Fox Attack!

[Lorraine70]

I've got more questions - I hope you all don't mind. Blimey, life was so much easier before the arrival of the fox!

The electric fencing is now up, but am not sure if it is correctly put up. The bottom of the fence was pulled taut between each rod, but the fence is still quite saggy and I'm worried that the fence won't be working properly. My hubby touched the fence a couple of times yesterday, and got shocks, but this morning he said there was only a very slight shock. We are going to buy a indicator (to save my husband being shocked!!!). On one internet site somebody was talking about an indicator which attaches to the fence and blinks a green light to show the fence is working. However, they didn't give a name or where they bought it from. Does anybody have any suggestions?

Also, how close to the fence does the earth need to be? I've checked through loads of internet sites and not one gives an answer. Does it need to be closer to the fence or closer to the mains plug or does it not matter?

Many thanks in advance for all of your wonderful advice.

[Scarlet]

Sounds right- saggy top is fine, that's how mine is. Actually a fox will climb by perching on top of a fence so anything loose is best- they can't jump the fence in one go.
I haven't got a DIY brain so not much help on the rest as my husband put our fence up. Although our earth is about 20ft from the mains, our fence is 50 m long and forms a u shape. The long top edge is a barn wall so the earth is quite away from some parts of the fence.
The electric comes in pulses, often worse if you touch it with wet shoes- I've had a go a few times!! I think if your oh can feel it at all it should be fine.

[Scarlet]

I've got a lovely farm dog but had a fox attack while on holiday - they're not called sly for nothing!

[Scarlet]

I must be going mad- I'm sure there was a post between my last two

[zazen999]

There was - but they have now been banned.

[Nicos]

The electric fencing is now up, but am not sure if it is correctly put up. The bottom of the fence was pulled taut between each rod, but the fence is still quite saggy and I'm worried that the fence won't be working properly. My hubby touched the fence a couple of times yesterday, and got shocks, but this morning he said there was only a very slight shock. We are going to buy a indicator (to save my husband being shocked!!!). On one internet site somebody was talking about an indicator which attaches to the fence and blinks a green light to show the fence is working. However, they didn't give a name or where they bought it from. Does anybody have any suggestions?

Also, how close to the fence does the earth need to be? I've checked through loads of internet sites and not one gives an answer. Does it need to be closer to the fence or closer to the mains plug or does it not matter?

Many thanks in advance for all of your wonderful advice.

We have slightly differnt electric fencing......

My fence is really quite floppy- but no horizontal strand is touching the one below.

Our Earth is next to the last upright post ( we are on mains too)...but I don't think it matters if it's a tad further away- you just don't want anything ( apart from soil) touching it .
Maybe an electrician here on he forum can confirm this??????


We have run a strand of electric tape along the top of the electric mesh - just to pull it a tad tighter than ultra-floppy!

[bearded bloke]

Earthing you electric fence does have a few positional variables,also your soil type may form another variable.But buy & large mid-way along the fence is the best place for the spike assuming there is not a pole carrying a power transformer &/or telephone wires as the pulses may interfere.
I got a detailed sheet somewhere,will look it out & post here asap

[bearded bloke]

Saved myself loads of typing,elecric fences come under agricultural & horticultural sections of the IEE wiring regulations,which are sections ..

7.6.1 .....Introduction
7.6.2 .....Agricultural
7.6.3 .....Electric fence controllers
7.6.4 .....Horticultural

See .................... http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Book/7.6.1.htm

[bearded bloke]

From the above you will see that it is mostly "common sense" however,if you have an earth spike for your house/outbuilding then please call in a "sparky" & have the soil tested for potential earth overlap

[Lorraine70]

Thanks for all of your replies - you're all great! Beared Bloke - I'll let hubby have a look at your link as I prefer to be ignorant in matter of electrics.

The pheasants seem to be giving a wide berth to the fence which I'm taking as a good sign. We've a brood of about 20 live in our garden and they appear bemused as to why they can no longer get to the hen feed. It's going to save me a fortune in feed bills! I keep going out on a morning expecting the fence to be trampled by a fox, but all good so far. I haven't seen any fox sightings, in a way I want to see one just to see if the fence does work. It had better work - my pocket is now £230 lighter!

[kathyd]

If the top of my fence gets too floppy, I use things like guy ropes here and there to straighten it out a bit, but it's never truly taught.

We have a green flashing light on our fence, it's part of the spike thingy which links the fence to the battery. However, the green light flashing doesn't necessarily mean the fence is functioning properly, it's really just an indicator.. Our dogs are another way of telling - if they touch the fence with a wet nose you'll soon find out if it's on or not! In fact, one of them is so paranoid now she won't even go near the fence to fetch her rubber bone, she just lies and looks pathetically at it from several feet away - so it must have made an impression! Some of the chooks have been zapped too, but it doesn't seem to bother them for long - a quick squawk and they're fine. The funniest one was when I didn't realise the fence was working, and I leaned over it with a metal spoon in my hand to offer one of the birds the last bit of porridge, and it must have got her through the beak - she didn't half screech at me! Poor thing. And that was when I could hold the fence firmly in my hand and not feel a thing... I believe you can buy wireless testers that will tell you if any electric fence is on though - hand held, and probably quite useful for farmer's fences too if you live in the countryside.

[veggiechicken]

If I had an electric fence, I'd have to put another fence inside it to keep my pets away. Couldn't stand to see them shocked.

[frias]

If I had an electric fence, I'd have to put another fence inside it to keep my pets away. Couldn't stand to see them shocked.

That's exactly what I have done!

[veggiechicken]

Good for you, Frias

[kathyd]

If I had an electric fence, I'd have to put another fence inside it to keep my pets away. Couldn't stand to see them shocked.

Well... I take your point, but our electric netting is 100m long, and needs to be easily movable on a regular basis for cutting the grass underneath it, so installing an additional fence around the fence, inside or out, isn't really a practical option unfortunately. It also cost over £300 to buy, so having to pay for a further 100m of non electric fencing, plus posts, isn't really in the budget. Our chickens already cost us more one way and another than both dogs and cats put together (and we only have 9)! If you read 'professional' advice eg the Haynes Chicken Manual for one, people tend to suggest chickens won't be damaged or traumatised by being pinged by the fence, they just learn to avoid it. Certainly none of mine seem bothered by it at all, despite the odd ping from it, and it can actually be quite useful if you're trying to keep your birds IN, not just keep foxes out! As far as the dogs go, the cattle fences which border part of our garden, and which they've found on more than one occasion, are a darn sight worse than poultry netting, believe me! Anyway, I suspect we all do the best that we can to look after our animals and poultry, within whatever constraints we have, because if we didn't care about them and their welfare we wouldn't be using this forum .