Most economical

[Driley62]

Hello all again!

A few days ago I posted about the electrified netting and reliability.

Now I'm curious about the easiest and most economical way to extend my run. Legitimate free range is unfortunately not an option as the predator threat is too great in my area. Also in my area for 100 foot of rolled fencing(2×4 openings also without hardware cloth) and u posts to do the job is around 250 bucks.

Again that doesn't include hardware cloth and any type of ground wire to prevent diggers. I was thinking instead of hardware cloth(if I go that route) installing 4 horizontal strands of electric wire in front of the fence on a charger. But that would sharply increase the coat immediately.

I'm conclusion I'm looking to increase my run size on a bit of a budget. Not exactly sure of the budget yet but I'm hoping to do the extension as cheap as possible and as easy as possible as my spouse can't help as she's pregnant with our 2nd child and want her to refrain from any physical labor while home because she does enough at her place of work.

**side note: looking at the netting avenue, between the grounding rod, solar charger appropriate for the netting, netting and all the appropriate parts and pieces at a local store is about 375-400.

Thanks all.

 

[DobieLover]

I didn't see the post about the netting.
I have three rolls of 42" high, 164' long poultry netting strung together with double the number of posts in the line and I put treated wood fence posts at the corners to prevent corner sagging. (I used insulators on the outside of the wood posts to keep the live strands from touching the wood).

I fenced in about 1/3 acre and power the line with a 10,000 volt charger. I've never lost a single bird inside the pen to predation. It's been up for over 2 1/2 years.
I purchased from Kencove. Not sure how you can enclose more space for less money with a more effective deterrent then 10,000 volts to the schnozz.
I have raccoons, coyote, fox, fisher (VERY nasty characters), neighbors dogs, and a resident momma black bear. All kept at bay with the fence. Momma black bear has been on our property many times since getting chickens. She was about 5 feet from our bedroom windows on two different occasions that I am aware of. She steers clear of the chickens enclosure.

I do have to maintain the line by moving the net and weed whacking a wide swath for it, spraying the area with a vegetation killer then putting the line back in the center of the swath the next day. I do this about 3 times a year.

And for the next winter I will move the line further away from the road to avoid it get knocked over by the plow wash. It's survived 3 winters so far but it did snap a few fiberglass posts.

 

[Driley62]

I didn't see the post about the netting.
I have three rolls of 42" high, 164' long poultry netting strung together with double the number of posts in the line and I put treated wood fence posts at the corners to prevent corner sagging. (I used insulators on the outside of the wood posts to keep the live strands from touching the wood).

I fenced in about 1/3 acre and power the line with a 10,000 volt charger. I've never lost a single bird inside the pen to predation. It's been up for over 2 1/2 years.
I purchased from Kencove. Not sure how you can enclose more space for less money with a more effective deterrent then 10,000 volts to the schnozz.
I have raccoons, coyote, fox, fisher (VERY nasty character), neighbors dogs mad: ), and a resident momma black bear. All kept at bay with the fence. Momma black bear has been on our property many times since getting chickens. She was about 5 feet from our bedroom windows on two different occasions that I am aware of. She steers clear of the chickens enclosure.

I do have to maintain the line by moving the net and weed whacking a wide swath for it, spraying the area with a vegetation killer then putting the line back in the center of the swath the next day. I do this about 3 times a year.

View attachment 2717776

And for the next winter I will move the line further away from the road to avoid it get knocked over my the plow wash. It's survived 3 winters so far but it did snap a few fiberglass posts.

We have all the same predators in our area as well including hawks and owls but where I plan on extension won't/shouldn't be much of any daytime threat due to canopy cover. I love the idea of the netting.but want a solar charger to charge the netting but am nervous about having to bring it in for a plug in charge(even if only a couple times a year) and be mandated overtime and the fence fail. I've been told a few times that the solar chargers need to be plugged in to charge as a supplement and the chances are greater given my northern location in nys(only about 15 minutes from the most north eastern border by canada). The original charger I was looking at purchasing was cheaper but found out it wasn't the rated joule to properly/effectively power the netting so the minimum one the store had was about 100 dollars more. Not exactly a deal breaker but it seemingly closed the gap of the money savings significantly to almost par with the rolled fencing and electric strands at face value. A plug in charger instead of a solar isn't an option either because of the expanse of ground from the nearest power source would pretty much meet and/or exceed costs of every avenue possible.

I actually spoke to an associate in a local store about her idea of the netting and she said she's only had the netting returned once but it sounds like the netting wasn't used for its intended purpose but rather to contain their personal dogs instead of contain/protect chickens.

Another concern was the snow we get too. We get both light and heavy wet snows too which was an obvious concern about the winter aspect.

I'm looking/hoping to make a purchase this week to start and hopefully have it done by next week as I have 9 new birds to introduce to the flock and I planned on keeping them segregated for a few weeks til they almost equal in size and close down my old coop and have them reside in one coop and have one very large run.

 

[DobieLover]

You mean heavy wet snows like this?

How far is the nearest power source to the coop?
It really isn't that hard to send a circuit to the coop or tap off a lightly loaded circuit to bring in the necessary power. Then you would also have power for running a heater for your water supply and run an LED light in the coop when you need it after dark.

 

[Driley62]

You mean heavy wet snows like this?
View attachment 2717907

How far is the nearest power source to the coop?
It really isn't that hard to send a circuit to the coop or tap off a lightly loaded circuit to bring in the necessary power. Then you would also have power for running a heater for your water supply and run an LED light in the coop when you need it after dark.

Heavy wet yes but accumulated like that probably once a year but I mean like wet heavy like close to the melt point heavy. But similar yes. I forgot I realized your also from ny

 

[Driley62]

You mean heavy wet snows like this?
View attachment 2717907

How far is the nearest power source to the coop?
It really isn't that hard to send a circuit to the coop or tap off a lightly loaded circuit to bring in the necessary power. Then you would also have power for running a heater for your water supply and run an LED light in the coop when you need it after dark.

I forgot too, nearest power source is about 100 foot away. Last year I ran an extension cord to a heated waterer.