Premiere electric fencing run

[pardus118]

We're considering doing an outdoor run with electric fencing (like Premiere fencing), but have some questions for those that have gone this route:

1. Do you usually enclose your coop within the run? If so, how easy is it to enter the fencing to clean the coop/feed the girls?

2. Alternatively, is it doable to create a chicken tunnel from the coop to the electric run? What's the best way to go about doing this?

3. We have a neighborhood hawk and believe that the run would probably be safest with netting over it. Is this doable with the electric fence?

4. For those that have young children, what measures have you taken to restrict access easy to the electric fencing?

Thank you in advance!

 

[Ridgerunner]

1. Do you usually enclose your coop within the run? If so, how easy is it to enter the fencing to clean the coop/feed the girls?

You can buy a gate with the fence. I don’t have one, I tie my netting into my coop/permanent run and use a door into the coop, out the other side of the coop, then through a permanent run door into the netting area. Not knowing exactly how you plant to set it up and manage it, you are probably better off getting a gate.

2. Alternatively, is it doable to create a chicken tunnel from the coop to the electric run? What's the best way to go about doing this?

Of course you can do something like this, we can do anything we set out minds to do. If you have a walk-in coop maybe build a tunnel high enough you can walk through to a gate with wooden gate posts. Tie your electric netting into those wooden posts so it doesn’t short out. That connection is kind of what I did, screw an eyebolt into the wood and use string to tie the end posts to the wooden posts.

3. We have a neighborhood hawk and believe that the run would probably be safest with netting over it. Is this doable with the electric fence?

This is a lot harder. I don’t know of a reasonable way to put netting over the size area you are probably talking about, especially if you want the netting to be mobile. If you want something permanent and covered, I think you would be better off building a regular covered run and use electric fencing, not electric netting.

3. For those that have young children, what measures have you taken to restrict access easy to the electric fencing?

Hee, hee, hee. (Evil laugh) None. It will not injure them, they will quickly learn to leave it alone. If you tell them to not touch they might learn to listen to you when you say “don’t touch”.