Electric net fence injured chicken!!!

[Folly's place]

When you call Premier tomorrow, ask about the ground rods too. How many, and how deep, depends on how dry your soil is.
Mary

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I had always wondered how they worked. I'm familiar with plain old electric fence wire, but haven't used the electric bird netting. Good thing you got your bird out of it okay. I would guess like all electric fencing there's a learning curve for the animals where they need to get shocked to learn to stay away.

 

[azygous]

Mary's right about the soil needing to be damp. If you live in a damp climate, the grounding rod doesn't need to go very deep, as long as it's damp where the rod is in the soil. In arid climates such as where I live, I need to go down six feet or water the dirt around the grounding rod every day.

The charge will be at its maximum effectiveness with the grounding rod making good contact with damp soil. The same can be said for the soil around the electric netting. The dampness of the ground where the predator is standing permits the electricity to deliver the maximum shock.

 

[ecogirl2206]

I live in northern Illinois. So 4 seasons regular amount of rain. I have to water the new orchard frequently so wetting the grass is easy if we get a drought. Does that mean I shouldn't put landscape fabric under net like I was planning to prevent grass from grounding??

I have the grounding rod which goes in 3 feet, my question is regarding distance of rod to house. I'd like to put right by house (5' or so) so I don't have to run cable far. I'll ask premier tomorrow. It seems I have a lot of questions!

 

[Percheron chick]

They won't get close enough to get tangled in it when it is hot. The bird must be touching the ground to get zapped. Hanging in the fence, they aren't grounded. You, however, will get zapped when you go to untangle her without turning off the fence. Unfortunately, they all know that the fence is just a visual barrier that they can easily fly over. They are going to have to learn the fence is hot the hard way.

 

[azygous]

The positive wire running from the charger has to be attached to the electric netting. The negative wire coming from the charger has to be clamped to the grounding rod. Therefore, you need to take those things into consideration when you decide where to stick your grounding post. I suppose if the negative ground wire was long enough, you could put it anywhere.

As for the electric netting, it will ground itself out and no electric charge will reach the netting, instead it will go to into the soil, if anything connects the netting to the soil, and wet grass will certainly do that. So yes, landscape cloth is a good idea unless you want to be out there everyday trimming the grass under the fencing.

 

[Duckztailz1]

According to Joel salatin if your chicken gets stuck in the net and kills itself you don't want that chicken in your flock. And you definitely don't want to hatch from that chicken

 

[lazy gardener]

I use these:

https://www.statelinetack.com/item/...ce^c-plaid^109335747708-sku^489228-adType^PLA

If your ground is uneven, you will get either sagging at bottom or top. As other posters have said, if the charged wires of the fence (any horizontal wire other than the very bottom black one) touch the ground, the fence will be grounded out and will not work well. If you are using a battery powered charger, it will also quickly kill your battery. My ground is VERY uneven, so I use a lot of posts between the actual posts that are integrated to the net.

As for the landscaping fabric, I would not trust it to do the job you intend it to do. The chickens will consider it to be a challenge which must be met: "Must lift that black stuff to see what is under there. Must shred that black stuff. Must see if that black stuff will make a good snack."

Instead of putting something under the electronet to block grass and weeds, I just use the push mower. I move fence line in, mow a strip, move fence line back. Often, depending on where it's set up, it's easier to move the north and west sides in, while moving the south and east sides out. Other people use weed killer. But, I'll not use it b/c it poisons the soil, and glyphosphate is an endocrine disruptor.

I keep ground rod near origin of fence and power supply. If weather is dry, I water the site. Even with clay soil, it takes a lot of water to penetrate deep enough to keep the soil wet.

 

[lazy gardener]

Premier 1 carries excellent products, however, I've found that I can order extra supplies cheaper from elsewhere.

 

[lazy gardener]

You mentioned putting up a fence within the electronet. There really is no need, and unless you already have the extra fencing and posts, there is no reason to spend more money! You've already spent plenty on the electronet, which is better than any non electrified fence. (unless you have a hardware cloth run which is covered over top, sides, and skirted)