Smooth wire electric fence

[CBanks]

I am currently free ranging my flock of 13 birds. The coop is in an area surrounded by wood fence posts, which I plan to turn into a goat pasture next year (about a fifth of an acre). I want to put up a smooth wire electric fence on those wood posts, mostly to keep the goats in and predators out. I intend on leaving the coop in there and keeping the goats and chickens together, which I have read mixed reviews about, but that's for another thread. But, I have this question:

Is there a wire spacing that will also keep the hens in?

I recently lost a pullet to an unknown predator near the property boundary (I think it was a possum given that it only ate the thighs/some of the organs and left the rest, but I'm obviously not sure). I know loss is to be expected when free ranging, but it would obviously be ideal to keep them in a more secure area. I'm not opposed to some pretty tight wire spacing along the bottom to try and keep them from walking through and clipping their wings to keep them from flying over the ~4ft total height if they routinely do so. Could I do a goat wire spacing like 6"-6"-6"-6"-8"-10" and add in an extra couple strands at the bottom? Like one at 3" and 9"?

I am reading everything from "you can keep a flock behind two strands of electric wire" to super intense setups with wayyy more wires, and lots of "they'll literally squeeze through anything. I know they won't really get shocked, so the spacing should be more of a physical barrier, and I'm fine with that so long as they are stuck inside and predators are outside. Ultimately, I'd really like to hear from someone that has tried (and hopefully succeeded) in making an electric fence like this to essentially make something between a "free range" area and a really really big run.

Thanks in advance. Hopefully this isn't too dumb of a question. I'm really hoping to make it all work together, but I guess I can pivot to another plan if I really need to, especially if I start losing more birds to predators.

 

[McChooky]

My first strand is 3" from the bottom and 2nd strand 6" (2 strands on the bottom and one on top) Half my insulators were already up on the bottom row before I decided to limit the fence to 3 strands. Its not going to be predator proof without an apron or a net overhead but it will deter most predators. My goal is to keep the fence low enough that my chickens could fly over it and escape if anything gets in. I don't want them trapped in the fence.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Is there a wire spacing that will also keep the hens in?

Premiere1 electric netting is designed to do this. My full-sized fowl chicks can get through this until they are about 7 or 8 weeks old but the grown ones cannot. Premiere1 also has netting designed for goats with larger holes.

Could I do a goat wire spacing like 6"-6"-6"-6"-8"-10" and add in an extra couple strands at the bottom?

I don't think it would work out well. I've had openings to full-sized chicken nests 6" high and 8" wide. They did not need to be 8" wide for them to use the nests but it just turned out that way. I have trouble envisioning how you would be able to position a wire like that horizontally and keep it exactly in position the length of the fence. How do you attach it to the mesh and keep them from slipping or sagging across that length. I could see different things that might go wrong. You could easily wind up putting a lot of work and money into something less than satisfactory.

If it were just chickens I'd suggest electric netting, but you added goats to the mix. What I would envision is a wire mesh fence with a mesh size small enough to keep the chickens in and not relying on electricity for that and running an electric fence with hot wires on insulators for predator protection. Make the mesh fence your ground.

If I were doing this myself and were in the USA so the phone call is free, I'd call Premiere1 and chat with them about this before I did anything. I found them quite helpful when I chatted with them on my set-up.