electric fence

[walldanzig]

Done a bit of searching and cant find a definitive answer so thought i'd ask the people who know. I have a hen house and was wondering how much of a detterent electric fencing is. Would electric fencing alone keep the fox out? Has anyone had any experiance with a fox getting over the fencing any help on this would be really appreciated as fencing is a lot of money and I just want to make sure its worth the investment

[WrexTheDragon]

My mate has an electric fence for his chickens, It does stop Mr Fox from killing the birds.

[jessmorris]

I have friends in the country and their elec fence is only about 3 foot high - it definately keeps the foxes out and is worth the investment. Another friend has a 6 foot electric fence which does the same job. After seeing the effect getting zapped has on my dogs I can see how effective it would be against foxes too.

[petal]

Yes, its very worthwhile and can be moved readily.

[Nicos]

Some of us have bought from here..

Electric Fencing Direct | electric netting

It's netting and comes in different styles.
I have the close mesh poultry version which is 4ft high and can be moved about.
We have 5 foxes in the field behind our house and so far we've been OK

It's a family run company and they are very , very helpful! ( esp when numpty here needed help knowing quite what to order - and after delivery when I had a couple of questions!)
( infact I've just got a second 50m length!!)

Nope- no electric fencing is cheap- but mines been doing a grand job for the past 18months!

[its hilly]

I have elecric fencing for my horses which is tape rather than netting. Its 4ft high and used with 4 lines of tape. Used as a perimeter fence about 2ft inside the dodgy hedges it has kept chooks and horses in and mr fox out. I will say it does require a little maintenence, I have to keep under the bottom line strimmed as it is only 6in off the ground, and because of the number of lines it takes a heavy duty battery to run if it's not to need constant charging. But I have to have a middle line to stop my youngster putting her feet over the low lines and my dog from jumping through the middle.
It may seem a big investment but set up properly is very effective, and what no-one has mentioned is that it is worth almost as much second hand, so if you change your mind at any point in the future you wont lose much money on it.

[Suechooks]

I will say it does require a little maintenence, I have to keep under the bottom line strimmed as it is only 6in off the ground,

I put narrow Damp course membrane under my fence to help stop it shorting out. Still need to strim but not as often.

[walldanzig]

thats great im going to take the plunge. I knew you guys would know appreciate all the advice I get on here

[palomino]

Electric Fencing Direct | temporary and permanent poultry electric fencing

I like the look of this website and their 1.22m high Premium Fox Buster netting is the best I can find - close mesh to help keep chicks in, all double pronged stakes for stability, and a built in gate section (some charge extra for this). Too strapped for cash to buy it yet, with an empty oil tank and car tax next month, but it's the one I will go for when I'm able to.

After two fox strikes I have surrounded the hen and duck houses with old nylon sheep netting, 90 cm high, which is too damaged to electrify, and outside that I have four strands of horse electric tape, powered by a 12v car battery and a Wolseley energiser. I think the netting will need to run off a mains energiser, it must knock a battery out very quickly.

What it is doing is keeping the ducks and the Orpingtons in, and some of the smaller ones too, but the Orp chicks at 8 weeks old can get through it, so they are in a small run attached to their house when we're not watching them. The mad bantams fly in and out over the fence and perhaps clipping their wings and using 1.22m (4 foot) netting will keep them in. The foxes are kept out - I have heard a cub yelp during the night after touching it, though the birds are all shut in their houses at night anyway, shame we didn't manage to shoot it. They are in the garden or the field most nights.

Excellent idea to use damp-proof membrane under the fence, better than spraying Roundup on the grass, and anything that extends the time between strimming is a bonus!

[palomino]

Nicos I've just realised we are recommending the same company, that speaks for itself!

[roadkill]

they work 100% in my eyes , we have over 5000 birds on our shoot in three pens and each is proctedted with electric wire we have one strand on the inside and a meter from that we have three strands and not once have we lost birds in the pen due to mr fox

[Polly Fouracre]

I use electic fencing, coupled with an automatic pop-hole closer as our fields are five miles from our house, Our neighbours lost all of their hens using just fencing. Foxy (who must have been desparately hungry) jumped their fence, killed all the hens,ate one then jumped out again.

[jessmorris]

" I think the netting will need to run off a mains energiser, it must knock a battery out very quickly."


..not sure what a 'mains energiser' is but just to say that pals run their sheep netting off a 12 volt battery and don't mention that it needs charging very often.....

[Nicos]

OK- not being electrically 'thingymebob'...

this is what I understand...

You can buy a box which alters the current from mains to OK for the electric fence

Or..you can buy a special heavy duty battery ( but you'll need a car battery for back up whilst it's charging...

Or you need at least 2 car batteries which will need alternating very , very regularly.

I'm lazy- and want to make sure I have 100% cover- so I went for the box thingymegib

by the time you've bought several car batteries etc the heavy duty one seems much better value for money if you need to be independant of mains electricity.

( Is that basic enough???)

[Suechooks]

You still need the "box thingy" if you're using a battery.The energiser alters the current from 12v (or 220/240 if its mains) to several thousand volts - mine reads between 2000 and 4000 v depending how long it is since the battery was charged.
I use a Leisure battery as recommended by makers as it discharges slowly rather than a car battery which is designed to discharge quickly and then be rapidly recharged via car engine.
I also have a car battery I bought for a tenner which does the 36 hours it takes to charge the proper one. My 25m nets use the battery for about 4 weeks before it needs recharging.