Electric poutkrt fencing

[Driley62]

The charger needs to be protected from the elements. The insulated wire you're talking about is called a lead out wire and it has to be of the correct gauge in order to carry the voltage. The longer that wire is the more voltage drop you're going to get and the weaker fence you're going to have. Bringing you back to, you want the punchiest charger you can get.

Im not trying to sound like a smarty pants but that's honestly where you lost me.

 

[Ridgerunner]

1) will my birds be escape artists with the fencing?

I've used Premiere1's 48" high electric netting for several years. The chickens fly up to a 5' high roost so they can easily fly over it if they want to but for the most part, they don't. About the only times I have a problem is when I have several cockerels in there. When they get into their fights if one that is losing is trapped against the netting and can't run away it goes vertical to escape. Sometimes they land on the wrong side of the netting. No, they do not know to fly back in. I had one hen escape, I think she was trying to get away from an amorous rooster. My main flock doesn't fly out, the immature cockerels sometimes do but that is by accident.

How you set it up makes a difference. Avoid sharp corners. A 90 degree corner is OK but anything sharper than that seems to trap them against the netting. If you can make them flatter, even better.

I had a problem when I tried to make a narrow corridor to lead them to a new bigger area. I can't remember how wide it was, probably around 10'. All of a sudden a lot of cockerels were getting out, three in one day. I quickly reconfigured it so it was wide, nothing narrow at all. The escapes stopped. You only have 82' of netting. If you can avoid sharp corners and narrow spaces you should be OK.

2) I saw on another thread it did fantastic at keeping the foxes at bay which is my main problem. But will the foxes dig or jump the fence?

My netting has stopped all ground-based predators that have tested it. That includes any digging and jumping predators. All the horizontal wires are hot except the vey bottom one that touches the ground. When a critter touches a hot wire and is standing on the soil it completes the circuit and gets shocked. A digging predator is going to get right up next to the fence before it starts and may try to push its way under the netting. That gets it shocked. A jumping predator will inspect the netting before it jumps, usually with a nose or tongue. It runs away instead of jumping over. Just because they "can" jump over it doesn't mean they will.

Your coop and run will not be electrically protected. A climbing predator like a raccoon or a bobcat could climb over you coop and run and climb down inside the netting. Mine is set up the same way and that has never happened, but I always lock the chickens in the coop at night because I don't consider it totally predator safe.

If the hot wires are grounded you lose protection. Grass or weeds can grow up into the hot wires. Wen it rains they can short it out. Wind or a flooding rain can blow or wash dried leaves, cut grass, or plastic bags up against the netting, shorting it out. It does require maintenance to keep it from shorting out.

Do you have the instructions that come with the charger? What do they say about weather protection? If you don't have them, can you find them online? You can ask the manufacturer about that, maybe e-mail of a phone call. Go to the source for that specific unit.

Like everything else, electric netting is not perfect. But if you et it up correctly and maintain it then it can be very effective.

 

[Driley62]

I've used Premiere1's 48" high electric netting for several years. The chickens fly up to a 5' high roost so they can easily fly over it if they want to but for the most part, they don't. About the only times I have a problem is when I have several cockerels in there. When they get into their fights if one that is losing is trapped against the netting and can't run away it goes vertical to escape. Sometimes they land on the wrong side of the netting. No, they do not know to fly back in. I had one hen escape, I think she was trying to get away from an amorous rooster. My main flock doesn't fly out, the immature cockerels sometimes do but that is by accident.

How you set it up makes a difference. Avoid sharp corners. A 90 degree corner is OK but anything sharper than that seems to trap them against the netting. If you can make them flatter, even better.

I had a problem when I tried to make a narrow corridor to lead them to a new bigger area. I can't remember how wide it was, probably around 10'. All of a sudden a lot of cockerels were getting out, three in one day. I quickly reconfigured it so it was wide, nothing narrow at all. The escapes stopped. You only have 82' of netting. If you can avoid sharp corners and narrow spaces you should be OK.


My netting has stopped all ground-based predators that have tested it. That includes any digging and jumping predators. All the horizontal wires are hot except the vey bottom one that touches the ground. When a critter touches a hot wire and is standing on the soil it completes the circuit and gets shocked. A digging predator is going to get right up next to the fence before it starts and may try to push its way under the netting. That gets it shocked. A jumping predator will inspect the netting before it jumps, usually with a nose or tongue. It runs away instead of jumping over. Just because they "can" jump over it doesn't mean they will.

Your coop and run will not be electrically protected. A climbing predator like a raccoon or a bobcat could climb over you coop and run and climb down inside the netting. Mine is set up the same way and that has never happened, but I always lock the chickens in the coop at night because I don't consider it totally predator safe.

If the hot wires are grounded you lose protection. Grass or weeds can grow up into the hot wires. Wen it rains they can short it out. Wind or a flooding rain can blow or wash dried leaves, cut grass, or plastic bags up against the netting, shorting it out. It does require maintenance to keep it from shorting out.

Do you have the instructions that come with the charger? What do they say about weather protection? If you don't have them, can you find them online? You can ask the manufacturer about that, maybe e-mail of a phone call. Go to the source for that specific unit.

Like everything else, electric netting is not perfect. But if you et it up correctly and maintain it then it can be very effective.

Thank you for your input. I still plan on locking them in for the night. That intention will never change and I planned on not really cornering but almost shaping like a teardrop without the point to meet the corners of the run on that one side(if you're picking up what im putting down lol). So it'll be about 10 foot at one end but will be wider as it makes its way away from my existing run if that at all makes sense.

 

[Driley62]

I've used Premiere1's 48" high electric netting for several years. The chickens fly up to a 5' high roost so they can easily fly over it if they want to but for the most part, they don't. About the only times I have a problem is when I have several cockerels in there. When they get into their fights if one that is losing is trapped against the netting and can't run away it goes vertical to escape. Sometimes they land on the wrong side of the netting. No, they do not know to fly back in. I had one hen escape, I think she was trying to get away from an amorous rooster. My main flock doesn't fly out, the immature cockerels sometimes do but that is by accident.

How you set it up makes a difference. Avoid sharp corners. A 90 degree corner is OK but anything sharper than that seems to trap them against the netting. If you can make them flatter, even better.

I had a problem when I tried to make a narrow corridor to lead them to a new bigger area. I can't remember how wide it was, probably around 10'. All of a sudden a lot of cockerels were getting out, three in one day. I quickly reconfigured it so it was wide, nothing narrow at all. The escapes stopped. You only have 82' of netting. If you can avoid sharp corners and narrow spaces you should be OK.


My netting has stopped all ground-based predators that have tested it. That includes any digging and jumping predators. All the horizontal wires are hot except the vey bottom one that touches the ground. When a critter touches a hot wire and is standing on the soil it completes the circuit and gets shocked. A digging predator is going to get right up next to the fence before it starts and may try to push its way under the netting. That gets it shocked. A jumping predator will inspect the netting before it jumps, usually with a nose or tongue. It runs away instead of jumping over. Just because they "can" jump over it doesn't mean they will.

Your coop and run will not be electrically protected. A climbing predator like a raccoon or a bobcat could climb over you coop and run and climb down inside the netting. Mine is set up the same way and that has never happened, but I always lock the chickens in the coop at night because I don't consider it totally predator safe.

If the hot wires are grounded you lose protection. Grass or weeds can grow up into the hot wires. Wen it rains they can short it out. Wind or a flooding rain can blow or wash dried leaves, cut grass, or plastic bags up against the netting, shorting it out. It does require maintenance to keep it from shorting out.

Do you have the instructions that come with the charger? What do they say about weather protection? If you don't have them, can you find them online? You can ask the manufacturer about that, maybe e-mail of a phone call. Go to the source for that specific unit.

Like everything else, electric netting is not perfect. But if you et it up correctly and maintain it then it can be very effective.

 

[Driley62]

I've used Premiere1's 48" high electric netting for several years. The chickens fly up to a 5' high roost so they can easily fly over it if they want to but for the most part, they don't. About the only times I have a problem is when I have several cockerels in there. When they get into their fights if one that is losing is trapped against the netting and can't run away it goes vertical to escape. Sometimes they land on the wrong side of the netting. No, they do not know to fly back in. I had one hen escape, I think she was trying to get away from an amorous rooster. My main flock doesn't fly out, the immature cockerels sometimes do but that is by accident.

How you set it up makes a difference. Avoid sharp corners. A 90 degree corner is OK but anything sharper than that seems to trap them against the netting. If you can make them flatter, even better.

I had a problem when I tried to make a narrow corridor to lead them to a new bigger area. I can't remember how wide it was, probably around 10'. All of a sudden a lot of cockerels were getting out, three in one day. I quickly reconfigured it so it was wide, nothing narrow at all. The escapes stopped. You only have 82' of netting. If you can avoid sharp corners and narrow spaces you should be OK.


My netting has stopped all ground-based predators that have tested it. That includes any digging and jumping predators. All the horizontal wires are hot except the vey bottom one that touches the ground. When a critter touches a hot wire and is standing on the soil it completes the circuit and gets shocked. A digging predator is going to get right up next to the fence before it starts and may try to push its way under the netting. That gets it shocked. A jumping predator will inspect the netting before it jumps, usually with a nose or tongue. It runs away instead of jumping over. Just because they "can" jump over it doesn't mean they will.

Your coop and run will not be electrically protected. A climbing predator like a raccoon or a bobcat could climb over you coop and run and climb down inside the netting. Mine is set up the same way and that has never happened, but I always lock the chickens in the coop at night because I don't consider it totally predator safe.

If the hot wires are grounded you lose protection. Grass or weeds can grow up into the hot wires. Wen it rains they can short it out. Wind or a flooding rain can blow or wash dried leaves, cut grass, or plastic bags up against the netting, shorting it out. It does require maintenance to keep it from shorting out.

Do you have the instructions that come with the charger? What do they say about weather protection? If you don't have them, can you find them online? You can ask the manufacturer about that, maybe e-mail of a phone call. Go to the source for that specific unit.

Like everything else, electric netting is not perfect. But if you et it up correctly and maintain it then it can be very effective.

Also someone had said the charger needs to be protected from the elements? A solar charger? That seems almost counter productive to me.

Idk if you have experience with it but im looking at the power wizard pw50s model. It's a 3 mile charger with .6 joules. I think that's plenty strong for 82 foot worth of fence. But I'm new to this idea so I'm trying to educate myself the best I can to make the best decision possible. As rolled wire and hardware cloth(without posts and staples to do the job) is about the same price. So effort for the netting plus setting up in one afternoon rather than several days worth of work sounds like a damn good trade off in my opinion.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Also someone had said the charger needs to be protected from the elements? A solar charger? That seems almost counter productive to me.

That's why I said to contact the manufacturer or reference the paperwork.

Idk if you have experience with it but im looking at the power wizard pw50s model.

No experience with that one at all.

 

[Driley62]

That's why I said to contact the manufacturer or reference the paperwork.


No experience with that one at all.

Copy that thank you

 

[3KillerBs]

I have Premier 1's 100-foot, 48" Poultrynet Plus kit with the solar intellishock charger.

It's great, but it has a few drawbacks you need to be aware of.

First, if it's left in one place too long it gets saggy and has to be tightened. They make a version intended for long-term use in the same position.

Second, due to rain, clouds, and short winter days (even at NC's latitude), it will need to be brought in periodically for a plug-in charge. The charger with it's solar panel is intended to be outside in the weather BUT water will get into the on-off switch area. I have a plastic bag taped over it to keep it dry. It CANNOT be used while plugged in and the plug cannot be used outdoors.

Third, the possible distance between the charger and the fence end is fairly short -- only 4-6 feet of cord. This limits where I can put the charger and where I can put the fence opening (Which is not in the most convenient place or the sunniest place but in the best compromise).

Fourth, even though it is the "plus" type with more in-line posts, I have had to buy extra posts to keep it from sagging in certain spots where it traverses uneven ground.

I love this unit and have no regret over having bought it, but it's important to have realistic expectations about it's functionality.

P.S. Only one of my chickens, the California White, ever flies out. She can fly like a helicopter, out and then back in at will. She's my troublemaker chicken so I'm philosophical about the fact that she *could* get into more trouble than she can get back out of.

I would clip her wings if I were more worried about daytime predators, but in my current situation I judge that the nighttime wrestling match that extracting her from the midst of a panicking crowd of hens for wing clipping would be isn't worth the results. I would clip if she wasn't the only escape artist.

 

[Driley62]

I have Premier 1's 100-foot, 48" Poultrynet Plus kit with the solar intellishock charger.

It's great, but it has a few drawbacks you need to be aware of.

First, if it's left in one place too long it gets saggy and has to be tightened. They make a version intended for long-term use in the same position.

Second, due to rain, clouds, and short winter days (even at NC's latitude), it will need to be brought in periodically for a plug-in charge. The charger with it's solar panel is intended to be outside in the weather BUT water will get into the on-off switch area. I have a plastic bag taped over it to keep it dry. It CANNOT be used while plugged in and the plug cannot be used outdoors.

Third, the possible distance between the charger and the fence end is fairly short -- only 4-6 feet of cord. This limits where I can put the charger and where I can put the fence opening (Which is not in the most convenient place or the sunniest place but in the best compromise).

Fourth, even though it is the "plus" type with more in-line posts, I have had to buy extra posts to keep it from sagging in certain spots where it traverses uneven ground.

I love this unit and have no regret over having bought it, but it's important to have realistic expectations about it's functionality.

P.S. Only one of my chickens, the California White, ever flies out. She can fly like a helicopter, out and then back in at will. She's my troublemaker chicken so I'm philosophical about the fact that she *could* get into more trouble than she can get back out of.

I would clip her wings if I were more worried about daytime predators, but in my current situation I judge that the nighttime wrestling match that extracting her from the midst of a panicking crowd of hens for wing clipping would be isn't worth the results. I would clip if she wasn't the only escape artist.

Thanks! With more research my original idea isn't as cheap as I thought. The charger I wanted wouldn't work with the fencing I was also looking at. So im thinking rolled fencing with t posts which should allow me to run bare wires and buy that charger for 110 and accomplish what im hoping for about the same price. All I know is, I have 9 birds to introduce to my 12 adults and it warrants me to extend my mere 100sqft run to something larger. I wanna give them free roam but lost birds to fox so to me it's worth some effort to keep them contained to an area that I can give them and it being as large as possible.

 

[3KillerBs]

Thanks! With more research my original idea isn't as cheap as I thought. The charger I wanted wouldn't work with the fencing I was also looking at. So im thinking rolled fencing with t posts which should allow me to run bare wires and buy that charger for 110 and accomplish what im hoping for about the same price. All I know is, I have 9 birds to introduce to my 12 adults and it warrants me to extend my mere 100sqft run to something larger. I wanna give them free roam but lost birds to fox so to me it's worth some effort to keep them contained to an area that I can give them and it being as large as possible.

Good luck getting the right combination together.