Newbie - excited but a bit worried, I want to do right by them!

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ChicoryBlue said:
Thank you @jsr5! I just finished reading an article here about electric fencing https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/a-treatise-on-electric-fences-for-poultry.72229/ and am trying to decide between the two lines method and poultry netting. I can see these Buckeyes really want to explore and roam around, though at this stage (9 weeks old) they do a little with me there and then quickly scramble back to the coop tractor. The tractor does have a welded wire skirt, it sticks out about 10 inches. Makes it hard to pull around in taller grass. Some people stake the skirt down but I haven't yet as I'm moving it every day or so. Not a real anti-dig setup though but better than nothing. When I stop moving it for the winter I'll secure it to the ground better.

Yes, I was thinking of the tractor coop being at the center of a moveable electric fence around it, and using it to help prop up some sort of aviary netting, maybe with a pole secured by the coop tractor. Then leave it like that for a few days. Cooper hawks are big here too - until this year we had a nesting pair very close to us, they would cruise our skies over the house every day!

What about fishers and smaller weasels with the two line electric fence method? Seems the bottom line might not be low enough deter those guys. Could they jump over it, but under the higher line? And do your chickens respect that fence?

Thank you for all your suggestions!
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I only think I had a weasle come around one time. Not sure past that I have not lost any chickens to weasel or mink. They may be able to move under it but their natural locomotion causes them to hit the bottom one. and they don't stick around to study the situation after that in my experience. Only thing I think tried the fence more than once with electric on was my hard headed German Shepherd. She is now chicken safe but it took a while. I like the chicken net electric fences I am just not in a position to buy them they are pricey fior my budget and amounts needed. BTW any metal net or fence that you can keep insulated from the ground will conduct electricity a guy I know has welded wire pens that is all electrified. When my chickens are out of the run the fence is off. They die to easy for me to test whether they would learn to respect it. BTW I had a game cam set up for a while. The electric fence I had worked for fox coon coyote and some how a paniced possum got his tail tangled in the wire and died from the repeated shocking as the charger does kick out with a dead short but will attempt to reset every little while. Guess he fainted and didn't wake up faster than the reset. Oh yeah dogs feral cats. Only thing I have seen get through are feild mice and voles. My run is of chicken wire with anti dig hardware cloth 18 inches into the ground. I am learing though and am going back around with 1/2 inch hardware cloth. since the electric could fail and then the fencing would have to do the detering.
Also a note if you let that tractor set in any grassy place too long the grass will grow through the skirt and once it has it is a bear to get back free But good that it has it.

I know it's long but I hope it helps I'm so smitten with my birds I now think everyone should have at least a couple. So I"m glad to help.
 
jsr5 said:
I only think I had a weasle come around one time. Not sure past that I have not lost any chickens to weasel or mink. They may be able to move under it but their natural locomotion causes them to hit the bottom one. and they don't stick around to study the situation after that in my experience. Only thing I think tried the fence more than once with electric on was my hard headed German Shepherd. She is now chicken safe but it took a while. I like the chicken net electric fences I am just not in a position to buy them they are pricey fior my budget and amounts needed. BTW any metal net or fence that you can keep insulated from the ground will conduct electricity a guy I know has welded wire pens that is all electrified. When my chickens are out of the run the fence is off. They die to easy for me to test whether they would learn to respect it. BTW I had a game cam set up for a while. The electric fence I had worked for fox coon coyote and some how a paniced possum got his tail tangled in the wire and died from the repeated shocking as the charger does kick out with a dead short but will attempt to reset every little while. Guess he fainted and didn't wake up faster than the reset. Oh yeah dogs feral cats. Only thing I have seen get through are feild mice and voles. My run is of chicken wire with anti dig hardware cloth 18 inches into the ground. I am learing though and am going back around with 1/2 inch hardware cloth. since the electric could fail and then the fencing would have to do the detering.
Also a note if you let that tractor set in any grassy place too long the grass will grow through the skirt and once it has it is a bear to get back free But good that it has it.

I know it's long but I hope it helps I'm so smitten with my birds I now think everyone should have at least a couple. So I"m glad to help.
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Length is not a problem, your descriptions are very helpful! I am smitten too, & love hearing about your experience! I wondered about what happens when a chicken tests an electric fence, and wondered about the charge. Maybe it can be set to a very tiny zap until they learn, or it has to be bigger around than the chickens like to range, which I think was a point in that electric fence article I read. Which would mean a lot of fence and a lot more money, if one even has the space / acreage to do that. Hmmm. Thank you for replying, lots to think about!
 
I think most domestic fence chargers are required to be wildlife safe meaning if a sparrow hits it it won't cause permanent injury so "should" be safe for chickens but I went cheap and not domestic so maybe that is a concern especially after the possum died Many specify they are for chickens and stuff so should be able to get one that will be safe. Mine are smallish just for around coops and runs I am looking to buy a bigger one that is solar and will do a large area to see if I can better control predation. I'm also going to cover the large open areas they hang out in with netting high enough to walk and mow under so it can be left up to discourage hawks and owls which we have too much of. Then I can let them out earlier to maximize their foraging time. And maximize my peace of mind.
 
jmns said:
Welcome to the forum and the crazy world of chickens, the only sane place to be!😊
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Thank you very much. I am finding that time with the chickens, being with them, and then being here, reading about them, is time well spent. Whether it's serious research or just looking at chickens, beautiful and goofy, it's very good for my sanity!
 
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