Winter Time Electric Netting or Wire Fencing?

[Momo7]

I'm trying to set up a winter- time run for my chickens. They are typically in an a-frame chicken tractor but for winter, we need to park it and set up a fence around it. Originally, I was thinking of going with Premier 1 poultry netting but my brother told me that in the winter, any snow will keep it from working. He's in Michigan, though and I'm in Missouri where we don't get that much (more ice). I was looking at just doing strands as an alternative but I'm not really sure I want to go this route. Any experienced chicken people out there who have some opinions on what's better for winter time, to keep chickens in and predators out? Thanks!

 

[azygous]

Strands of hot wire out away from any solid vertical barrier won't work to deter predators. It needs to be installed against a vertical barrier or the animals, including chickens, will simply crawl under, jump between or over the strands.

For a temporary perimeter fence around the tractor, you could use plastic deer netting and weave the hot wire through the mesh at a six inch and a 24 inch height. You can weave at twelve inch intervals.

The way to make this work so the predator doesn't dig under or chew through or trample the deer netting is to bait the hot wire with peanut butter for the canine types and hang fish in little wire "envelopes" wired to the hot wire (causing it to carry a charge) for the cat types. The objective is to tempt the predator to take a "taste" of the bait and get a nasty shock.

Any predator receiving a 10,000 volt shock to its wet, sensitive nose or mouth is guaranteed never to return.

 

[Silexian]

I am also in Missouri. I use electrified poultry netting year round without much problem. I used braced T-post on the corners. I place plastic conduit between the T-post and the netting. I pull the netting tight between the corners. Keeping the bottom strand about 2 inches above the ground. I use a Par-Mak 12 volt solar charger to power my fence. I use a minimum of 4 ground rods. With vertical and horizontal wires there is hundreds of feet wire in a 100 feet section of netting. So having enough power and grounding is imperative to the netting operating properly.

 

[Momo7]

Thank you both for your replies. This is very helpful and it makes me rethink my plan for using poultry netting.