Premier one poultry netting???

[LittleRedCoopLady]

Has anyone had success using Premier one electrified poultry netting? What were the pros/cons for you? We are considering this type of fencing for our chickens.....

 

[Ridgerunner]

The poultry netting stopped all land-based predators, including digging and climbing ones. It does not stop flying predators like hawks, eagles, or owls.

You need to set it up properly. With the netting the soil is the ground so you need to get your grounding rod set up correctly. The horizontal wires in the netting are the hot wires, except for the very bottom one that is touching the ground.

The netting can sag. I guy wired the corners to keep the netting tight. If a hot wire sags and touches the ground the netting can be shorted out. You can hear it sparking when that happens. I use twigs like this to hold some sagging wires up off of the ground.

If grass or weeds grow up through it they can short it out. The chickens will not keep those cleaned out so you have to clean that fence line. A weed-eater will destroy the netting. I have to take it down and mow along the fence line when that happens, then put it back up. How often depends on the time of the year and how much rain I get. Wind or a flooding rain can blow or wash leaves, cut grass if it is tall, or just trash against the fence. If it is damp that can short the fence out. Netting is not something you can just put up and forget. It requires maintenance.

Snow can make it ineffective. A wet snow might short it out. A dry snow can insulate the critter from the soil so it does not get a shock when it touches a hot wire. Once a critter is zapped it learns to not touch the fence, so a snow is not a big problem for a critter that has been zapped. But new predators are being born or weaned all the time. There is always a risk if the fence is not working properly, I don't want to mislead you. But I never lost a chicken to a land-based predator with this netting even with snow on the ground.

The pro is that they work. The con is that they require maintenance.

 

[3KillerBs]

I'm using 100 feet of the 48" with an Intellishock 60 solar charger (their kit package), right now.

It's been effective so far. When well-charged the Intellishock maxes the fence tester so, though it's not been tested while I was conscious and present I'm reasonably confident in it's ability to deter predators. I know that there are raccoons on the property, one of which has been into the trash cans about 100 feet away from the pen, but I've seen no evidence of them getting after the chickens.

The kit was incredibly simple to set up even for a first-timer with electric. I can move the post easily and they hold reasonably well -- I just shift things enough to tighten it up once a week or so.

The cons are:
The chickens are contained only so far as they wish to be. In particular, the California White can fly out any time she wants to.

Before they were full grown they could slip through the fence. I had to install a temporary fence of 18" of plastic hardware cloth inside the electric net to keep them from scooting out. They have a different fence, the Shock or Not, which is supposed to be chick-tight on the bottom. Mine is the regular kind.

The solar charger has to be brought in to plug in once or twice a week during these short days, especially if it's overcast or rainy. Snow would be a problem, but I'm in Central North Carolina so we don't get much of that and not every year.

We're thinking that for the permanent setup we'll use hardware cloth and hot wires while keeping this to surround a meat bird tractor area, make a temporary pen around a garden area, or for separating birds we intend to sell or cull from the rest of the flock.

 

[3KillerBs]

I have to take it down and mow along the fence line when that happens, then put it back up.

Yes. I had to pull the fence and mow the fenceline once every 2-3 weeks all summer. It wasn't difficult to do, but did take a little time.