YET ANOTHER electric fence thread

[jamband]

I am looking at both premier and kencove electric netting. I have possum, coons, fox, dogs etc in the area and would like to keep them out I have about 3/8 to1/2 acre i will move it around on for the chickens as well as a portable coop that will move with them. No after reading this forum I am questioning it because its not cheap at all. I know it wont necassarily keep them in or hawks etc out... the ground animals are my aim with this. But seeing many comments about lack of charge and grass interference I am worried?


My only other option is a secure portable coop and all out free range......Dont have a LGD and cant afford to fence 3 acres.

Any opinions welcome

Also what charger to use???i need the pop if i am going to use it. Doesn't seem like the low level solar will do it? Any suggesstions on a charger? battery powered if not solar.

Thanks all

 

[patandchickens]

Well, I'm not sure what to say about your worries about grass growth and grounding out, it IS a certain amount of necessary work (of the sort that you cannot postpone even a day, and have to keep a sharp eye out to see when you need to redo it), moving and mowing under the fence. It is not *difficult*, but does take some time (am't depends on how much fence you have and how much you poke around getting organized). There is just no way around it.

If you will be running only one section (164') of fence, a 0.5 released joule charger will be generally just about adequate; if you want to run several-plus sections of electronet, you will want a bigger one. The wee small pet-and-light-duty units won't do it, plan to spend a coupla hundred dollars ish.

Spring for a DIGITAL fence meter, not one of those five-neon-lights jobbies which are way too inaccurate. If the point is to keep out wandering dogs etc, you need to make sure you always have at least 4,000 v on that fence, not just 'is it kinda on in some fashion or another'.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[jamband]

yeah i talked with premier and they told me anything 2 inches could reduce the voltage because 2 inches is the first electrified line. 2 inches seems really low for the grass i want to move chickens into. would getting a better energizer somewhat help overcome the grass issue? I plan on moving the paddock about every 7 -10 days

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
Yes well what Premier did *not* mention is that 2 inches is optimistic, given that the stuff inevitably sags between posts especially on windy days. You can add step-in posts between the existing posts, and tie back the corners, but no matter how you slice it it WILL sag and you pretty much DO always have at least a little grounding-out, and that is with the grass scalped back real short.

would getting a better energizer somewhat help overcome the grass issue? I plan on moving the paddock about every 7 -10 days

I don't know what it's like where you are, but here, during the fastest-growth season, no way could I go 7-10 days without mowing under the fence (actually I scalp with a weedwhacker, not mow as such), unless i had a WHOPPER charger on my fence.

I mean, yeah, in principle I suppose if you put a big enough charger on you might overcome substantial weed contact, but realistically I do not see any good way to figure out what the right 'big' would be, and it may give you a lot *higher* charge than you *want* it to during the times when the fence is clean (without *necessairly* being sufficient when the grass gets ont he fence).

I'd suggest just kind of resigning yourself to communing with your weedwhacker on a regular basis; you needn't actually MOVE the fence at that time if you don't want, just turn it off (obviously the animals need to be confined elsewhere eg. in your henhouse) and move each post in 2' to get them out of the way, run along the fenceline with your weedwhacker, then replace the posts where they were and turn it back on. This takes alittle longer if you are using extensive tiebacks or extra posts but even with extra time it does not take *long*. You need to do it on the GRASS's schedule, not by calendar.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat​

 

[hunter109]

well idk if you could use it but we use a carger that dose a pasture that is 15acres it works good for big animals idk about any other animals i know my dogs dont go around it ethier

 

[jamband]

Yeah my grass grow fast here too thats my concern. i mean there is not point paying the $$$ for fence if its not gonna work. What happens if its windy and a bunch of leaves blow up against the fence? will it not work then? I would rather have them roam free than have a misguded sense of security for them.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
It's not a matter of the fence not working as such -- it is an excellent product. It is a matter of, are you willing to do what's necessary to maintain it. If you are, it will work well. If you aren't, then it's not right for your needs.

What happens if its windy and a bunch of leaves blow up against the fence? will it not work then?

You mean like tall grass/weeds blowing over onto the fence? You take care of that when you're mowing. You look at how tall the closest tall grass/weeds are, and then mow back at least that far from the fenceline. Doesn't have to be scalped all that way back, just taken down so it can't lop over onto the fence. It is not a big deal. If you mean, instead, like what if some fallen autumn leaves blow up against it, well, they won't do it any good but you're not likely to get MUCH of that overnight and you WOULD be checking the fence every day or so, yes?

No such thing as a free lunch. If you want portable and cheap (and make no mistake, this IS cheap compared to the cost of fencing PERMANENTLY all those areas you want to rotate among) then you have to put extra maintenance into it.

The main alternative for pasture-raising poultry, should you decide not to go with the electronet, would be to erect a good solid dog-coyote-fox-etc proof PERMANENT fence around some good sized area (I would suggest 2x4 no-climb with a coupla hotwires, but you could TRY using small-stock field fencing with hotwires, it just would be riskier), then use nonelectrified fencing (chickenwire or plastic netting) to rotate the poultry within that large area and always lock the chickens indoors by dark.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat​

 

[jamband]

not looking for a free ride at all. i just want to make sure its worth it. I was referring to autumn leaves yes, I have decent wind here and often have 8 inch pile ups on my dog fence in morning. I can work around that though and I suppose if i cut the fence line super short before erecting it I'll probably be ok for 7 days......Thanks for the input and suggesstions. I do realize how cheap it is, believe me, I just put up 800 ft of woven fields fence last year and i appreciate the affordability in comparisson. I really dont like the idea of a chicken yard but thats just me. Thanks again

 

[patandchickens]

I am not necessarily recommending doing so, but some people disconnect the bottom one or two wires, either permanently or just temporarily when conditions make it likelier that they will have excessive wet weed contact. Obviously that means you have less (if any) protection against an animal wanting to duck/dig under, but it still at least gives you the higher wires being live. Something you could consider I guess.

Pat