Help! Predator protection for new coop

[123RedBeard]

Look at this fence pictured in quote ...

The more joules in the fence charger the more shock. I use the poly rope wire. I have seen coons on my game cameras but they don't mess with my birds. I believe coons are climbers and not jumpers so they don't try to climb the wire. I have accidentally touched my wire when I have forgotten to turn it off and it has made my heart skip a few beats so I'm sure a coon that weighs much less than I do will get a real good zap. We have added another coop on the end since this picture was taken and I have a single wire around the back sides of the coops but 3 wires around the rest.
View attachment 1496223

The poultry wire fencing is the physical barrier, then there are runs of electric on the outside, kept seperate from the physical fence by plastic insulators that hold it out away from the physical fence (which could be grounded) but I'm not sure, as this is not my setup ... check with @cmom ...

 

[cmom]

When you say "metal" ... do you mean steel? (Copper is "metal" too) Copper to steel will corrode over time, and weaken the power (electricity) going through it, corrosion will look like white rust ... but will take a year or two.

To Clarify ... You Have TWO fences (or that's what I'm thinking ) the hardware cloth fence is a physical barrier, and then you have seperate wires that are powered by the fence charger ("HOT") these two fence systems never should touch ... !!!

The ground rod and physical fence can be connected together, but never hook the hot and ground together directly (that's the critters job!) ... look at the above link ... maybe they can explain it better than I'm trying to do ... they even have drawings!

True...
I use at least a 6' steel ground rod with a steel clamp to clamp the ground wire on to it. You can also put in multiple ground rods if needed. It's depends on the area.