Step-in poultry netting using planter blocks - anyone try this??

[Aunt Angus]

In general it could probably work; I'd likely figure out a way to keep the blocks from spreading apart, perhaps just tether the 2x4 to the metal fence stake you've got there.

What is the goal with such short fencing? A chicken can easily jump/fly over that if your goal is to contain them or keep them away from something.

I use this fencing for my chickens, ducks, geese, and goats. No one has ever jumped over it. The goats got spooked once and ran through it, but other than that, I haven't had any issues. And we have serious predator activity up here. It's deterred bears. It wouldn't stop a mountain lion, but mountain lions won't rip off the side of the coop like a bear will.

 

[BarnyardChaos]

That is an interesting project! I like the idea very much. I have a few thoughts that might help, considering that you want to keep this setup entirely portable but it needs to be stable:

1. When you get the exact location of the blocks established with the fencing, chip out a slight depression in the shale/dirt. Doesn't have to be much, just 1/2-inch or so, for the block to sit in. It will not be dislodged without a lot of force, then. It would have the added benefit of raising the wood boards up by the same depth, making the lateral gap between board and fencing tighter.

2. To make the center tine sit tighter in the blocks, I have a couple of ideas.
a. There are 12-inch x 3/8-inch spikes available at any hardware store, like this:

You could use those to drive down the center hole next to the tine (if it fits), instead of wood wedges. Not ALL the way down, leave a stub so you can easily snag it and remove with a hammer later when you want to move the blocks. It would drive into the shale/dirt below (much stronger than your stakes), making your blocks even more stable. OR...
b. Find some rubber tubing or thin-walled plastic pipe that fits tightly inside the center hole of the block, but still big enough for the center tine to fit loosely into. Epoxy that tube into place.

3. With a little work, you could modify the blocks (no tools needed) to make a second hole for the outer tine. Cover the tine in oil or vaseline, and wrap it with saran wrap, then place it upright into the block - brace it so it's perfectly plumb. Mix a little cement and fill the outer notch where the wrapped outer tine sits. Press a board or something against the open side of the notch to hold it until the cement dries. Let it cure overnight. Then pull your tine out of the block, remove the saran wrap, and voila: perfectly sized hole that's snug but not stuck.
You could probably do that with the center hole and tine as well, but you should use a high-strength, pourable cement made for filling cracks and thin applications. Just fill the hole completely, then push your oiled and tightly wrapped tine down through the cement. Brace it and let it cure. Pull the tine out, and there you go.

 

[ChicoryBlue]

I really like this idea! I have a paved walkway that my better ng spans. I use stanchions, but this is a great alternative.

Is your netting across the driveway an electric fence?

 

[Aunt Angus]

Is your netting across the driveway an electric fence?

It's a walkway, but yes.

 

[ChicoryBlue]

It's a walkway, but yes.

Sorry, yes, walkway, but what do you about the tines, or does the electric fence have no step-in tines, is that possible? It’s that the tines hold the fence away from the ground, a problem for some of the possible solutions.

Your idea of placing the board behind the fence is not bad, but the board would have to be tall, so that the critter would have to stand on the ground and reach up to get up, and thus get zapped. Otherwise it doesn’t stop climbing up on to the board and slipping through the fence without getting zapped because of no ground contact.

 

[ChicoryBlue]

That is an interesting project! I like the idea very much. I have a few thoughts that might help, considering that you want to keep this setup entirely portable but it needs to be stable:

1. When you get the exact location of the blocks established with the fencing, chip out a slight depression in the shale/dirt. Doesn't have to be much, just 1/2-inch or so, for the block to sit in. It will not be dislodged without a lot of force, then. It would have the added benefit of raising the wood boards up by the same depth, making the lateral gap between board and fencing tighter.

2. To make the center tine sit tighter in the blocks, I have a couple of ideas.
a. There are 12-inch x 3/8-inch spikes available at any hardware store, like this:

You could use those to drive down the center hole next to the tine (if it fits), instead of wood wedges. Not ALL the way down, leave a stub so you can easily snag it and remove with a hammer later when you want to move the blocks. It would drive into the shale/dirt below (much stronger than your stakes), making your blocks even more stable. OR...
b. Find some rubber tubing or thin-walled plastic pipe that fits tightly inside the center hole of the block, but still big enough for the center tine to fit loosely into. Epoxy that tube into place.

3. With a little work, you could modify the blocks (no tools needed) to make a second hole for the outer tine. Cover the tine in oil or vaseline, and wrap it with saran wrap, then place it upright into the block - brace it so it's perfectly plumb. Mix a little cement and fill the outer notch where the wrapped outer tine sits. Press a board or something against the open side of the notch to hold it until the cement dries. Let it cure overnight. Then pull your tine out of the block, remove the saran wrap, and voila: perfectly sized hole that's snug but not stuck.
You could probably do that with the center hole and tine as well, but you should use a high-strength, pourable cement made for filling cracks and thin applications. Just fill the hole completely, then push your oiled and tightly wrapped tine down through the cement. Brace it and let it cure. Pull the tine out, and there you go.

These are some great ideas for working with the blocks and are instructive for me in how I might work with cement. Thank you!

The gist of the main potential problem that @3KillerBs pointed out is due to the electric fence positive lines being up away from the ground. Any creature up on the board off the ground can’t get zapped. So the tines are in the way of that. Looking into finding a stretch of poultry netting without tines in the posts? Saw them off?…

If I made a base under the fence lines that acted like grounding that would solve it…piling dirt there might work…but I don’t think I want to make little berms, I think I want to keep the ground flat for when the fence is not there. Hmmm…I wonder if something like garden/lawn edging would be conductive?

 

[BarnyardChaos]

I'm no electrician, but if you made sure the boards are in full contact with the ground, wouldn't that work?

I also wondered if you sink the blocks into the ground a little bit, then the top edge of the boards would sit above the bottom strand a little bit. Good. Make it overlap on the outside of the boards, as long as the 1st hot wire (2nd strand) isn't touching the boards. I imagine you could drive a few of deck screws into each board about 1-inch below the top edge, and leave them sticking out a bit, so that you could pull the bottom strand below the screw to kind of hold it down to the board. Easily lifted off to move the fence, but a varmint couldn't figure it out before getting zapped by that 2nd strand. He'd have to touch the 2nd strand to even stand on the board, and if the board is grounded..... would that work?

 

[ChicoryBlue]

I'm no electrician, but if you made sure the boards are in full contact with the ground, wouldn't that work?

I also wondered if you sink the blocks into the ground a little bit, then the top edge of the boards would sit above the bottom strand a little bit. Good. Make it overlap on the outside of the boards, as long as the 1st hot wire (2nd strand) isn't touching the boards. I imagine you could drive a few of deck screws into each board about 1-inch below the top edge, and leave them sticking out a bit, so that you could pull the bottom strand below the screw to kind of hold it down to the board. Easily lifted off to move the fence, but a varmint couldn't figure it out before getting zapped by that 2nd strand. He'd have to touch the 2nd strand to even stand on the board, and if the board is grounded..... would that work?

I’ll check but wood I think is a decent insulator actually, so that’s the problem (living trees aren’t, because the water flowing up and down in them). Unless it was soaking wet and had great contact with the ground it won’t be a good ground for electric netting. But thank you, your ideas are good ones, but we can’t rely on the wood board - or the stone block - acting as ground.

I’m looking at the stanchion idea, but the problem of the netting spikes holding the netting off the ground remains.

 

[3KillerBs]

The article I linked explains how grounding works.

 

[ChicoryBlue]

The article I linked explains how grounding works.

I believe in this case a pos/neg fence system, if the wires were close together, would work, right? They wouldn’t have to be touching actual ground. They could be on top of the board, touch both wires, and zap! But from what I see those systems aren’t made for small critters.