- Jul 9, 2009
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Has anybody ever done this . I was reading this and thought how that would work and if somebody has had success with it . thanks Predator Issues Baiting Fences
A method to discourage predators is known as fence baiting. Take a predator-killed or naturally deceased chicken and lash them to hot wires on the fence. This teaches predators that chicken tastes even worse than porcupines, toads, and skunks. I like to put bait at the point where I guess the predator enters the field. Anything that slows them down is likely to zap them.
Traps and Fences
Unbaited leg-hold traps are recommended by Joel Salatin and others for catching predators that attack broilers in pasture pens, but in an unfenced field they might catch anythingyour dog, the sheep, anything. Using them inside the perimeter fence should catch nothing but predators that sneak past the fence (assuming the chickens in the pasture pens can't escape). Predators tend to circle the houses before deciding where to strike. See Pastured Poultry Profits for details. This has never worked for us, but maybe you'll be luckier. We have had better luck with live traps, but the results are still uncertain.
Electrified Houses
My original use of electric fence wire was on the individual houses themselves. My pasture houses are mounted on skids, and have a low front which the hens hop to the top of when entering and leaving the house. Predators climb rather than hop, so fence wire along the front of the house and between the skids should keep them out.
An electrified house. The yellow insulators near ground level are (perhaps) just visible in the photo. Chickens hop up to the top of the low front to get inside; predators have to climb. The mast at the back of the house allows the hot wire to come from overhead.
This works pretty well, actually, but I switched to a system of perimeter fencing once I realized that a coyote had learned to howl right outside a henhouse at night, causing the hens to fly out in blind panic. (I discovered this by pitching a tent and camping on the pasture to figure out what was happening to my hens.) Once the predators learned to use the houses as a hen dispenser, I figured that perimeter fencing was the way to go.
Salatin-style pasture pens are easy to electrify; just nail insulators on the corners and surround the house with a hot wire a few inches above ground level. Predators nosing around the pen will get a nasty shock. I recommend using a mast (a ten-foot long two-by-four is good) to get the feeder wire high enough that you aren't constantly running into it.
Be careful to electrify just the wire, not the poultry netting on the sides of the house. The chickens don't appreciate electrified walls
A method to discourage predators is known as fence baiting. Take a predator-killed or naturally deceased chicken and lash them to hot wires on the fence. This teaches predators that chicken tastes even worse than porcupines, toads, and skunks. I like to put bait at the point where I guess the predator enters the field. Anything that slows them down is likely to zap them.
Traps and Fences
Unbaited leg-hold traps are recommended by Joel Salatin and others for catching predators that attack broilers in pasture pens, but in an unfenced field they might catch anythingyour dog, the sheep, anything. Using them inside the perimeter fence should catch nothing but predators that sneak past the fence (assuming the chickens in the pasture pens can't escape). Predators tend to circle the houses before deciding where to strike. See Pastured Poultry Profits for details. This has never worked for us, but maybe you'll be luckier. We have had better luck with live traps, but the results are still uncertain.
Electrified Houses
My original use of electric fence wire was on the individual houses themselves. My pasture houses are mounted on skids, and have a low front which the hens hop to the top of when entering and leaving the house. Predators climb rather than hop, so fence wire along the front of the house and between the skids should keep them out.
An electrified house. The yellow insulators near ground level are (perhaps) just visible in the photo. Chickens hop up to the top of the low front to get inside; predators have to climb. The mast at the back of the house allows the hot wire to come from overhead.
This works pretty well, actually, but I switched to a system of perimeter fencing once I realized that a coyote had learned to howl right outside a henhouse at night, causing the hens to fly out in blind panic. (I discovered this by pitching a tent and camping on the pasture to figure out what was happening to my hens.) Once the predators learned to use the houses as a hen dispenser, I figured that perimeter fencing was the way to go.
Salatin-style pasture pens are easy to electrify; just nail insulators on the corners and surround the house with a hot wire a few inches above ground level. Predators nosing around the pen will get a nasty shock. I recommend using a mast (a ten-foot long two-by-four is good) to get the feeder wire high enough that you aren't constantly running into it.
Be careful to electrify just the wire, not the poultry netting on the sides of the house. The chickens don't appreciate electrified walls
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