Small electric wire for foxes

[goodfood59]

I am raising broilers, ala Joel Salatin –mobile 12’X10’X2’ shelter moved daily. I have one shelter going now and another starting in about three weeks –total of two. I am pasturing them in a rather remote field -about 1.5 miles from my house, not a lot of human activity around there. There are also fox dens in the area, and plenty of foxes around. Unfortunately, the dens are not on my land so I cannot get rid of the dens myself. I purchased a Havahart SS-2LGX Battery-Operated Nuisance Animal Intermittent 1 Mile Electric Fence Charger. I put two wraps of electric wire (with insulators) on the shelter -one at about 4 inches above the ground and another ~5 inches above that. I touched the wire to get a feel for the shock. It felt like the worst you would get from a static discharge on a dry day. Then I did it without my shoes on -wow. I felt it all the way up my arm. Would be quite a jolt to a small animal like a fox. I am surprised just two D batteries can give that much shock.

I am interested to know if anyone else has used this product (or similar) for foxes. I have had my broilers on the pasture for two nights –so not a lot of data yet. Let me know if you have ideas about this, and I will update this thread as times goes by.

 

[aart]

Sounds good, interested to see the results you get with this. Wondering how the battery life will be on it.

Would be great of you also had a game cam set up so we could laugh at the zapped foxes, raccoons or what ever else

Can you post a pic of your set up?

 

[goodfood59]

The manufacturer and reviewers of the product on Amazon say the batteries will last two months. I will post picks when I get a chance.

 

[goodfood59]

Still nothing eating my chickens. I put a trail cam up last night -nothing detected. Below are pictures of my electric wire set up.

 

[centrarchid]

Good setup that is much more professional looking than mine. I use solar powered charger instead of battery charged. In your remote situation I would have one more round of wire above your top existing wire. A raccoon could defeat your setup if it can get above wires without getting zapped. Additional wire should help prevent that. I also have dogs working perimeter making so predator does not have time to experiment with getting around coop design. My tractors are also kept side by side and moved like a row of sailing ships across pasture. Close proximity of tractors makes it so predators cannot get all the way around a single pen making harassment much less likely.

Wire as shown below snow making so not hot but now not a problem.

 

[goodfood59]

thanks centrachid. I will put another wire. Just ordered more insulators. Are you doing laying hens in mobile pens? Do you keep them in the mobile pens all winter? Do they have cover back behind where the pic is taken. I have a smaller mobile pen for my layers -not laying yet. Maybe in about three weeks. I was wondering if could keep them in it for the winter -I live in PA just north of Philly. Do you think the layers will be OK with three walls and a roof in the winter? I was thinking of building a small box in the covered part where they could keep warm together if it gets cold.

 

[centrarchid]

thanks centrachid. I will put another wire. Just ordered more insulators. Are you doing laying hens in mobile pens? Do you keep them in the mobile pens all winter? Do they have cover back behind where the pic is taken. I have a smaller mobile pen for my layers -not laying yet. Maybe in about three weeks. I was wondering if could keep them in it for the winter -I live in PA just north of Philly. Do you think the layers will be OK with three walls and a roof in the winter? I was thinking of building a small box in the covered part where they could keep warm together if it gets cold.

My tractors serve as breeder pens and cover for juveniles aged 4 to 10 weeks during production season and simply as winter quarters otherwise. Mobility slows down greatly during winter with moves made at one to two week intervals to keep grass from being killed. Normally no cover beyond what is evident during winter except under blizzard conditions and that is little more than wind break. They handle cold and precipitation very well. During production season shade is provided once temperatures get into 90's F. Heat is my greatest concern for confined birds.

They should be able to handle your area just fine during winter although make sure are is well drained and up your wind protection. A problem that is not for me is keeping hens in lay when wind chill extreme, then more protection will keep laying up. Most of my hens are not desired to be in lay until March with exception of American Dominiques not yet in breeding pool, the doms I want eggs starting January.

When really cold I add a little more corn to diet to keep metabolism up but do so in a manner that does not cause decrease in the intake of the quality complete portion of diet.

 

[goodfood59]

Thanks that is great information!

 

[Ciqala]

I've got electric wire, about 4-5 strands 1-1.5" above each other from the ground up around our coop and totally enclosed run. I already had a plug in electric charger for my horses set up, so just wired it into that. My chicks have been out there a couple of months now and I haven't had a problem with any predators, knock on wood because we have plenty around.

 

[kimmiekitten86]

Let us all know how the electric wires work out. Every single one of our sweet girls, and one rooster, were killed by something last night. Whatever did it tore right through the wire and got to them, and we are pretty devastated.

But we remembered that my in-laws gave us a electric fence box, so we are going to put up a couple of wires around the whole thing...hope it works.