Mobile Coop extension cord and electric fence

[SarahGfa]

All really great information. Thanks!

Is your ground wire and rods near the energizer? Or near the fence run through the garden hose using insulated wire?

Wondering how far the grounds can be from the fence itself. The first rod needs to be within 20' of the charger, but could the rods be 50' away from the fence itself because the hot is run via an insulated wire to the fence. Does that work? Or do the rods need to be close to the fence?

I have my ground wire wrapped around the bottom of my t-posts. I have heavy clay soil so the t-posts are the "grounding rods" and nothing else. The t-posts are only about a foot deep but I have 8 of them so it works ok for me.

The fence energizer is pretty small.... is there a reason why you want to have it so far away from the fence?

 

[RoyalChick]

All really great information. Thanks!

Is your ground wire and rods near the energizer? Or near the fence run through the garden hose using insulated wire?

Wondering how far the grounds can be from the fence itself. The first rod needs to be within 20' of the charger, but could the rods be 50' away from the fence itself because the hot is run via an insulated wire to the fence. Does that work? Or do the rods need to be close to the fence?

I am not sure. I didn't know enough to agonize about that at the time! I am not sure I even read the thing about the distance between the ground and the energizer. I am guessing it isn't as critical as you are thinking - particularly if the ground holds water which clay does.

I think my ground rods (I have 3 plus the useless copper one) are probably within 20' of the nearest part of the fence - but more like 50' from other parts of the fence.

By the way, get a fence tester so you can play around and learn what works.

I have not tried the pos-neg fence (no grounds needed) but am thinking of getting one for an area where I would not be able to run ground rods in because of rock.
I have also heard of people using hardware cloth or chicken wire laid on the ground instead of a ground rod - the predator stands on the chicken wire and touches the live fence and completes the circuit that way.

 

[RoyalChick]

I have my ground wire wrapped around the bottom of my t-posts. I have heavy clay soil so the t-posts are the "grounding rods" and nothing else. The t-posts are only about a foot deep but I have 8 of them so it works ok for me.

The fence energizer is pretty small.... is there a reason why you want to have it so far away from the fence?

Oh that is a smart way to do it.

 

[McChooky]

I have a mobile coop that I plan to move around my yard roughly 4 times a year with the hope that I can move an electric fence to give them more free range options as the year goes by. They will have a 6 x 12' dedicated predator proof 1/2" hard wire cloth run and access to the forage a few times a day when I'm out and about (not at work). My hope is that the electric fence keeps the big critters away during the day and the coop and the hardwire cloth mobile run keeps them locked in at night or when I have to be away for a while.

I have an ador1 door. So, to my questions:

I have two outdoor outlets in different locations in my yard. I was hoping to run an outdoor extension cord (50') into my coop for power and to use a plug in electric fence. Any issues I should know about this? I don't want to dig in because I plan to move the coop at least twice if not 6-8 times a year.

Does anyone have a battery back up for when you lose power or do you just assume that the two times a year it happens the critters will not know because they assume it is still powered and stay clear.

I was planning to get a Premier1 fence due to BYC recommendations. Anyone have thoughts about which one? I was looking at the 164' length but wonder if it would be better to get two shorter ones for ease on moving. Joule suggestions? I was thinking about the blue net so they can see it better. Let me know if you have any thoughts...I am completely new to electric fences. Do you normally turn it off before you move a section to enter the run or do people build temporary doors?

Lastly, I have cedar mulch in a few places in my yard, do I need to keep the chickens away from it? I've read that it isn't good for the chickens. But I've also seen that some people use cedar shavings as bedding. Am I missing something? I put cedar mulch around my garden because it is supposed to attract less bugs. Now I'm wondering if I need to move it to a chicken free zone.

I use a 10 gauge extension cord designed for outdoors with an electric fence charger. (its mounted on a post with a 5 gallon bucket flipped upside down to shelter it from rain and snow)We have too many cloudy days to use a solar charger.

 

[McChooky]

You can run a hot wire the length of your yard to connect the portable chicken tractor from one end of the yard to the other using a lead.