Electric Fencing advice needed

Hi there,

This is my first post so hope it goes ok. I have a 50m electric fence in a situation described, ie a small orchard with marauding foxes ever present. The complete kit cost £270 which included fence, battery, earth, energizer and additional stakes and damp proof course. The additional 30 fence stakes were required because of sagging (as flagged up) and the damp proof course (£10) stops the electric fence from shorting (although in the summer i have to go round the perimeter every couple of weeks with a pair of shears to make sure the grass does not foul the damp proof course). I am really happy with the set up as it gives such flexability in terms of managing the grass so that the poultry always have clean grass to scratch in. The system also means you can move coups around which is handy when introducing new stock, or isolating broodies etc. with internal fences within the electric fencing. My dogs won't go near it, they now associate hens with pain, so also ignore my neighbours hens who sometimes come into the garden! I wing clip my birds, and so far have never had any escapees...

A useful thread.  Something that we were discussing recently and of course it dosen't happen very often  :blink:, what about snow and heavy stuff, snowdrifts etc, will this short the electric fence?

Glad this is useful. I will get some pics on over the weekend of a couple of my gate configurations. Regarding posts, the fence itself came with 15 quite flimsy posts. I bought 30 stronger additions, which including the originals, are spaced at about every 1.5m. You could save some money on the battery (£50 - £60). At first I got a local tyre / battery place to give me two car batteries which were destined to be recycled - for free. They were happy for me to take these back and swop for others when they no longer held a charge - although this never happened. They last about a week before needing to be recharged, so you just swop them round. I only bought a leisure battery when I was going to be away for more than a week, and thought it wasn't fair to give neighbour extra responsibility! These last up to 3 months before needing to be recharged. Sadly, we don't get much snow here so not sure how the fence would hold up. Cold temperatures drain the battery though.

very good link thank you clodbuster, do you want to pop it into the fox sticky up top?