Help with Predators - Setting up Electric Fence

[cmom]

I have the electric wire around all of my coops and pens and some I have dug down and buried some wire along the edge of the pen to the chick/grow-out coop. There is a small section between the gate and the coop door where I didn't have any electric wire there but have since put some electric wire. I had a coyote attempt to dig under the fence at my chick/grow-out coop. The electric wire in that spot did it's job. I have concrete under my gates because I had a fox dig under one gate and kill several birds and a skunk attempt to dig under the gate to the chick/grow-out coop. I caught the skunk in the act. I stomped my feet trying to scare it away and it stamped its feet back at me so I went into the house and got my gun and shot it.

I saw the fox too and put traps out and caught it the next day when it came back for more chickens.

 

[Audrey Watson]

You could put a net up and use the top part of the posts to attach the net and the bottom part can be electric. It will cover both ground and aerial predators.

I can understand how electric fencing would work in the coop but I thought they were talking about free-ranging and putting an electric fence around the whole free ranging area. Unless you wanted to make a chicken wire electric fence, a fox or other predator could very easily slip under the electric wire and get to the chickens. And you can’t exactly put a net over the whole yard where chickens free range.

 

[cmom]

There is a BYC member who only uses electric wire around his coop. He has posted pictures on a thread. I don't recall the members name.

 

[cmom]

I can understand how electric fencing would work in the coop but I thought they were talking about free-ranging and putting an electric fence around the whole free ranging area. Unless you wanted to make a chicken wire electric fence, a fox or other predator could very easily slip under the electric wire and get to the chickens. And you can’t exactly put a net over the whole yard where chickens free range.

I have very large pens and due to seeing more predators in the spring when they are mating and having their young, I see them more often during the day. I have free ranged but not so much unless I'm out with the birds due to losses in the past. I had a fox dig under a gate to a pen so I put concrete under all of the gates. I do have several game cameras on my property. My pens are totally 60 feet x 200 feet. I have heavy duty netting covering them all. I have electric wires around my coops and pens and predators have attempted to dig until they get zapped by the electric wire. If something is digging under the wire then the wire is not working or it isn't close enough to the ground.

 

[ColtHandorf]

"I thought they were talking about free-ranging and putting an electric fence around the whole free ranging area."

Well obviously that wouldn't work. You couldn't just put up a three strand electric fence and not expect something to go over or through it. I had assumed the OP meant fencing the area in with something like welded wire and putting the electric wire on the outside using the clips designed for just that.

 

[Howard E]

"I thought they were talking about free-ranging and putting an electric fence around the whole free ranging area."

Well obviously that wouldn't work. You couldn't just put up a three strand electric fence and not expect something to go over or through it. I had assumed the OP meant fencing the area in with something like welded wire and putting the electric wire on the outside using the clips designed for just that.

Actually.....you can. What most folks struggle with is understanding how an electric fence works. It is NOT a physical barrier.......it is a psychological one. Properly setup for varmints, the goal is to get them to touch it. Just touch it. They will do that by trying to crawl under or through it....just as they do with all the physical fences they encounter. Very few will jump over a low fence of 2, 3 or 4 wires........at least to get in. They may go airborne and at a high rate of speed trying to get out. (Animals that get shocked crawling in may jump forward.....and become trapped inside in the process. They then have to find a way out. That is panic city and if you are lucky, they get it again on the way out too. )

But once they touch a truly hot fence and it lights them up, very few will come back to test it again. They have no clue what it was that hurt that bad, but do understand the pain of a violent painful shock. Dogs are a good example of this, and ones in which we often see them touch it as it happens during the daylight hours when we are around to observe. The near 100% universal response is a loud yelp.....and hasty retreat. Most dogs that have been shocked refuse to go near the fence that got em. Varmints are no different.

And as an added bonus, the same applies with chickens. Once zapped, they won't cross it either. My current birds will NOT cross over a single strand of poly tape....only 5" off the ground. They will fly over a 4' high chain link fence. Physical barriers and mental barriers. Mental is how an E fence works.

 

[cmom]