Hi all, How do you keep chickens in electroweb fencing? We are building a barn and our goats are in an electroweb fence with their little "temporary" barn and the chickens are in "Chicken Fort Knox" across the yard. Our intention is to pasture the two groups together once the barn is completed..with seperate living quarters that is The other day I decided to start getting them used to each other. There is a small dog kennel in with the goats where the little whether gets put to eat so he can't steal the doe's food. I put two of the chickens in that area so they could all see each other. My (human) kids took the goats out to play. As it got to dusk the remaining 3 chickens started calling Callie and Lily and telling them it was time for bed. I picked up Callie and carried her across the yard and called Lilly to follow me. She started out of the dog kennel, towards the electroweb fence instead of toward the gate. I went back and called her toward the gate but she was pecking around and hit the fence. She squawked..and then tried to fly through the elecric fence..squawking all the time! Then she followed me into the coop none the worse for wear. I think it bothered me more then her! Is there anyway to keep them from trying to go through the fence? With the dogs and the goats we put leashes on them so we could make sure they ran FROM the fence and not THROUGH it. Obviously that won't work with chickens Any thoughts...On the plus side, she went back in and layed a hard boiled egg..(Sorry I couldn't resist)>
I can't imagine there being a way to do this unless they eventually just learn that the fence is a no-no. I'm glad you posted because I am getting this fencing and was wondering if these chickens would just find a way to slip through the squares~I've had electric string fencing before and they would just slide under or even step on top of it and keep traveling. I was starting to think that chickens are impervious to electrical shock.
I don't know how big the holes are in your fencing. I use Premier's 48" tall electric netting for chickens. I don't have goats so can't talk about that from experience. Goats might hit it running at speed and knock the fence down. I had what I think was a deer do that one night. Broke the corner post. The netting has holes small enough that the chickens can't go through it, but baby chicks can. If you are considering keeping chickens locked in, I'd suggest you look at netting. An experience with the 48" tall netting. I had a hen get out through the coop. While I was trying to herd her back to the coop door, she flew over the netting to get back to her buddies. I've never had one fly out, just the one fly in. And she cleared the fence with an easy foot to spare. That was a full grown hen, a Speckled Sussex/Black Australorp cross, so you can figure her size. One other thing with the netting. The first energized strand is not very far off the ground. I have it take it down and mow regularly to keep the weeds and grass from growing up in it and grounding it out. And when you set it up, you need keep that lowest energized strand off the ground. It's a pain to use, but I have not lost any chickens since I started using it.
