stupid question...Can ducks feel with their feet?

[Country Living Farm]

Ok, a coon got some chicks last night so I put shock wire back up and around everything. The problem is, where my grow out pen for the ducks is basically 4x4 with a door and wire floor and side's. Well I guess the shock wire is bleeding throught and the entire wire netting is live and active. Trust me, I touched it. Well, I know I will have BBQ coon in the morning but the ducks are not bothered by it at all!!!!!! the floor is shocked me too. The ducks are just walking on it with no problem and laying on it? So hen my question, can they feel throught their feet. I do not want to fry their feet off.

 

[redhen]

Yes...they can feel on their feet. Please fit it..

 

[duckluck]

Making an educated guess here, but there is a chance they do not feel it if they are only touching the wire itself. You touching it is different because you are standing on the ground and the electricity is going to ground through you. Now if the ducks touch something that is touching ground while they are also touching the wire, they will get a shock...this is why birds can perch on utility wires but squirrels get fried/cause an outage if they try to go onto the wire from the pole, because often they are still touching the pole while making contact with the wire.

 

[TheDuckCrew]

i agree with duckluck. makes a lot of sense, i wouldn't have thought of it myself, but it is true.

 

[Bleenie]

I would still fix it. I had a Buff hen run into our low garden wire (to keep the dogs out) & got totally tangled in it because it scared/hurt her when she got zapped. It took her a whole day to get back to normal & the voltage isn't even that high.

 

[goosedragon]

Quote:
Right On! I know of at least two breeders that raise light ducks "up on wire" in heavy coon areas that connect the "Hot" wire to every section of cage mesh and the "ground" wire to the ground. One that lives on sandy soil (does not give a good ground under dry conditions) even uses panels of old mesh on the ground and connects her ground to it. CAUTION they have many extra safety features such as a light to tell you that the cage is hot and both fence around the hot cage with a switch on the gate that breaks the circuit when the gate is opened. These are to protect them, visitors, pets etc. It is very safe for the birds in the cage but very unsafe for anything on the ground that can touch the cage. Caution should be used with hoses since power can travel through the water stream and SHOULD nOT BE USED WITH MAMMALS THAT PRODUCE URINE IN A STREAM. you also have to have a waterproof roof and not for use where there are heavy snows.