Electrify or additional fencing?

[Lelilamom]

We had a predator attack yesterday during the day. We were out an hour before sunset doing work around the coop and when we went to close up everything for the night and count beaks, found a mass of feathers at the coop door and nearby at the edge of our property.

We keep a fully contained set up - a completely enclosed coop with attached run. The run is completely enclosed chicken wire that wraps all the way around and 18in into the ground. Attached to the run is a 100 x 150 ft fenced yard. The fencing is 5 ft. We've had some of our younger chickens fly out of the yard and into our backyard (where our two beagles are fenced) consequently get wounded. And we have one very stubborn 6 mos old RSL who gets out of the yard and wanders all over our 2 acre property to return to the coop each night. We believe she was the victim of yesterday's attack.

Our property is surrounded by 1000s of acres of woods, and predators. Do we set up additional fencing or do we go electric? If we electrify, do we just set up around the chickens? Or do we create a perimeter to our property? How effective is electric fencing?

This isn't our first predator attack unfortunately. We're just at the point where we've invested enough in our small homestead that we need to take action. Thank you for any information anyone can lend to us.

 

[Free Spirit]

If the birds are flying over your fence you may think about clipping feathers on one wing to keep them more grounded and in their pen.

If you have as many predators as I do (being you said you have woods nearby you likely do) I would put electric wire around the outside the perimeter of the chickens fencing. Two strands spaced to help with climbers and diggers. If it's on the outside the birds won't come in contact with it but should they do it won't hurt them but it will startle them. My flock have only touch mine once and have learned to not touch it since but I have an electric net fence at 48" high.

How effective? Watch this bear touching an electric fence.

 

[Lelilamom]

Thanks for the reply. We're looking into electrical fencing. In the meantime, tonight I went to close up the coop and set a few traps and a small gray fox was sniffing around the coop. It ran off into the trees when it saw me.

Two hours later, our beagles went nuts when we let them out after dinner and my husband ran out with a flashlight and a .22 and the fox was back. My husband missed.

We'll pursue that sly thing until it's dead.