Is electric fencing safe or effective for chickens?

[biddyboo]

We have a large new raised flower bed that I want to protect from our hens' free-ranging demolition. While they have various places for dust bathing, this new attraction has their full attention and the bed won't survive their attacks if I cannot keep them out of it. Is electric fencing safe or effective for chickens? Is it repellent enough to discourage our hens from crossing the wires? Quite a few of them are known flyers and could of course sail right over, but if they walk up to the bed as they have been doing, hit the wire first, will they leave? I don't want to kill or badly hurt a hen to save a flower bed, but the hens need to be discouraged, to go to other dusty places in their large free range territory. I'm picturing two strands, one fairly low to the ground and the other raised enough they can't just hop over. There must be a solution here. Thanks for helping me figure it out. ~G

 

[7L Farm]

I tried an electric fence around my veggie garden & the chickens walked right through it. Ended up using t-post & 4 foot welded wire from TSC . Seems like the wire was 100 feet for $ 60.00 .

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

We only have our electric fence on at night to prevent predators from getting near our coops (even though they are built like Ft. Knox). We had one hen that would NOT come in one night but forgot and turned on the fence....yep...it killed her when she came back to the pen after dark.

 

[Organics North]

What the heck you running for a fencer? Killed her? Wow!

I use electric to keep preds out not chickens in. To keep chickens out use the cheapest "chicken wire" you can find. I have everything I do not want the chickens in fenced off.
ON

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

Yes, we only use the electric fence for predator control and that's why it's only on at night after everyone is safely in the coop. It's just a regular 1 mile plug-in fence controller.

Like this one:

 

[Clodbuster]

Quote:
Were you using netting and what was the spacing of the wires? - I am assuming she got stuck in the wires as no way would that piddly energiser kill her with general contact.

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

No...not using netting. Just a plain wire around the bottom of the coop. I'm sure she must have gotten tangled in it somehow.

 

[Clodbuster]

Quote:
That is the only way it could have happened, unfortunately that does occur but there are new fence energisers on the market coming out of Germany that sense what is touching the fence and reacts differently, dropping power when an animal is in the fence. If this continues an alarm is sounded.

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

Thanks for sharing that info. I will be on the lookout for them.

 

[PepsNick]

Use strong wire. NOT electric fence. Usually kills. Don't listen to the ads. I've heard disgusting stories about it. I don't even wanna go there today. DON'T, DO NOT use it.

Nick