electric poultry fencing

[Molnut]

Planning for pastured poultry egg production, I am doing my homework prior to purchasing electric fencing for my current and projected use...and I am getting so confused! I need help.

Looking at Premier and Ferris Fencing in BC. I suspect Premier is the main supplier for most of you. I can deal with the difference in length and height (Ferris 48", Premier 42"). My main issue is about the energizers.

I am planning for a final surface of about 1/4 acre, but just need one net at the present time.

Suggestions are : The Stafix 2 jl (Canada), the Patriot P20 (Canada), the IntelliShock PRS I - 50 (US) or the Premier PRS 100 (US).

Are any of you using any of these models? Any input welcome.

Thanks
Michele

 

[aart]

Welcome to BYC!

Read great things about Premiere1...don't know anything about the others.

Best bet would be to do a search...lots of discussion about them here:
advanced search>titles only>electric poultry fencing

 

[Egghead_Jr]

I think you'll find the p20 is far more than you need. But netting tend to sag and in doing so ground out and loose power so a larger charger would still carry high charge but the nets are not intended to be "weed burners" and can be damaged overtime if allowed to stay grounded. Are you planning to permanently electrify the entire 1/4 acre or wanting netting to move about it every few weeks? If the former than netting may not be your best option. I'd call Premiere and talk to them about your needs. A pos/neg bear fencing might be a better fit for perimeter.

The P10 is 1 joule charger probably be plenty for 400-500 ft of netting unless you really are stopping bear and need 7000 volts. I use a .5 joule with a 164' net. This land is hilly so does ground a bit here and there and need to tighten net each week and use forked sticks to hold up bottom live wire from ground. In doing that I get over 4K volts. The volt meter reads if over 4k and again if over 6k so it's somewhere between 4 and 6K volts. After of week of sagging it reads over 3k volts so I unclip the power and tighten up the fence in 15 minutes.

Premiere does indeed have 48" fencing. I recommend getting the fencing kits that will include 4 corner posts for better effect of keeping tight. Also the charger kits are nice as they are all inclusive with ground rod, connections and even come with volt meter. It saves money. Check out the Hotgate too. It's nice to open the gate with one hand and fence is still live. It also comes with stronger posts so again aides in keeping net from sagging. I set up gate first then tighten fence from there in both directions.

I like the Patriot charger as it is dual use. Plug in to outlet or clip to a battery if your moving net far from house. With the dual use Patriot battery kit from premier you still get a plug in connection but also battery clip connection. The AC kit only comes with plug in connection but gives you 100ft of insulated cord. I just use a 100' extension cord and plug in right at the charger.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

I suggest calling Premiere and talking with them about your needs. Netting needs a larger charger due to inherent grounding (many here on BYC use a 1 joule charger and have 200' of net or less) but polytape doesn't. Bear netting with pos/neg can stay up all year round and so can polytape. If your wanting a perimeter fence a cheaper and permanent option might be wire fence (even chicken wire) with a few strands of poly tape offset from it. That way any animal climbing would touch the tape and one strand low enough that an animal digging touches the tape. Polytape more efficiently carries the charge so you get a lot more distance and shock from smaller chargers.

 

[Free Spirit]

You can also look into Kencove Farm Fence Supplies. I purchased my net fencing from them, 48". But they have lots of other electric options (wire, cable, ribbon, tape, etc.). Check into them for other options or price comparisons. I got a catalog from them and they were very helpful. They advertise free shipping on all electric netting.

I like the fact that the net is easily moved around. You do have to consider that grasses that touch it can reduce it's effectiveness. But it's easy to pull up and move out of the way to mow around the perimeter to keep grass short.

 

[Molnut]

Thank you all for your replies. Egghead your detailed info is very useful and much appreciated. You gave me a lot to look into.
One of the advantage of the Ferris, in my opinion, is that the bottom wire is not electrified. The next wire is at 2.5" and is electrified. I figure this would help
with the issue of power loss when there is grounding.
Anybody out there is using Ferris fencing?

 

[aart]

Thank you all for your replies. Egghead your detailed info is very useful and much appreciated. You gave me a lot to look into.
One of the advantage of the Ferris, in my opinion, is that the bottom wire is not electrified. The next wire is at 2.5" and is electrified. I figure this would help
with the issue of power loss when there is grounding.
Anybody out there is using Ferris fencing?

Makes good sense.

Do they ship to the US?

 

[JackE]

Thank you all for your replies. Egghead your detailed info is very useful and much appreciated. You gave me a lot to look into.
One of the advantage of the Ferris, in my opinion, is that the bottom wire is not electrified. The next wire is at 2.5" and is electrified. I figure this would help
with the issue of power loss when there is grounding.
Anybody out there is using Ferris fencing?

I have 650' of Premier's poultry plus electronet. The poultry plus has heavier/thicker posts, that are closer together. It's 48" high. The bottom line is not electrified on Premier's netting either. The first bottom charged line is the same as the Ferris, about 2.5". My netting/fence does not sag. It is very easy to pull it tight, and keep it tight. I would recommend Premier's 6' fiberglass corner posts, that they sell. They really help keep the fence tight. I would also recommend getting a strong charger, don't go cheap. I have the Kube charger, also from Premier, and I'm getting over 7000Vs out of it. It will bite the he!! out of you. It can handle some grass at the bottom of the fence, without grounding out easily. I also have Premier's hotgate, and would recommend getting one of those. Only problem I had with the gate, was in the winter, the bottom cap of the gate, would freeze into the bottom bracket. I ended up removing that cap, and that fixed the problem.

 

[Molnut]

Aart yes Ferris ships to the US. We live in Port Angeles and I verified this prior to. Their quote is in CAN and US $. You can compare prices more easily that way.
I'm going to check Kencove as well. Maybe that will brake the tie.
I can do math and physics but electricity has always had me stumped. Need to find an electricity for dummies book.