Losing Chickens With Electric Fence

[cmom]

Did you have the aviary netting up when the owl got in?

No, it was after I discovered it with the game camera.

 

[April’s Zoo]

I would think something could just go under the hotwire and then climb up & over the fence that’s not electrified.
Isn’t there some way you could get it much closer everywhere? I’ve never set one up before, so I don’t know exactly how they work, but couldn’t you run the hot wire so that it’ll electrify the whole fence?

 

[cmom]

There is no way a critter can get between the hot wire and the fence and not touch the electric wire. I have seen coons on my property and so far they don't mess with the fence. I have heard critters come in contact with the wire and once they touch it they don't come back to test it again. When I have accidentally touched it, it has made my heart skip several beats. I have a game camera out there. I had another one but it died and I haven't replaced it yet. I have several cameras around the property and see critters most every night. Most of the predators roam at night. Every evening I test the wire with a voltage tester and know my wire is working.

 

[cmom]

I would think something could just go under the hotwire and then climb up & over the fence that’s not electrified.
Isn’t there some way you could get it much closer everywhere? I’ve never set one up before, so I don’t know exactly how they work, but couldn’t you run the hot wire so that it’ll electrify the whole fence?

No, but if you touch the electric wire and the fence, you will surely know it. My first wire is close enough to the ground nothing can get under it without touching it except for a rat or mouse. Several years ago I had two snakes get electrocuted but that was because they were touching the ground and the electric wire at the same time. They were in almost the exact same place a week apart.

 

[MickWithChicks]

A cat would have no problem leaping over those wires to get up and over. It also follows the eating patterns of cats.

Starting at the head and working its way down, dragging them under the raised coop to eat, and only taking two instead of your whole flock? As well as getting in without getting shocked? Definitely sounds like a cat to me.

Also, I don't think an owl would drag them under the coop to eat instead of flying off with one. I don't know anything about racoons as we don't have them here, and foxes tend to kill the whole flock.

 

[cmom]

I have several owl pictures of the owls eating on the birds they killed. They didn't fly off with them, at least not on the videos from my cameras. I saved the videos.

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

A cat would have no problem leaping over those wires to get up and over. It also follows the eating patterns of cats.

Starting at the head and working its way down, dragging them under the raised coop to eat, and only taking two instead of your whole flock? As well as getting in without getting shocked? Definitely sounds like a cat to me.

Also, I don't think an owl would drag them under the coop to eat instead of flying off with one. I don't know anything about racoons as we don't have them here, and foxes tend to kill the whole flock.

Good point. What about a fox? I know they can climb and jump.

 

[DyingPhoenix]

Update. Saw a huge owl fly away from the nearby trees when I went out at sundown. I went just now to shove them all in the coop and shut it.. Body is gone from the enclosure and no pics. Grrrrr. Chickens are safe for the night. Moved the cam but I don't think an owl will land in the pen if there's nothing to go for. I'm thinking owl now. They are hooting everywhere out there even as I type this.

 

[DyingPhoenix]

So to add to my last post. Something came for the last half of that corpse and carried it away so fast I got no pics. Had to come in by air. I should have listened and tied it down. I thought it might linger.

 

[MickWithChicks]

I have several owl pictures of the owls eating on the birds they killed. They didn't fly off with them, at least not on the videos from my cameras. I saved the videos.

Interesting. Did they drag them under a raised coop, or just eat them where they killed them?

Good point. What about a fox? I know they can climb and jump.

Foxes would have no issue getting in there. The problem with foxes is they tend to try to kill everything and leave the corpses behind to pickup later. I don't think they'd just eat the heads and upper torso's and leave the rest alive.

So to add to my last post. Something came for the last half of that corpse and carried it away so fast I got no pics. Had to come in by air. I should have listened and tied it down. I thought it might linger.

Maybe it was an owl then. I'd be surprised if it left the corpse behind last time unless you spooked it.