Question about electric fencing and weather

[Mom2Cool]

esjro I got my coop from
http://www.cedargroveproducts.com/products/pet-structures/chicken/index.php
and if you'd like another couple pictures of my actual coop I had just been speaking to someone else who'd gotten the same one on this thread on the "coops thread" https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=1022944

With the exception of the bears (who didn't get the opportunity to really test it) the coop is truly predator proof and that has been put to the test by a possuim. On the back wall There's a nice long window that opens & is all wired for safety. When it was still warm & prior to the electric fence, I had been leaving the thing open at night for ventalation until one day I notice these white hairs stuck to the bars & what looked like the black of the wire rubbed off where something tried to naw at it. It didn't get any farther than rubbing off the black from it a little & they were all secure. Of course now we've got a bit of extra protection with the electric around the pen but I still use a key lock on the doors & they put on latches designed for a key lock like you'd use on a locker or a bike chain etc. Anyway there's no gaps or any where that anything can get in.


We not all that good here about building stuff and I wanted something that would be reliable & yet large enough so that I could have a nice small flock of about 6 to 8. The coup I'd gotten was the 4 X 6 and looking at their web site I see they have added another version in addition to the one I'd gotten. I like the way it looked in the yard & I thought it was more cost reasonable than anything else I'd seen. There was a place in CA that had the most adorable coops but they weren't near the size of the one I'd gotten & were like $1600. & with shipping it would have bee like $2800. The one I got ended up about $1000. *including the shipping here* there was no putting anything together & I didn't have to go leveling like for a shed either. They also put it in place where you want it to go. The only thing that I'd want that it didn't have was electric already in it or a means of having a place to thread a wire or 2 through that would still be safe from predators. But I just use the wired window on the back for that anyway.

the people I delt with were very professional & I emailed them for prices & it was just all very smooth & they're very accomidating.. I thin the smallest model they had was the 4 X 4 which was around $450. (without shipping) And again in comparison I think it's real reasonable. I imagine they'd let one pick it up too but with gas & all I figured it was easier to just let them deliver. I'm not sure if they've had the prices go up since I'd gotten mine because of the gas. I'd write to him for the prices if you're considering it.

Oh & yes I'm in NJ but WAY north in Passaic almost Sussex.

 

[guitari609]

Ok, I just installed an electric wire fence. It is four wire, one at about 6", one at 12" and so on around my garden, to keep out the chickens. I don't know the voltage or amperage, but it was the smallest they had at Lowe's. It does say that it is not recommended for dogs (and I heard what was apparently a stray dog wander into it about 2 am the first night....apparently it works....) but I have heard 3000 volts is ok for poultry. Anyhow, I got home and one of my ducks was deader than a door nail, and laying right beside the fence, on the inside. Now I am worried to death about the others hitting it. I am not sure if the fence actually killed her, or if she just ended up on the wrong side and basically died in a panic, or just kept hitting it until it killed her maybe? So now I have to figure out what to do....

 

[FFChick]

I've got the same pre-made coop. I found it was even large enough to divide in half by building a dividing wall of wire mesh in the coop. I added two 2x4 roosting boards for the hens to sleep on at night. I cut an additional door on the backwall for second chicken apartment. I have two dog pens connected to two sides of the coop. I have six hens living in each side. My husband wired electric into the coop. We installed gray PVC plastic tubing in the ground to run the wires from the house to the coop. The dog pens are covered with wire fencing so the hawks can't get my twelve hens. I use spring clips on the door latches and gate latches. I layed wire mesh along the pen bottoms and under the coop to keep preditors from digging into the pen. Nothing has gotten to my hens since we built the stucture in July 08'. We have electric fence wire around my alpaca. All my critters seem happy. Tractor Suppy is my favorite store now.

 

[esjro]

Wow guitari609, sorry to hear that! My chickens run into the fence all the time and don't flinch - I think their feathers insulate them. In any case, it is the current more than the voltage that causes problem - a high voltage will give a good kick, but it is the current that if too high can give the fatal jolt.

Sorry to hear about your loss. Maybe try Premier1 or Tractor Supply's website for a energizer that is designed for poultry use? We got ours from Premier and the chickens haven't had a problem but it definitely keeps my dog from visiting them!

 

[newchickmom]

To the original question

, I always unplug our fence charger when we are going to have bad weather. I really don't want to have to buy a new one any sooner than necessary. Ours is mainly for the horse pasture, but it is also on the top of the fence surounding the barn and coop area. The horses don't check to see if it is off.

 

[guitari609]

I checked the voltage on it yesterday, it was 2500 volts, which Tractor Supply recommends 2-4000 volts for poultry....I even touched it myself to make sure it wasn't too hot, and it didn't seem overly powerful to me...and I've run into my share of electric fences..lol. Who knows, the duck has been hit by a red tail hawk (I witnessed it) and attacked pretty roughly by a dog, survived and kept laying. I told my friend....she just wasn't meant to be. Her poor partner though is about to go nuts now, it won't be long before I will be able to put this years ducks in with her though.

 

[gardenak]

O.K., after reading all the posts, I'm confused. I'm building a new coop right behind our house because that is the only place I have to put it. We have aerial predators as well as the 4 legged variety so I was going to build an enclosed run with hardware cloth. My questions are: 1. to keep bears, dogs and minks out- how many strands of electric wire will I need, and how far apart starting on the ground will they need to be? 2. What if our ground is very hard and rocky? I serioulsy doubt I can pound 1 rod into the ground 6-8', let alone more than one. What else can I do? 3. the ground is usually wet/damp here, how will that affect anyone standing near the wire-will they get shocked? 4. Will an electric fence work if I bury a foot of the hardware cloth in the ground to discourage digging predators?

 

[Uriah Heep]

First post for me, and let me say this is a cool site, really enjoy what I see so far.

We raise Production Reds out in the middle of the country, and have packs of coyotes howling all around us at night. We have at least two dens of foxes, plus a squadron of owls and hawks. In four years of having chickens, I know we have lost only 1 bird to predation, and that was to a dog (the neighbor's).

We did have a great horned owl get into the coop once also, but it killed no chickens.

We use Premiere 1 electric poultry fencing, and one of their recommended solar chargers. Yes, the fence gives a snap, but no it doesn't kill or hurt the hens.

One word of caution. Don't touch the electronet and anything metal at the same time. We have an old chain link dog kennel on our brooder house, and once I accidentally touched the chain link and the electronet at the same time. It was like a sledgehammer hit me square in the chest, seriously. NOT to be repeated ever.

Our electronet has been out continually for three years now in Missouri weather, and not a single problem.

Even in a varmint rich environment, electronet works.

 

[FFChick]

I started my chicken hobby last August. I just attached dog pens to my wooden pre-fab coop. I layed wire fencing across the tops of the pens that were reinforced with presure treated 2x4s. Our property is very rocky, too. We have large rocks and wire mesh along the bottom of the fencing. We have hawks, bears, foxes, coyotte and some stray dogs in my area in NJ. So far nothing has gotten to to 12 hens.

 

[rooster0209]

Whatever you do...don't pee on it. I know a guy who was talked into this by his older brother

Animals do have a sense about electricity.