OT electric fence

[Britcheflee]

Do you think this would would to keep out racoons etc for my chickens?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fi-Shock-SS-525CS-AC-Powered-Light-Duty-Electric-Fence-Charger-10-Acre-Range-/281019583979?_trksid=p2047675.m2109&_trkparms=aid%3D555003%26algo%3DPW.CAT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D142%26meid%3D4988383984651646174%26pid%3D100010%26prg%3D1076%26rk%3D2%26sd%3D221178377008%26


Lee
 

[Britcheflee]

Also, I see there is electric wire 'Tape' and regular electric wire - any suggestions on which to go with? Have seen one at Walmart as well - the area to enclose is about 200 ft and I have a power outlet at the coop building.


Lee
 

[JMOR]

[Britcheflee]

OK, good point, dont want to kill any wild birds and they are attracted by the left over feed from the chickens - will look for the pulsed type as well.

Lee
 

[old]

I have a continuous type on my chicken fence and it will kill birds and if a chicken that is small enough gets hooked up to it can be killed also. I have found many small birds dead hanging on the electric wire because the got one foot on it and the other fence and then you can have them short it out. I have also brushed up on it my self and boy did it bite hard
 

[Britcheflee]

Well, I certainly dont want that - will look for pulsed type.
 

[R Geiger]

What about a good outside dog?
 

[Del Huebner]

If you are sure its a Raccoon I would reccommend a large live trap. We have chickens and if we suspect there are Raccoons in the area I set the trap along the fenceline using dry cat food for bait and usually catch them the first or second night. I have never had a Raccoon problem in the daylight, they always come after dark.
 

[old]

Not common to hurt a chicken if full grown but yep birds sparrow size and smaller knocks them dead
 

[souNdguy]

ditto on the trap.

I had coons, possum, fox and hawk/owl around my place.

added netting to the top of the pen.. that stopped the hawk / owl.

then I put in hardware wire around the base of the pens, burried 6" deep, and then put a fence board around the bottom perimeter of the pen.

a single errant animal can then be trapped.

I have loose dogs and it didn't seem to scare away the large male coons.
 

[ZANE]

That charger will keep the Coons out of the chicken house or pen but it can kill them too.

It is a continious charge that will paralize and electrocute anything that gets on it and is grounded at the same time. I believe it could kill a man if he got into it and the charge crossed his heart.

I have one around my chicken pen about an inch away from the chicken wire and about six inches above the ground. The wire is also a ground. It has killed lots of rats. One of my free ranging roosters that was fighting with the one in the pen and he got across the hot wire. I got him off but he died a couple of days later. It also killed an owl that was trying to get in the chicken pen one night. A chicken snake can get across it too and become paralized but if I turn off the power it will come alive and crawl off. That is unless it has swallowed a half grown chicken!!

If kids are to be around the wire I would not have it.

The best kind are the ones that pulse a high voltage that can jump a gap of an inch or so. They will keep anything out but won't kill.

May make you kill yourself! :O)

Zane
 

[L. B,]

The best thing I ever heard of was from a guy who raised sweet corn for farmers market. He picked up road kill coons and placed them around his sweet corn. Said that ended his problem.
 

[souNdguy]

I have that fishock charger.. and I have a heavier one for cattle.

i can guarantee you that neither will kill you.. might ruin your underwear in a desperate moment.. but ain't lethal unless you are a bird, lizard, or mouse or spider.

and yes.. I'd been lit up by both of them before..

soundguy
 

[Colin King]

Lee,

I had skunk getting through my fence that consistently read more than 8,000 volts on my tester. A hungry predator is a determined predator.

The best predator control is to make your livestock less appealing than other sources of food. You can provide them with food, provide them with routes through your farm so that they have easy access to food, and build deterrence. You'll never win a trapping war. If you do have an aggressive predator, find a way to train him. Once he's trained, he'll train his off-spring.

I've heard a lot of good things about the Nite Guard lights. I plan on installing a couple this coming season.

I use a solar energizer called a PRS100 from Premier out of Iowa (a recommendation from Dell) for my poultry and sheep. Premier makes a lot of different types of equipment.

For a good fencing set-up, you want to look at the output in joules of the energizer. I don't see that on the Fi Shock unit. I also would stay away from the unit just based on the price and that it's continuous power AC.

Colin, MN
 

[Colin King]

Lee,

Here's the link to Premier's web site. They have a lot of good information on fencing that should help guide you.

Good luck,
Colin
Premier Fencing