles. I used their fencing for my horse, I like their products.

 

[aran]

kewl thanks...i think i will get some of this stuff...do you know what will happen when the snow falls? Will the electric fence cease to work?

 

[KrisRose]

I don't know how it would work in winter. The rope for horses works through winter and I would assume it would be the same. Giving them a call, or send an E-mail, would be a good way to find out.
I have their catolog and they seem to be pretty honest about their products and in what situations they would work the best.
I wish that I had looked into this product for my property line.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
Electric fencing for horses generally works poorly in snowy wintertime, because a) animals don't make good contact with the ground when standing on snow and b) frozen ground doesn't conduct electricity real well. While I haven't actually used electric poultry net in winter myself, it seems pretty clear to me that you will have both of these problems with it PLUS the additional problem that as soon as the snow gets as deep as the lowest electrified strand (which is, what, 4" or so?) then anytime the snow is wettish the fence will short out entirely (and also kill your battery if that's what your charger runs on).

So I =really= wouldn't suggest it as an electric barrier during wintertime.

I suppose a pos-neutral net (as opposed to the usual kind that uses a ground rod) would not experience the first two problems (although in general pos-neutral fences do not perform as well overall)... but you would still be out of luck as soon as you got wettish snow of any reasonable depth.

FWIW I am also not sure that electronet is weaselproof, if that matters.

Pat