Some Fencing Questions

[patandchickens]

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Hey, someone who's used the wedgeloc things -- how do you like them, mac? I keep seeing ads and am tempted yet skeptical, would love to hear a firsthand report.

Returning to the o.p. (sorry for the small hijack there

), I just wanted to point out that while properly bracing your corner posts against the adjacent posts is both wise and necessary for LARGE fences, for just doing a small chicken pen it is often easier and more effective to just run a rigid top rail all around and be done with it. Essentially that braces the corner post against all the other fenceposts, and for a small pen is easily enough to let you get the wire nice and flat. And it is easier to do sufficiently-right than a proper job of bracing, IMO (and really the O there stands more for observation than opinion

-- I have seen a lot of people attempt to brace corners on little 'first fence I ever built' things and it often doesn't end up solid enough)

Pat

 

[Mac in Wisco]

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They work as long as the fence is pulled tight against the corners. Without any tension on the fence everything just falls apart. You also have to follow their "tips and hints" like doubling the corner posts and such. I've pulled up a couple hundred feet of horse fence with my truck against them, as long as the cross brace doesn't push the brace post further into the ground then nothing moves.

it is often easier and more effective to just run a rigid top rail all around and be done with it. Essentially that braces the corner post against all the other fenceposts, and for a small pen is easily enough to let you get the wire nice and flat. And it is easier to do sufficiently-right than a proper job of bracing

I'm not sure how much easier that would be with t-posts. If you are using wooden posts it is fairly easy to nail a top rail on and be done with it. With metal t-posts there isn't an easy way to do it. There's nothing to nail or screw to, and I can only envision lashing rails in place with baling wire, which is haphazard at best.​

 

[patandchickens]

If I understood the o.p. correctly, the plan is to install the t-posts sideways and screw thru the holes that are in the spine of the post into the wood rail, attaching wood rails to each other as well, as necessary. For a small lightweight fence I think that should be adequate to keep it taut. I totally agree I wouldn't do it for a larger fence or one that was expected to stand up to serious forces being applied. And of course it assumes you've got the tposts that HAVE the holes already in them

Pat

 

[Mac in Wisco]

You don't normally see t-posts with holes in the spine. juise may have been talking about u-posts like these. Unless there are some heavy gauge ones available the ones I have seen are really flimsy. One of my co-workers bought some of these to fence off a newly seeded area at the local park. He hung a plastic snow fence on them and they folded up after a few days.

 

[Cindy in PA]

I used the posts that MAC showed ( they are called t-posts, but look more or less like the picture) for 18 years & never had a problem with them "folding" or falling down. We use heavy duty 6 footers and they are almost impossible to get out, once they are in. I have never used a wooden corner post & never had a problem with my fence. JMHO

 

[kiweed]

I recently used vinyl coated welded wire fence with a 1"x1" mesh. This is very attractive and will keep anything out and the girls in.

 

[anthrochick]

We have some that seem quite heavy and strong. And then a few that are very flimsy. I was using one to turn my compost but it kept bending. So I guess they come in various weights and strengths and it seems you'd be fine with the sturdier ones.

 

[patandchickens]

That's odd, mac, nearly all the heavy-duty (farm type) t-posts sold around here have at least some holes in the spine (the stem of the T), tho the number and placement vary. I am trying to think back to t-posts I've known prior to the past 10 yrs up here, and just can't remember bout those.

Though on reflection I bet you're right, the things you illustrate (the little 'toy' garden posts) are probably what the o.p. means.

Cindy, there are two different things that are green and shaped roughly like what mac illustrates -- one is light-gauge actual T-posts, the other is the things in his pic which are actually very small and flimsy, they are like maybe half the width of a real t-post, you just can't tell from that pic is all. (Light-gauge t-posts are reasonably strong, as long as you don't back into them with a tractor or a horse lean on them too much, they do rust thru faster than the heavy ones but <shrug>. These little toy garden posts in the illustration really ARE weak, from what I've seen)

Pat

 

[Ridgerunner]

With the fence 4 feet high, won't a solid top rail give the chickens something to land on, so they are more likely to fly up there to look around and come down on the wrong side. And once they fly out, they cannot figure out how to get back in. I did not see that this run is covered.

I'd suggest that if you do decide to put a top rail, you put if a few inches below the top of the fence so the chickens do not have anything solid to land on. My full sized chickens easily fly up to a 4' high roost.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
Good advice!

Pat