Premier-1 Poultry Fencing - WARNING

[All4Eggz]

I am going to start off by saying that I love Premier-1 poultry products.

This is a warning to all homesteaders that use this type of netting.

I had two chickens get tangled up in the netting just today. Many in the past as well.
One of them would have died if I hadn’t got
her free in time. The other one had her leg stuck.

I took these photos after attempting to free her. It was no use. I tried pushing her through, and pulling her out but it wouldn’t work. Was about 5 minutes of me trying to free her with my hands.
Then I ran to get a pair of kitchen shearers. I had to cut the fencing to free her. She was dazed for a bit afterwards, but she is now running around and has no injuries that I can notice.

Just as I was cutting the fencing… I heard another chicken screeching close by. Another chicken stuck in the netting.

It is completely my fault that there is fencing laying around.
This time it was just her leg. I didn’t have to cut any fencing.

Some of the chickens like to fly over the fence. I have clipped their wings multiple times but they have grown back so I am going to clip again.


If you have this type of netting, it is very crucial that you charge it to be electric!
This type of fencing is supposed to be electric but we have not gotten to that yet.

Just a warning to all y’all. I don’t want anything like this happening to someone else.

Ways to prevent this is to clip your chickens’ wings regularly and make your fencing electric.

 

[3KillerBs]

I've never had one get that badly stuck, but in addition to keeping the charger on I also keep the fence pulled as tightly as I possibly can -- minimizing the amount of slack.

Smaller chickens do try to squeeze through the openings sometimes, but with the fence taught they usually either wiggle through or bounce back.

When I have chicks in the run I make a chick-tight inner curtain with plastic mesh. It's not perfect, but it contains them most of the time.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/chick-tight-inner-curtain.1500002/#post-25069571

 

[Tre3hugger]

It says right on the Premier1 website that this can happen without electrification. This is a great product, when used as intended. Also, leaving a big net on the ground will probably catch something! Not exactly fair to warn against a product when in both instances, you were not using it as instructed.

Glad your birds are okay! Sucks you had to cut the net.

 

[All4Eggz]

It says right on the Premier1 website that this can happen without electrification. This is a great product, when used as intended. Also, leaving a big net on the ground will probably catch something! Not exactly fair to warn against a product when in both instances, you were not using it as instructed.

Glad your birds are okay! Sucks you had to cut the net.

Thanks.
I have already said I know this is my fault. Just thought I‘d give others a warning in case other poultry owners don’t already have electric voltage connected to the fencing.

 

[DobieLover]

Once you do run current through the fence it becomes a hazard to the wildlife you are and are not trying to keep out of the pen.

To date countless frogs, a few toads, one big beautiful mother snapping turtle and a young buck have lost their lives in my fence. That's a difficult thing to come to terms with if you respect and love nature as I do.
I will never ever forget what it felt like to find the young buck laying in freezing cold water with the fence wrapped tightly around his antlers down on his head and face with blood coming from his eyes getting jolted with 10,000 volts over and over.
All.
Night.
Long.

He died about 4 hours after being freed from the fence and dragged from the freezing water. I wanted him shot immediately but don't have a gun and the neighbor wouldn't do it.

Horrifying.

 

[Alaskan]

I've never had one get that badly stuck, but in addition to keeping the charger on I also keep the fence pulled as tightly as I possibly can -- minimizing the amount of slack.

That!


I use lots of net...

Some of that premier 1 electric fence, and lots of different kinds of fishnet.

Pulled tight and everything is good.

Any slack, or bunched up net will catch all sorts of critters

 

[addctd2plnts]

It's actually worse to NOT electrify it to start with, because then they aren't taught to stay AWAY from it. Pull it tight and don't leave it sagging. Follow Premier 1s fencing instructions and you'll limit problems a lot.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I have never had a chicken killed or injured with my electric netting from Premiere1. I have seen a chicken hit a hot wire with its comb, wattles, or beak (not sure which) while it was standing on the ground and pecking at grass in the netting and get shocked. It jumped up and back about 3 feet, squawked, and went back to eating.

I don't do bantams. My chicks can get through the netting until they are about 7 or 8 weeks old. Most of them don't but they can. It's just something I live with. It's never been a serious problem but the potential for a problem is there. The chicks' feathers insulate them but their head or feet can conduct electricity. For the circuit to be complete they have to touch a hot wire at the same time they are touching a ground. What happens with the young chicks they jump up to a larger opening to go through and don't touch the soil at the same time as they touch a hot wire. With the netting the soil is the ground. An electric fence can be different as far as the ground.

One of the safety features of the netting and electric fencing is that it pulses instead of having a steady current. It will pulse about 50 times a minute. That gives the critter or a person the chance to turn loose. The instinctive reaction is to turn loose and jump back. They could not turn loose of a steady current which would likely kill them.

I have found critters trapped in the netting. The only "fast" critter was a frog, which died. I've had three snapping turtles that were sitting there jerking every time that current pulsed. When I turned the current off and untangled them two of them walked away and apparently lived. One died. I found a possum tangled in the netting, again jerking every time it pulsed. She died but it wasn't the electricity that killed her. But it trapped her, tangled her up. The saddest to me was a five feet long rat snake that died. It tried to get through the netting and couldn't get free. Not tangled, just could not get free. I had a deer hit the netting running and knocked it down, but that deer kept running. I could tell by the footprints that it was running.

I have no doubt that netting has prevented countless fox, coyote, dogs, raccoons and such from getting to my chickens. I saw a wondering dog touch it once. It yelped, ran about 50 feet, looked back at the netting, then kept walking away. I never saw it again.

No matter what you do in life something can happen. Even if you stay in bed all day to try to avoid anything you can get bedsores. If you are going to keep chickens things will happen. I try to minimize the bad things but I know I'll never totally eliminate them. I just do the best I can.

 

[Tre3hugger]

Fortunately, it's easily repaired.

It comes with a repair kit and instructions.

Another thing I love about it. I have 2, 100 ft rolls

 

[3KillerBs]

Does the electricity prevent the chickens from getting close to the netting?

To an extent. Once they've gotten their sensitive beaks zapped a few times they give the fence some room. But their thick feathers do insulate them from shocks if they're not contacting it with more sensitive parts.

Is it possible that I melt the plastic together? Or would that mess up the electric wires running through?

No, it's repaired by tying the special, metal-and-plastic twine together.

Premier1 has fabulous customer service. I'm sure that if you contact them they'll explain it for you.