Will electric fencing work?

henaynei

Songster
9 Years
Hi y’all

I am considering getting some electric net fencing for my chickens. I’m too old to have to keep moving cattle panel fencing.

My problem is that my chickens don’t try to go under my 4 ft. cattle panel fence, they fly over. Even though I’ve cut everyone's flight feathers on both wings.

I don’t see how an electric fence will stop them since if they touch the top they will not get shocked as they won’t be grounded.

Any one have some insight or suggestions?
Thanks
 
Well ... the old joke comes to mind ... "Why did the chicken cross the road?"

Why are your chickens flying out? What is it that intrests them on the other side of the fence? How big of a fenced in area do they have?

If you can't go larger square feet run area, you need to go higher, and possibly a top ...

Your right that the electric fence won't stop them from flying out.
 
Well ... the old joke comes to mind ... "Why did the chicken cross the road?"

Why are your chickens flying out? What is it that interests them on the other side of the fence? How big of a fenced in area do they have?

If you can't go larger square feet run area, you need to go higher, and possibly a top ...

Your right that the electric fence won't stop them from flying out.
They have equal forage of the same type on both sides. Their area is 512 sq ft for 14 birds with a coop that is 64 sq ft. That is 37 to over 40 sq ft per bird.
 
I’m too old to have to keep moving cattle panel fencing.

So ... are you moving there pen every few days?

If you have the land, I'd suggest you enlarge their pen/run area ... if you can't expand their square footage, then add another 3' section of chicken wire on top of the cattle panels ...
 
So ... are you moving there pen every few days?

If you have the land, I'd suggest you enlarge their pen/run area ... if you can't expand their square footage, then add another 3' section of chicken wire on top of the cattle panels ...
now that winter is here I'm not moving them as it is too risky for a single senior woman with a history of paralysis from a back injury due to the snow and mountainous terrain.
I'd thought of adding height but have yet come up with a simple way to do so that is within my social security budget ;) I've secured the cattle panels with Tposts.
I wonder if dowels and deer fencing would do the trick....hmmmm
 
The larger breeds of chickens don't fly over the netting. The ones I had fly over it all the time were barnyard mixes. They were lean and half wild. Even with wings cut they could get over that netting. One finally got smart and stayed inside, the last one left after the other 5 from that hatch were all taken by predators. My Salmon Faverolles, Jersey Giants, New Hampshires and cochins have never tried to fly out. The good part of the netting is that no foxes ever got in to eat them while they stayed within the netting. We have a fox den just a couple hundred yards away.

As others have said, the electrical netting is to keep predators out. It does not do as good a job to keep the chickens in.
 
I use cattle panel and wire to keep the predators out and the chickens in. I have netting over my run. But, it sounds like you move yours about? Maybe try making a chicken tractor?
Your chickens might just be good jumpers if you've cut their flight feathers and they are still getting over the fence. Check to see what they can jump up on to get over the fence.
 
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I wonder if dowels and deer fencing would do the trick....hmmmm
That would definitively help...add a couple feet to the height with the netting.
They might crash and bounce back, or get tangled-so keep a close eye at first, but they should learn pretty quick.
Can you post some pics of the fencing you want to add netting to?
 

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