I’ve had the 48” poultry netting from Premier for about 2-1/2 years. The only loss I’ve had since then was one chicken to one owl when I was late locking them in the coop for the night. Before I got the netting I’d on rare occasions lose one to a fox but I’d had some pretty serious dog attacks. This is netting, not fencing. I have not tried fencing so can't speak to that.
The netting works by sending out a pulse of very high voltage at a rate of about 50 pulses per minute. Since it pulses instead of you having a steady current, whatever touches it can let go. That means it is not likely to harm the animal. I had a snapping turtle push up under the netting and get tangles up so it could not let go. You could see it jerk every time the current pulsed. I untangles it and left it alone. When I came back later, it had crawled of.
Another time, a possum got tangled in the netting. Again, you could see it jerk when the current pulsed but it was still alive. The fence is not what killed it, though if it were left there a real long time, the current might eventually kill an animal.
I have seen chickens get shocked by the fence, pecking at stuff in the fence. Their feathers insulate them from the shock, but if their comb or wattles touch the net when it pulses, they jump back and up. It does not kill them but they do learn to stay away from the net.
Baby chicks can walk right through the netting. Their down insulates them. Mine need to be maybe 6 or so weeks old before they stop walking through the netting.
Mine is 4 feet high. Chickens can fly over that if they want to, but mine generally don’t. The only time I have a problem with that is when I have young adolescent chickens being raised with the flock. When they get in their pecking order fights, male dominance fights, or a pullet is trying to escape the attentions of a cockerel, one may get trapped against the netting and go vertical to get away. Occasionally they come down on the wrong side. No, they do not know how to get back inside on their own. I’ve found a way to minimize this is to have a fair area inside the netting and try to avoid tight spaces. Make corners more open instead of making them sharp. And have the netting wide. One time I configured it so it had a long narrow section to get them to an area further away. That was not good. I had several get trapped and fly out of that. I know I’m making this sound like it is a huge problem, but it does not happen as often as I’m probably making it sound.
One problem with the netting is that grass and weeds will grow up in it and short it out, especially when it is wet. Depending on where you live and the weather, you may need to move the netting as often as once a week and mow to keep the grass and weeds down, though in certain climates or times of the year, it may be a lot less often than that. I spray round-up where the netting goes to keep the growth down. That makes my life a lot easier.
In theory many predators can jump over the netting, but in reality what practically always happens is that the predator goes up and inspects the fence first instead of just jumping over it. That inspection usually consists of sniffing it with their nose or licking it with their tongue. Once they get zapped they figure that fence is made of lightning and is a really good place to avoid altogether. I’ll admit to a certain satisfaction in hearing a dog yelp and seeing it run off about as fast as it can go, never to return. It does not injure them, it does not really hurt them, but it does shock them. They don’t like that.
I’ve been very pleased with mine once I came up with the round-up idea, which I got from someone on this forum.
