Electric Poultry Fencing

[carrie307]

Hi,

I want to give my chickens a bigger run area, but protect them from foxes. I'm thinking of getting an electric poultry fence. Does anyone have experience with this? I'm wondering how far away the chickens stay from the fence. I don't have that much room, and if the birds all stay back ten feet, then that cuts their run size down.

Thanks,
Carrie

 

[le neige homme]

They don't really stay away from it at all. I mean, they'll eventually learn not to actually touch it, but they don't really give it much clearance.

Very important: use a pulsing charger, not one that is constantly hot.

Here's a bad photo of mine, just before I moved them to fresh grass. You can see that they've eaten the grass right up to the fence.

 

[turtlebird]

I also use electric poultry netting. The hens don't really stay away from the fence, but my dog now does.

My fence is 48" high. I leave the fencer on at night after the coop is closed up so any curious night time predators know that the fence means business.
So far so good.

 

[Germaine_11.20]

Do you like the fence and would you buy it again or change anything?

 

[le neige homme]

Quote:
For our application here on the farm, I love these fences. My boss has two flocks and I have two and I move them to fresh grass every week or two. It takes a couple hours to move everything and it's a real treat that we have one extra fence, so I can set it up, herd the chickens, and then take down the old fence at my leisure.

If you want to keep it in the same place, then these fences have some drawbacks. Weeds growing up into the fence will decrease the charger's effectiveness. Some chargers are better able to deal with this than others. It's a serious pain to have to move the fence, mow around the perimeter, then move it back. Almost easier to just move the entire thing, but sometimes it's not time to move them yet and I just have to take care of some tall grass. They also sag a lot more than the manufacturer(s) would like to admit, so we have a bunch of extra posts to prop up the middle of each section. I do plan to buy several more, but if these chickens were just being kept in the same location, I would probably build a "regular" type run and just hotwire that.

 

[turtlebird]

I guess the one drawback I can think of is the gate thing. There isn't one. If you build one, it isn't electrified. If you don't, you constantly have to unplug the thing. But I like what Le Neige Homme did for a gate.
Other than that, mowing under the fence isn't too bad once you work out a system.

 

[atimme]

I agree, the fence is worth it with the foxes, just be sure the bottom is pegged down well or they'll get in a hole and shimmy through. They are smart little devils! Luckily we don't have them in my neighborhood yet, but they've spotted them a couple of miles away in a park...

 

[Lbrad7]

I have been very intereseted in buying one as well just so that I can roatate their grazing area. Do any of you recommed a certain brand?

 

[Ryan81986]

Just FYI, they make electric fence wire holders that are designed to clip onto a chain link fence and they hold the wire about an inch or so from the actual fence. While the entire fence wouldn't be electrified, you could make enough lines that not much could get through it.

http://www.electric-deer-fence.com/...tricfenceinsulators/steeluposts.htm#insulator


This way you zap predators and not your birds. Plus energizers work by putting negative energy into the ground, and positive energy into the fence. If you let the energized fence touch the ground, you're essentially shorting out the fence and it wont work properly.

 

[le neige homme]

Quote:
That's exactly what I would recommend as well if it was a permanent/stationary fence, such as in a typical backyard rather than out on pasture.

Most of these net fences work just a wee bit differently from what you've just described. There are both hot and ground wires alternating horizontally up the fence (to ensure that critters will wind up touching both). You wouldn't typically have a situation in which the energized fence touched the ground. The bottom strand is not energized.

I do have one off-brand fence that was designed for all wires hot, but it sits in a pile of junk, waiting for me to rewire it. I'd better get on that.