someone please tell me what to buy

[hayley3]

You don't want wire, trust me.
And using a battery was too complicated for me. I love the solar charger, well worth the money to not have to deal with so many wires and whatnot.
Once you get the charger you will see that you need two wires. One is attached to the fence and one is attached to the ground rod. There are two places on the charger you do that with.
Although I haven't yet, I plan to do exactly what HowardE is doing around that garden.

 

[Howard E]

So hear is the completed setup.....

This house and setup were used as a brooder to keep my current flock of 22 birds alive and well for nearly 16 weeks.....from early days as chicks to first lay.

That single strand kept the birds in. The house is predator tight and nothing gets in......maybe not even a mouse. Certainly nothing larger. Birds go in the house at dark, pop door closes (I shut it myself), birds are safe from all threats.

So how does a simple, single strand hot wire like that keep birds in? They find out what a hot wire is by stepping on it to go over. In doing so, hot fence zaps them on the bottom of their foot. A couple of those and they will no longer cross it, although they easily could. I can only surmise they must think when they go over, when they come down, they will get it again.......so just don't risk it. I've had two different flocks and both reacted exactly the same.

 

[Howard E]

To elaborate on what Haley says about the heavy wire, someone in the OP's position would be miles ahead to go with poly tape or poly rope......wire fences is not for sissies or beginners.....doubly so if it's the 17 gauge steel wire.

On the other hand, if it's really small area, a heavy wire like that can sag a bit and not matter.......it may not need to be tensioned at all, and is stiff enough to make an outside corner turn with no need to support it. You could use it with screw in insulators and it may work fine.

 

[Mom 2em All]

Ok this is hard!!!!! But I’m doing it! I have two strands around the coop and I’m running out of daylight. I want to put a strand around the top of my chicken wire fence and I bought self-starting insulators for wood. LIES! I cannot screw them in. I can’t find a working weedwacker so grass isn’t touching my bottom wire and I’ve been ripping out weeds. I’m soaked with sweat.
thank you for the pictures I’ll get to that part soon enough. Then I’ll examine them closer.

 

[Ruby Rogue]

I don't mean to patronize you and I admire your ambition and I *wish* I had some kind of a deterrent such as an electric fence....but... a trap and a .22 still feels like the right thing to do right presently. For your chickens sake.

 

[Mom 2em All]

Ok it’s saggy and it bent my plastic step in whatchamacallits but it’s around the pen four times. It starts and stops at the same place. Now can someone tell me- do I hook the one wire to the red on the charger and the other end to the green or ground on the charger?
and then how do I go to the actual ground stake? With another piece of wire? OR and I’m voting for OR can I just circle around the green post on the charger then go to the ground stake with the same piece of wire?

 

[Mom 2em All]

I don't mean to patronize you and I admire your ambition and I *wish* I had some kind of a deterrent such as an electric fence....but... a trap and a .22 still feels like the right thing to do right presently. For your chickens sake.

Well I do not have a 22 and I don’t know what I am trapping but I do know I have more than one predator/ so even if I trapped one... that would leave the rest to enjoy their chicken dinner. And I know it’s more than one because I lost seven birds then five birds in two nights.

 

[Ruby Rogue]

That could still be just one... I wish you had a game camera.

 

[Mom 2em All]

Ok so everyone who said I didn’t want this heavy wire was correct- but it was already purchased by the time I read the advice. Now that said - it looks ridiculous and goes this way and that way and bent my posts but it’s ok as long as I can make it work tonight - I can always go get rope and replace it some time. I’m having a problem right now- I have a beginning and an end to the wire. Same wire for all four strands. I don’t know how to connect it to the posts of the charger and the ground.

 

[RojoMarz]

I both feel for you and admire you. I can't off any advice, but do have this document that talks about electric fence and bears. Maybe it will help with some basics.