To a lot of critters—raccoons, coyotes, bobcats, dogs—your free-range flock is a 24-hour all-you-can-eat chicken buffet. Maybe, must maybe, the local predators are afraid to run off with your chickens today. But it won’t last.
Trust me on this. I have been almost put out of business by predation several times. If it weren’t for the techniques described here, I wouldn’t have any chickens today.
What worked for me? Simple electric fences. Really simple electric fences.
One-Wire and Two-Wire Electric Fences
This kind of electric fence, with just one or two wires, we developed over 60 years ago. It is commonly used to keep raccoons out of gardens and all kinds of predators out of chicken yards.
In it’s one-wire incarnation, the single wire is about 5″ off the ground. If you use a second wire, put it about 10″ off the ground.
You wouldn’t think such a low wire would work, but it does. Predators keep low to the ground when they’re sneaking around, and many aren’t really all that big to begin with: foxes, bobcats, and raccoons, for instance. But dogs and coyotes are also deterred by even the one-wire fence.
In the picture, you can see one of my two-wire fences. It’s just two strands of inexpensive aluminum fence wire held up with step-in fence posts. This is about the cheapest and easiest to set up fence you can imagine.
It surprises people that such an electric fence will keep chickens in and predators out, but it works! It helps that predators generally sniff at anything new they find, so they will get their noses zapped by a fence wire they could easily step over. That’s generally all it takes.
One thing I love about these fences is that you can simply step over them. No gates! When driving a tractor or pickup past them, it’s best to uproot a couple of step-in fence posts so the wires lie on the ground, so they won’t be snagged by the vehicle. This takes less than a minute.
The key to success here is to use plenty of step-in fence posts, especially if your ground isn’t perfectly level. If the wire is too high or too low, both predators and chickens will have no trouble getting past it. Fortunately, a step-in fence post only costs a couple of bucks, and aluminum fence wire is a real bargain, too. A quarter-mile spool (enough to fence 40 acres) cost around $30 the last time I checked.
A Fence That Leaks, But in a Good Way
If you’ve ever had a predator get into a chicken yard fenced in with chicken wire, you know that the the predator can kill every single chicken: they can’t escape. Worse, when panicked, chickens forget that their chicken-wire fence even exists and will try to rush right through it. Their heads and necks will make it through okay, but their bodies are too big, and they’ll be stuck in the fence like darts in a dartboard, waiting for the predator to pick them off at its leisure.
If a fox or other predator makes it into a yard protected by a one-wire or two-fire electric fence, the drama starts out the same way, but the chickens pass beyond the fence without a pause and rush off squawking into the distance. Because the flock scatters to the four winds, the predator is left with an empty yard, and is once more on the opposite side of an electric fence from its prey. Instead of killing your entire flock killed, it gets only one or two.
Not only that, but the chickens who left the yard will return around dusk and cross the fence a second time to get home. They won’t like it, but they’ll do it.
But, yes, sometimes a few of your chickens will learn to get past the fence on purpose, and free-range somewhere else for a few hours until returning home. In short, these one-wire and two-wire fences aren’t 100% effective. They’re more like 98% effective—or maybe only 95% effective if you make it easy and attractive for the chickens to escape.
Minimizing escapees:
- If you fence a large area, fewer chickens will escape.
- If the chickens never run out of feed, fewer will escape.
- If you keep your coops away from the edge of the fenced area, fewer will escape.
- If the voltage on the fence remains high, fewer will escape.
- If there aren’t any places where the chickens can duck under the wire or step over it, fewer will escape.
So this isn’t a magical anti-chicken barrier the way a chicken run walled and roofed with chicken wire can be. On my farm, it usually contains well over 95% of the chickens. We can reach 100% for a while if we get rid of the few habitual escapees.
What to Expect at First
At first, the chickens won’t respect the fence, since it just looks like a random obstacle to them. Also, their feathers are good insulators, so they get zapped mostly when they touch the fence with their feet or combs. This means they won’t get zapped every time. More like one time in four.
This lengthens the learning process. It’ll be several days before all the chickens are on the right side of the fence. But after a while they act as if it’s a glass wall. If I carry a bucket of feed to a hungry flock, they’ll come running as soon as they see me, but stop just short of the fence. They’ll wait impatiently for me to join them on their side of the fence.
Predators learn more quickly, since they investigate anything new with their noses.
In my experience, dogs and coyotes are terrified of electric fences. I once watched a coyote chase a hen that had strayed outside the fence. The frightened hen ran back to the flock, passing through the two-fire fence as if it didn’t exist. But the coyote went from running all-out to a sudden dead stop when it got close to the fence. It had learned its lesson well!
Raccoons seem to be without fear, and are willing to prowl the perimeter of a fence, looking for high spots or low spots that will let it in.
I’m not sure about bobcats. I think some of them learn to leap fences, but I’ve never seen this. Usually the fences keep them out.
History of One-Wire Poultry Fences
I first learned about this type of fence in a 1960 article describing Arbor Acres’ use of a single-wire fence to protect pullets raised on free range. Before the single-wire fence, they had employees spending hours every day opening doors on range houses in the morning and closing them at night. The simplicity of the fence was important to them because their pullet flocks occupied many acres, making permanent fencing prohibitive.
I later came across references to the same technique from the 1950’s, where similar fences were used as an anti-fox measure for British free-range breeding flocks.
Like many excellent techniques, these fences was forgotten after the industry shifted to confinement.
Electric Poultry Net Fencing
Electrified net fencing is sometimes necessary to stop stubborn predators or to keep chicken inside when they must be fenced tightly.
It’s more expensive than using simple wire fences, and if left in the same place for too long, grass will grow through the bottom wires, making it almost impossible to remove. Still, it has its uses.
My wife Karen likes electronetting more than I do. For one thing, I trip over it. For another, I hate moving fences, and electronet has to be moved more frequently. It also shorts out more easily than wire fences. But it’s a more serious, more physical barrier, which makes a difference. (One difference is that it’s a barrier to farmers as well. I sometimes trip over netting fences.)
Karen uses electric net fences to protect her broiler areas, while I prefer use one- and two-wire fences for our hens. This works well because broilers won’t use a lot of space anyway, and we use daily-move pens and have to shift the electronetting frequently, preventing the grass from entangling the fence. Our hens get much more elbow room and the fences are shifted more rarely.
My personal favorite it the kind they call “garden fencing.” This comes in rolls about sixteen inches high, and can easily be stepped over. The usual electronetting, designed to keep sheep in, is about four feet high and is a real barrier to the farmer.
The best electric fencing comes from Premier.
Combination Fencing
The other option is to add electric fence wire to existing permanent fences on the farm. This works very well. The most important wire is the one closest to the ground, which should be 4-6 inches off the ground, as with single-wire fences. Another wire at the top can provide an unpleasant surprise to climbing predators. I use plastic nail-on insulators on wooden fenceposts and clip-on insulators for T-posts.
I prefer aluminum wire for most jobs, but not here. Why? Because you’ll need to keep the fenceline weed-free with a weed-whacker, which will dish out more abuse than aluminum fence wire cant take. Use heavy-duty galvanized fence wire instead.
In my experience, it doesn’t seem to matter which electric fence insulators you use, or which brand of aluminum fence wire, but I think Red Brand makes a superior grade of galvanized wire.
Electric Fence Chargers: Bigger is Better
To energize the electric fence you need a fence charger. I prefer very powerful AC-powered energizers. The bottom wires of these chicken fences are close to the ground. They’re quickly shorted out by grass, weeds, or molehills. It takes a powerful fence charger to keep adequate voltage on the fence in the face of these everyday challenges. My favorite fence charger is the Parmak Super Energizer 5.
I think it’s better to string thousands of feet of wire along the farm than to use battery-powered chargers, which just aren’t powerful enough. I’ve used 2×4’s up on end to get the wire ten or twelve feet up in the air when it crosses gates, or insulated wire buried a few inches underground across the gateway. Otherwise, I just run the wires along the top of the posts of my farm’s perimeter fence.
I prefer energizers with built-in voltmeters, so I can see at a glance if the voltage has fallen into the red zone. In general, this means I buy Parmak units, because most of the others don’t have meters. My favorite model is their “Super Energizer,” which is very powerful indeed. That’s what I use on the front pasture to protect the laying hens. The “Maxi-Power” line is also good, though less powerful.
If you insist on buying a battery-powered or solar charger, get a 12V unit. The 6V units have minimum zap, which means they can be shorted out by a few blades of grass. I was pretty happy with Parmak’s most powerful 12V charger. This “weatherpoof” unit only lasted about five years when exposed to the elements, so putting a a roof or a five-gallon bucket over it might be a good idea.
Premier also makes excellent chargers. Karen likes them better than Parmak, and that’s what she’s using on the back forty to protect the broilers (my super-long wire from the barn to the back forty has been mothballed). She uses a Premier Intellishock 50, which is a 12V battery-powered unit.
I doubt that solar chargers are worth the extra cost, but then I’m in Western Oregon, which has a lot of cloud cover. The convenience of not having to monitor and lug around batteries is worth paying money for, but you get even more convenience by putting an AC-powered charger in the barn and stringing a wire all the way to the back forty.
The hardest part of installation is getting a good ground connection. I prefer pounding in ground rods along the drip line of my barn’s roof.
It really helps to have the units placed so you can see the meters easily when you wander in and out of the barn.
When Fences Fail
When a clever predator learns how to get past my fences (of whatever kind), I turn to trapping. I find snares effective and relatively simple. I found Hal Sullivan’s book, Snaring 2000, to be very useful.
I find that predators are OCD, especially bobcats, following exactly the same path night after night, and by the time you’ve lost a few chickens they’ve created an obvious game trail. This means that you can set snares to target an individual, chicken-eating predator, without declaring war on the entire animal kingdom.
I’ve shot predators from time to time, but only for coyotes that are dumb enough to present themselves during the day. At night, I want my beauty sleep.
I’ve found live traps to be far less effective than snares, and I’m baffled by leg-hold traps.
Final tip: if you can use snares inside your perimeter fence, your results will be less random.
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Does the two wire electric fence keep out cats?
I have three cats, and I don’t recall seeing them inside my two-wire fences (though they go everywhere else), so it probably keeps them out adequately.
It depends on how determined the cat is. Back in 2002 a neighbor’s house cat learned to defeat by electronet fence by climbing a tree and jumping into the pen. He was getting out the same way. The nightly death toll was 15 to 20 birds. I never did catch the cat, but I got the birds off to the slaughter house and stopped my losses.
Interesting approach – it makes sense to me. what are your thoughts about using this for ducks and geese? I’m less concerned about them getting out, and more concerned about predators getting in.
Ducks and geese are better insulated than chickens, but are less agile, so it’s something of a wash. They’ll learn to respect the fence in time. Predators are more cautious when approaching something new, and are more likely to poke the fence with their nose and get zapped.
great, thank you for your post and comments about this!
I raise geese and have great pyrenees as protection, they ALL ignored the live wires as they are all insulated to the max! LOL…. I ended up with the 4 ft electronet fencing.
I’m not surprised! While ducks geese are easy to fence in with ordinary fencing, their oily feathers mean they don’t feel electric fencing unless it touches their feet or bills. We had a heck of a time keeping waterfowl where we wanted them unless we put them in pasture pens with chicken-wire sides.
My experience with dogs, even shaggy dogs like a Great Pyrenees, is that they really hate electric fences and won’t push their luck after being zapped only once or twice. Since they investigate new things with their noses, that’s usually plenty. So I’m surprised your dog is casual about it.
An old trick for training critters such as raccoons, dogs, coyotes, and bears to respect an electric fence is to bait it with strips of bacon held on with clothespins or twists of wire. I admit this isn’t very nice, and I’m not recommending it for your dog, but it shortens the learning period and apparently gives better results. My experiences with this technique have been mixed: yet another sure-fire technique that isn’t as sure-fire as all that.
Robert
Have you had any issues with your geese putting their heads through the net? I’ve read a few articles where people awoke to a dead goose stuck in the net . . . something must have startled the geese and when they tried to escape, got stuck in the net and got shocked to death. So I’m a bit concerned about how the net really works with geese.
Connie May,
I’ve had a couple of hens killed while entangled by poultry netting (electric or otherwise), but it wasn’t the netting that got them, it was predators. Our ducks and geese never had any trouble this wya.
Robert
I also use electric netting for geese and ducks, But unlike my chickens, I do lose occasional birds.They get tangled in the net. If I rescue them in time, they are traumatized. If not, I feel very bad that they suffered. What is your suggestion to prevent that.
Thanks for your post- this is great info. we recently had a fox come and take down 4 of our chickens. Do you have a step-by-step on the setup for the 2 wire setup? We have existing chain link fencing and would like to run it along that.
Adding an electric fence wire to a chain-link fence is pretty easy. Find the right kind of insulators for your kind of fence. I think that a single strand about 4″ off the ground will turn out to be best. Use heavy wire — probably heavy galvanized wire — so you can use a weed-eater to keep the fenceline from shorting out without having to worry about breaking the wire.
Hi. loved the article. Probably obvious, but I wanted to make sure. This is with wing clipping?
I’ve never tried wing clipping.
I have set up two 165′ electric poultry nets together to form a large perimeter for my chickens. I only have 14 birds, they free range in this perimeter daily, we only coop them up at night. They fly over the fence everyday. I have clipped their wings on one side and they still fly over. Surely I didn’t clip their wings as short as I should/could have. Now they are wandering into my neighbors yard, we have 5 acres that they can roam on and eat. Their days will be numbered if they begin making a habit of going into my neighbors yard, he has dogs. Any suggestions? Thank you.
Thanks for writing! My experience with keeping chickens fenced in uses several gimmicks: (1) Keep the chicken coop away from the fence line. (2) Keep the fence line away from tempting shade, gardens, etc. (3) Never let the chickens run out of feed or water. I have my worst problems when I allow the fence to be set too close to my house (with its lovely shade from trees and bushes) and let the house be close to the fence. The chickens see a short commute to paradise!
Taller fences can help, but I’ve never really tried this.
Robert
Hi there, thank you for writing such an in-depth and explanative piece. I’m exploring options to create a permanent chicken yard in between two buildings, as well as create runs off of this using temporary netting. I like the idea of using your suggested method for the yard and buying the transportable fencing for the runs. The acerage I’ll be working with is much much smaller than yours, 2.5 acres, and I’m wondering if that would change your recommendation for what power source to use.
Jade,
On balance, I always always always prefer AC-powered fence chargers to battery-powered or solar-powered ones. They’re cheaper, more powerful, and more reliable. Often it’s really easy to run a hot wire from someplace with AC power (like the barn) to wherever the chickens are, even if the two are several hundred yards apart. While a really large fenced area pretty much requires an AC-powered unit, a small one still gets all the benefits.
Robert
This is awesome! We have predators galore in Louisiana, but on 20 acres of land, I hate to give chickens anything less than an acre to themselves. My questions: do you keep them cooped at night? Do you know if it will keep opossums out (they are the worse predators around here for chickens.)? How far should the fence be kept from surround buildings, trees, bushes etc (it’s a densely wooded piece of property). Thanks!
My henhouses don’t have doors. I depend on the electric perimeter fence. I gave up on doors once I discovered that the predators appear on the pasture in the evening before the chickens go indoors to roost. Brooder houses are another matter: it’s best if these are 100% critter-proof.
I try to keep my fences away from brush and trees, because the chickens find such things attractive and it gives them an incentive to try to get through the fence. It also gives predators a nearby place to lurk. I guess, in general, you want the area outside the fence to be wide enough to mow easily with your tractor. (Same for the inside.)
All my chickens (pets) were killed a few days ago by a pack of dogs. They broke in through my field fence, then broke through the chicken fence. All 10 were killed. Horrific scene. I am thinking electric fence is what I need to do now. You have really good posts here and ii like the idea of the 2 wire approach. I am putting in a privacy fence around the entire yard next week. Can I put the wire at the bottom of the privacy fence?
Lynne,
Sorry to hear about your chickens! Yes, it’s traditional (and effective) to put a single electric wire near the bottom of an existing fence. The various nail-on and T-post insulators are designed for this. I’d recommend very heavy wire, such as thick galvanized wire, so you can use a weed-eater to keep the wire grass-free without any risk of breaking the wire with the weed-eater. Aluminum fence wire isn’t very strong.
For extra zing, baiting the fence with half-strips of bacon held on with clothes pins will teach the local dogs and predators to respect the fence!
Would this two wire fence work for turkeys?
Would this two strand fence work for turkeys?
My experience is that heritage-breed turkeys are very difficult to confine, since they can fly over any barrier that lacks a roof. We’ve had entire flocks wander off when the mood struck them. Yes, they respect the fence, sort of, mostly, except when they don’t.
I don’t have any experience with hybrid, broad-breasted turkeys. I wouldn’t be surprised if they stayed put once they’re too heavy to fly, but I don’t know when that happens.
Robert
This is the technique I’ve been looking for (I hope!) I’m a minimalist on a strict budget and don’t like to waste time or money. I also don’t like looking at a lot of bulky crap unless I have to… but I need to keep bobcats, coyotes and 4 German Shepherds away from our 35 hens. Also need to keep the dogs and deer away from the garden (the garden that isn’t… until I can get a legit fencing solution in). How to have a trustworthy fence, without having to look at (or pay for) a ton of fencing material! Sounds like a dream! Bought my stuff on Amazon, hoping for the best. Thank you so very much.
Hi! How do you make the one or two wire set up? Can you direct me to instructions and a materials list? We have urban chickens and I want to separate the grassy back yard from the patio. I’m thinking of putting up a 4 foot wood fence but then add 2 electric wires….probably one near the ground then another at the top of the fence where they would fly up to perch before jumping over. Another question: If the chickens learn that the area will zap them, do you need to keep the wire up or can it be taken down? Thanks!!!
Oops. The wire above the fence wouldn’t shock since the chicken feet wouldn’t be touching the ground. Right? 🙁
We just lost 26 chickens and three of the four ducks looked like a horror film in the coop. These were all babies too. We have the one lone duck in a cat carrier in the house nursing it back to health. We suspect a weasel will a electric fence jeep that evil thing away?
I don’t have much experience with weasels, but electric fence will keep out just about any predator if getting to the poultry requires that they be in contact with it for more than a split second, and the fence charger has enough zap to it. A building (such as a chicken coop) is better at meeting these requirements than a pasture fence. It already presents a pretty good barrier, and has a smaller perimeter. Weasels, skunks, and other small predators need a wire that’s pretty low to the ground. Two or three inches, at a guess.
Good luck!
For a brooder house, having wire window screens and a sturdy, well-fitting door make a huge difference. An electric fence wire around the coop will help keep predators from getting any funny ideas about burrowing under the coop.
So is this type of fencing a permanent setup? I’m wondering how long those plastic posts will hold up in 4 seasons? Also, if tall grass/weeds grow up around that fence, will the electric still work? I have geese, so I’m assuming to keep them in, I might need to go with something taller, like 3 wires?
Petra,
The step-in posts last around 5 years, give or take, before sun damage makes them too brittle. Tall grass will short out the fence, which is one reason why I like extremely powerful fence chargers: they’ll continue to work when faced with (some) challenge from grass against the wires. In my experience, fencing in geese is hit-or-miss. Their heavy/oily feathers make them shock-resistant, and they sometimes fly over fences, which is a lot like watching a 747 take off. You can try three wires: why not? The bottom wire does most of the actual work with these fences, and also is the one that gets shorted out by molehills and grass. Additional wires help, but aren’t the main event.
Robert
Robert I’ve just found your site. Great information. I am glad to know you run Norton Creek Press. I’ve been reading through Genetics of the Fowl for the last several months.
I’m going to give this two-wire system a go. I was about to purchase the netting but in a moment of sticker shock came across your article here. We’ll see what happens. 🙂
We’re in a fairly wooded area with limited open grass. The grassy areas that do exist are definitely rolling and surround the house. I am thinking of making a mixed paddock for the layers we are getting in an area near the house so we can keep half an eye on them during the day, and have them secured in a sturdy coop at night. Do you have any experience with pasturing in a semi-wooded area? I’ve read from other farmers that their birds love it but my concern is obviously predation and keeping the chooks safe. We have a wooded valley behind the house I’d love to see them run through sometimes but I’d also hate for them to roam into the neighbors’ yards and meet their howling dogs…
I just want to make a general comment on using electric netting to protect poultry. We have kept birds in an orchard for the past 18 months. We have raised several hundred birds there protected by 48 inch Electric poultry netting from Premier and solar energizers. There is a lot of predator pressure they are including coyotes. The birds have very minimal shelter, mobile chicken coops, or, in the case of geese, trees for shade.
In all that time there was only one attack from a ground predator and I believe the predator got underneath the fence because I didn’t position it correctly. In that pen there were 22 geese and approximately 50 to 60 chickens. There was one dead adolescent goose and 15 dead chickens. Obviously the five adult geese defended their offspring but did not protect the chickens.
Very disappointed !! that I used this article as primary motivation for setting up electric fenceing for our 16 adult chickens. There are 19 more “teens” but we kept them in the coop for this first test. They are one year olds and accustomed to ranging around our land in the country staying within 30-120 yards from the house. Today we enclosed them and the coop in a loop of 25 step-in fiberglass posts from tractor supply, the more expensive poly wire which is yellow plastic with wire mesh, and used 4 strands. The lowest one at your recommended 5 inches, 10-12 inches 20 inches etc up to 30 inches or so. The energizer unit was a 30 mile Gallagher solar. Three-year warranty and highly rated. I know you suggested against 6V solar and prefers A/C units but this one touted 6-7000 volts (that i tested and confirmed w a tester at the unit posts and on the line) as we were not trying to keep predators out, we just needed to keep the chickens in. They were trashing the yard and driveways. The new larger wheeled coop i am building would be moved around the 10 acres and the eectric enclosure would move with it every week on two and we’d planned to make it a larger enclosure if this 25 post setup worked. I used 2 six foot all copper TSupply ground rods hammered in at least 4 feetdeep. The brochure said the unit needed to produce over 5,000 volts to be considered functional and my tractor supply voltage tester maxed out at 7,000 v which this setup measured at. I cleared the ground such that not a blade of grass touched.
Of course i HAD to test it by touching as i’d seen kids do in youtube videos and thought it was a pretty weak hit until I decided to take a boot off and stand w socks on the damp ground and WAMMO yes it worked VERY well !! It bit me up the entire arm and shoulder about as hard as ive ever been hit by accidentally getting in home wall 120 voltage.
We opened the coop and waited for the fun. Their feeder was in the enclosure and yet within minutes half of them had walked right under the lowest wire with it sliding across their backs with no problems. Jersey giant, cochins, RIR, auricanas and a few bantams. Finally a part bantam rooster was hit on the comb and clearly jumped squawked and took a few seconds to shake it off, and a minute or two later he was back under it repeatedly. At least 4 others were bit pretty hard making them jump amd sometimes sqawk guite a fuss that the others would join in on. Still no barrier as they would return again and again through and under it. Even stepping on it w no problem. Only a comb or wattle hit seemed to startle them. After the big guy our biggest Rhode Island Red finally ran through it even though he was VERY hesitant for an hour, thats when i just gave up on it and called a friend down the road who keeps cattle and dogs safely in a 10 mile rated solar system. HE said what I suspected that electric doesn’t work very well for chickens. Feathers insulate and he agreed that if the bird flew up to get over, it may not get bit because it would not have a foot on the ground.
Maybe if the birds were trained on the setup from younger age …..maybe bare galvanized wire bites better ? maybe an AC setup at the same 7,000 volts bites harder somehow ??? Maybe an AC setup that is stronger can conduct through feathers……? Maybe i need higher than 7,000 volts ?? In other words is there anything more powerful about an AC setup at the same 7k volts or do they typically deliver much higher Votages ?
If yes please explain. Thanks ??
Wasted:
Polywire $45. S16 Solar unit $170. Groundrods $50. Stepin posts $50. A lot of wasted time.
Rich
Thank you for this article! I’m wondering, when you pull your two-wire setup to move then hens onto new pasture, do you leave the wires attached to the stakes? If so, do you have to minimize bending the wires to keep them from getting weaker or breaking over time? I’d like to try this setup, but ideally if I can leave wires attached, and bundle everything together to take it to a new site without damaging the wires.
How many feet apart do you recommend for the stakes?
Sadly, my neighborhood foxes did not read this article. Set up a fence with three wires. all three of my lovely hens killed. two taken away and the other left dead in the coop…..shock might have got it. West of Ireland.
That’s good to know and sorry about your chickens. I was wondering if electric fencing would keep out a fox, sad to hear it doesn’t.
I mentioned your 2 wire fence concept to an experienced poultry breeder and he said he’s seen foxes clear a 4 foot fence without touchigng it, so he didn’t understand how this fence could work when so many predators can easily jump over it? I shared that you think they will sniff the fence first, rather than try jumping it . . . but since I haven’t experienced this type of fence first hand, I am a little skeptical. I hate to spend the money on this fencing and time putting it up, if it doesn’t end up working.
Petra, it’s worth a try, his fence is so easy and cheap. The secret is to have one or more livestock guardian dogs inside that fence! Trained as pups, they will respect it. And they will keep whatever out!
Petra,
Hopefully the fox would get zapped when he goes for the raw bacon that you clothes-pinned to the electric wire. Foxes are my biggest worry, so I’m going to try the bacon method and hope they learn the first time they get shocked. Maybe they’ll assume that painful wire goes all the way to the sky. Fingers crossed.
Since your post was a year ago, I’m curious to hear how it’s going for you and your chickens!
How do you shepherd your chickens in and out of the area? Can you add a gate somehow?
Your article states “Another wire at the top can provide an unpleasant surprise to climbing predators. I use plastic nail-on insulators on wooden fenceposts and clip-on insulators for T-posts.” How would that shock them as their feet would not be touching the ground – two wires at top correct? ground and hot…?
Have you had any problem with hawks, vultures, or owls ?
Sure. Aerial predators are indifferent to perimeter fences, as you’d imagine. Crows can cut an enormous swath through young chickens, who will become frightened and pile in the corners of their shelters if crows get in there. Owls didn’t kill many chickens, but hawks were an ongoing problem, though vastly less of one than bobcats, coyotes, and such.
I am curious about the two-wire setup, and have seen other people recommend even more wires. In such a setup, are alternating strands hot and ground? It seems like that might work better, and also provide some protection in the dry part of summer when getting good ground from the soil might be tricky.
So far, the chickens calmly pass either under the bottom wire or between the two wires. My Great Pyrenees steps over it.
I am using poly wire, does anyone know if galvanized or aluminum wire would work better at delivering a charge?
Polywire is okay if the height isn’t way off and you have enough voltage. Most fence chargers don’t. 10,000 volts isn’t close to being too much. My recommended models are probably two or three product revisions behind, but they’ll get you into the right ballpark.
Greetings, does electric poultry fencing need to be buried like regular poultry fencing?
No, because if the lowest wire is low enough (4″-6″ is usually recommended and worked for me), raccoons and such will get zapped as they start to dig under the fence. With small areas (like a henhouse), it’s best to have better physical barriers compared to what you’d use to surround a whole field, since the low wire is easily shorted out by plants, molehills, etc. and have to be monitored, while a brick wall takes care of itself.