[Nutty]

Hi,

Installed an electric fence to deter chickens from accessing/destroying planted area of garden.

The perimiter of the planted area is basically railway sleepers. There is a conductor wire suspended horizontally on insulated posts about 20cm above the sleepers, an earth conductor wire stapled directly to the top of the sleepers, an also an earth stake.

The idea is that the chickens will walk under the conductor, which they do, top of chicken touches conductor above, which it does, chickens foot touches either ground or earth conductor wire, which it does, but no shock (at least nothing they worry about)!!!.

Measured live conductor to earth conductor and to ground at >6KV.

Gives me a shock when I touch, but no affect on the chickens.

Has anyone else found electric fences ineffective for chickens?

Thanks in advance

Steve

[Squibbs]

I haven't got my electric fence up at the moment - when I did and a chicken touched it there was much screaming and running away followed by a lot of rosey.

Are their feed on the sleepers when they touch the wire - maybe that is insulating them somewhat.

[Nutty]

Hi Squibs,

Thanks for reply

The sleeper is a very good insulator as I found out when I first tested the fence, so I fitted the earth conductor wire on top of the sleeper to get round this. I think they are touching both wires simultaneously but not 100% sure.

[binghamd]

I agree with Squibs. If they are standing on the sleeper when they touch the wire nothing will happen as the sleeper is insulating them from the earth. If all you have is a wire they can "fly" over it if they really want to. The electric netting is best to make sure they don't get out/in.
If they get a shock they make a terrible noise flapping their wings and running like crazy.

[Squibbs]

Can you put some wire mesh over the sleepers which then connects to the ground - it would give you a better area of contact.

I suppose it depends on how big your perimeter is whether this is practical or not

[debih]

Our pigs are kept in by electric fencing and the neighbours chickens are always in there. 

They hop on the fence to get in.  But the fence pulses so maybe it is inbetween pulses when the chickens get on.

The only thing that stops them going in with the pigs is the pigs chasing them!

[ehs284]

Ours soon worked out that they could get under the fence if they used their feathers on their backs as insulation. B''rs

[Nutty]

Thank-you all for your replies.

I'm convinced that at least some of the time they are touching the live wire (with their back) while simultaneously standing on the earth wire on top of the sleepers, with no effect, so either their feet or feathers on their back are insulators. I'm going to staple another 1 or 2 earth cables on top of sleepers spaced about an inch apart from the original earth cable to be sure that they are definately making a circuit to earth when they stand on sleeper. If that does not work I will have to give up with this approach and maybe try an automatic water spray device to keep them off the border.

Steve

[Squibbs]

Our pigs are kept in by electric fencing and the neighbours chickens are always in there. 

They hop on the fence to get in.  But the fence pulses so maybe it is inbetween pulses when the chickens get on.

The only thing that stops them going in with the pigs is the pigs chasing them!

If they hop on the fence they aren't earthed, no difference in voltage = no shock.

[hillfooter]

Ours soon worked out that they could get under the fence if they used their feathers on their backs as insulation. B''rs

Hi ehs,

My Orloff bantams in one of my runs have figured this out too.  They also have figured out the bottome strand isn't electrified and put their heads under that and lift.

I agree that you will need to improve the earthing conductor by stapling a small size weld mesh to it.  It will need to be earthed to the energiser earth stake preferably rather than having an independant earth stake and hoping the ground impedance between the stakes is low.  Feathers are a very good insulator.  Without a good earth it will be like a bird perching on a high tension line.  They don't get a shock.

HF