Please recommend a pasture fence design

[chrism]

Regardless of breed chosen, work on the fencing and pens to facilitate dog's efforts. Make certain dog learns how fencing works to its advantage and you may need to make so dog can cross fencing at will when predator has already done so by either going under or more likely over. Also get a good flash lite to provide assist when threat is beyond dog's reach. Also be prepared to invest a lot of time. Two dogs much more than twice the protection provided by one dog.

I'm not sure what is being recommended here.
The dog will be inside the fence and if anything comes in and then escapes under/over the fence, well... there's always next time I guess.
I wouldn't want the dog to be able to cross the fence and make chase after a pest.
Is my thinking wrong on this?

 

[centrarchid]

I'm not sure what is being recommended here.
The dog will be inside the fence and if anything comes in and then escapes under/over the fence, well... there's always next time I guess.
I wouldn't want the dog to be able to cross the fence and make chase after a pest.
Is my thinking wrong on this?

We seldom catch varmint but we do like to fence x dog interaction which makes visits less pleasant for predators and in a manner that makes so predator can see without actually penetrating your setup that the effort entails risk. Dogs in my case do on occasion need to cross fence but fart from every time. If you have a single paddock with dogs and stock well inside then dog not crossing is not an issue. If poultry not tightly contained (frequently a reality) or area to be defended large dog(s) may need to be able to cross fencing.


You need to describe setup up better. Mine involves multiple paddocks over multiple acres. I also work to keep stock away from perimeter to prevent snatch and grab with predator routinely using fencing against dog. You need to experience such yourself so that statement has credibility.

 

[centrarchid]

Do not get overly into the breeds typical use.

 

[chrism]

I had to read that a few times before I could understand it but that all makes since now.
My situation:
I am in zone 7A Central Va. Our winters are generally mild but can hang below freezing for weeks at a time.
Our summers are also mild but can climb above 90° for most of August.
I have approx. 1 acre that is enclosed by Premier 1 energized poultry netting.
My flock consists of 50 duel breed egg laying hens and a mated pair of watch geese.
This 1 acre is nestled within 7 heavily wooded acres that I will continue to clear to eventually add flocks of meat hens, geese, ducks and turkeys each all on their own enclosed 1 acre.
The hens free range at will and and put themselves to bed in an open access 10x40 hoop house situated on my compost pile.
My grandmother chuckles at me that I've provided such a fancy coop. She tells me that she would let her "yard birds" roost in the trees and would stroll around her yard every morning looking for eggs.
I asked her what she fed them and she chuckled again. "They ate what they ate" is about all that I could get out of her.
I do have the coop closed in sufficiently to protect against winter wind.
The geese do a wonderfully fantastic job of early alarms that get the hens huddled together quickly in the coop.
The other day Jake the Drake and Minnie the Moocher sounded off in a particular way and in a flash all of the hens where in the coop. 30 seconds later, as I stood there wondering what the heck was going on, I suddenly heard the hunting dogs.
The alarm must of had an inaudible difference because most of time, when they honk and flap, the hens don't even look up from pecking.

I plan on each yard containing its flock, a pair of watch geese (except the goose yard of course), a pair of barn cats, and small breed varmint dog.
As I expand, I will slowly begin to enclose all of the yards within a 6' tall no-climb fence.
Eventually, this entire area outside of the individual yards but within the perimeter fence area will be patrolled by large breed guard dogs.

My eventual goal is to employ a multi-layered defense against rodents all the way up to two legged predators.

This board has been a wealth of info so far and I appreciate everybodys patients.

 

[Folly's place]

Now I'm confused; do you have more land available, or do you have one acre total? Electric poultry netting will do a good job of keeping ground predators at bay, and a dog will mostly be redundant in this small area. Not that having a nice dog is a bad idea! Expecting a dog to save them from hawks is probably not going to happen, at least not all the time. Mary

 

[chrism]

Sorry for the confusion.
I live on 7 acres of which 5 is dedicated to our avian farm.
1 acre is currently in use for my egg hens.
Once this 1 acre is situated and I have the next plot cleared, I will move on with my turkey yard.

 

[centrarchid]

Your grandmother likely did not confine 50 birds to one acre and expect all nutrition to come from free-range foraging. I could not keep more than ten birds year round without at least supplemental feeding.


How many stretches of fencing (assumed to be 164') are used to define your acre currently used to support 50 hens? What size charger in Joules is used to keep the fencing hot?


Where will you keep young dog(s) during the 18 to 24 months needed to get chicken safe while not under supervision?

 

[chrism]

Your grandmother likely did not confine 50 birds to one acre and expect all nutrition to come from free-range foraging. I could not keep more than ten birds year round without at least supplemental feeding.

This is true.
She told me that she did not concern herself with confining the chickens at all.
She used the example of the Blue Jays, Robins (she seemed particularly fond of Robin eggs), rabbits and any other critter that she foraged food from. She didn't confine any of them.

Quote: 4 runs of 164' PermaNet Plus and 1 100' run of non-energized chicken wire covered picket fence.
2 Joule AC/DC energizer

Quote: Well... I'm hoping that using a small breed varmint dog will help in mitigating this concern.
Realistically though, my plan is to house the dog separate from the enclosed chicken yard while not under supervision.

 

[centrarchid]

You will be spending a lot of money to make so many paddocks where each is 1 acre in size. Well into the thousands for fencing alone and multiple chargers will be required.

Small breed will not make the breaking in process easier. My understanding is you will have one medium dog per paddock.


How will you protect landscape from overgrazing by chickens?

 

[123RedBeard]

There is 43,560 sq ft in an acre.

If your current 756' of fencing is set up in a perfect square of 189' ... You will have 35,721 sq ft, so at most .82 acre fenced in ... If for instance you had a rectangle of 100' X 278' you would only have 27,800 sq ft which is only .63 acre fenced in ... So you probably have closer to 3/4 of an acre with your current setup.

For that much fencing (as your proposed long range plan) ... I would think that a perimeter of field fence, http://m.redbrand.com/759238?t=f1qj3qc73vd4i591qrv91f2e30 with a few strands of electric would be much better, and easier to maintain, and last much longer ... An acre would need 840-1,000 ft of fencing ... multiple fence lines of 5-6 164' sections of poultry netting is going to take a lot of maintenance to keep the weeds down ... And how many years will it last?

Here is an fence length per acre guide ... http://m.redbrand.com/759957?t=f1qj3qc73vd4i591qrv91f2e30 if your runs are back to back, they could share a fence line on one side ...