two layers of 2"x4" electrified mesh?

[April’s Zoo]

The chickens will only touch it once — the slow learners, maybe twice — and then they’ll learn not to do it again.

Also, with 1/2 inch hardware cloth, do you even need to electrify it? I assume you mean to wrap your enclosure with it?

Also, you mentioned the ground predators there, but what about air pred’s? Hawks or similar birds of prey? E-fencing won’t help there....

 

[k2panman]

If I use the 1/2" I won't electrify it. I am thinking that I'll make this moveable - a tractor I guess, but I'll probably just roll it on some pipe rather than put wheels on it. We don't have any level ground where we are on Mauna Loa, and lots of large area of lava rock sticking out of the dirt in places.

Each time I move the coop, I'll have to seal the bottom somehow. That would be where I could maybe electrify it. Not sure what would be the best way to seal the bottom each time that wouldn't require digging trenches and burying hardware cloth.

 

[jthornton]

You don't need to dig and bury or use hardware cloth, 1x2 or similar welded wire fence laid flat on the ground will prevent diggers.

JT

 

[Howard E]

E Fences work to keep chickens in as much as predators out.

I currently have 22 pullets running around inside their playpen. They are contained within by this simple electric fence....



That is a single strand of poly tape set about 5 inches off above the soil line. The birds may touch it, get zapped like all the rest (shocking action is a series of pulses.....about one or so every second.....just a pulse......not a constant voltage). So they will avoid it too.

If birds do get out, it is very simple for them to lift up and hop back over to rejoin the flock. They will do this with ease. They do not seem to want to do that to get out.

I am using something similar to keep the older birds off my patio. I originally put up a 2' mesh (a physical fence), which worked for maybe a week, before they figured out they could fly over it, and did. In short order, it kept none of them out. So up went this simple hot fence and within days, all that traffic stopped.

What this points out is that an electric fence is NOT a physical fence. It is a mental one......a fence birds and varmints are reluctant to cross. To touch it means pain from a violent, painful shock.

So in answer to your question about hot chicken wire, that is a hybrid of physical fence and mental fence. If one of the birds did get out, most likely they would simply lift up and hop back over. They can with ease. Will they? Some who are using the poultry netting report their birds will attempt to punch through (holes are something like 3" x 5") and in doing so, get stuck. Like darts in dart board. With wire and tape fences, they may do that too, but don't get stuck....they can punch through.

Wire and tape fences, with only horizontal strands, works as well as anything......the issue with you being that mongoose. Provided you kept the bottom strand low enough it could not sneak under it, and the next highest strand close enough it could not crawl through it.....either or both without touching the fence....then it would likely work as well. These are easy to move.

To deal with uneven land, you need to add more posts. Such a fence can be made to follow contours....ups and downs......you just have to space the posts closer.

With strands of fence, you also have more flexibility with post locations......such as where you put your corners. Strand fences are also less expensive to build.

 

[k2panman]

Thanks Howard, using the electric fence to keep the birds contained and the mongooses away is just what I need. I want the chickens to eat the bugs around the house. We are catching 6" long centipedes and seeing thousands of little roaches that live in the guinea grass here. I'm hoping to have some well fed chickens!