Democratic Underground Latest Greatest Lobby Journals Search Options Help Login
Google

I need an electric fence .....I'm clueless

Printer-friendly format Printer-friendly format
Printer-friendly format Email this thread to a friend
Printer-friendly format Bookmark this thread
Home » Discuss » Topic Forums » Rural/Farm Donate to DU
 
OnionPatch Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-18-06 01:03 PM
Original message
I need an electric fence .....I'm clueless
I've been looking at dealer sites on the web but I can't really figure out how much charge I need and so on.

Our 1-acre property is surrounded on three sides by other 1-acre lots, all of which are fenced in and have dogs, so we've not had a problem with unwanted wildlife coming in from any of those sides of our land. The fourth side of our lot borders a woodsy park, which in turn connects to the national forest, so it is definitely a wildlife corridor and all of our wild animal visitors have entered our property from that property line. It is about 200 feet long and already has a five-foot high welded wire fence (2"x4" vertical rectangles) along it's length. I'd like to add a single strand of electrified wire along the top, mainly to keep out bears, who recently tore open our chicken coop and killed four of our chickens. I'd love to use a solar collector to power the fence but the units I've seen are all pretty expensive. I wondered if maybe they aren't meant to power a much longer, larger section of fence and perhaps I'm looking in the wrong place or at the wrong type of unit. :shrug:

Anyway, I'd appreciate any tips and personal knowledge anyone can give me to help with this project. Or, if anyone has any good ideas for bear-proofing my chicken coop maybe I can forget about the electric fence.
Refresh | 0 Recommendations Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
China_cat Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-18-06 01:06 PM
Response to Original message
1. Why not check with your county extension service?
They'd probably be able to give you some good advice on what you need.
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
OnionPatch Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Sep-19-06 12:56 AM
Response to Reply #1
8. Not a bad idea
They might know more about our the behavior of the bears in our area, too.
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
MuseRider Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-18-06 01:11 PM
Response to Original message
2. If the only problem
you have with the wildlife is your chickens then why not just run a couple of strands around the chicken coop? Make a little fence with portable fence posts so you can make a little gate that you can easily get in and out through. Just a suggestion since I do not have to deal with bears and have no clue what it would take to keep a hungy one out.

I have electric fence around my horse pastures. I hate it and really am not a lot of help to you but I did use a solar powered charger but I have to say it was not very good. It WAS expensive but sadly it was not enough for all the pastures even though it should have been.
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
OnionPatch Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Sep-19-06 12:56 AM
Response to Reply #2
7. I've thought about doing just that
because the chickens are the only thing the bear/s (I think it's just been one bear) bothers. However, I have a young daughter and two dogs. I wouldn't mind having the whole length of the property fenced off.

So I wonder if the solar charger would work better on a small fence length?
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
MuseRider Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Sep-19-06 07:48 AM
Response to Reply #7
9. In that case I would
Edited on Tue Sep-19-06 07:49 AM by MuseRider
do the entire length. I worked with bears at the zoo and I learned enough to love them and respect them and have a healthy fear of what they can do. The fence might even keep your dogs from going after a bear if you run a low strand too.

Personally my experience is that the solar chargers are not reliable. I hate to say that, maybe they are better now than they were 10 years ago. My fence pulses a pretty strong charge, it will send a good shock up into my shoulder and makes my horses sit down if they hit it. I would not think a bear would like it much. I would call your extension agent for advice before doing anything or talk to others who live around there and see what works for them. I did not notice a big increase in my electric bill when I hooked it up but I only fence 2 pastures, about 5 acres apiece.

Edit to add The poster below who speaks about grounds is correct. Very important that you ground it properly.
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
TexasProgresive Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-18-06 01:29 PM
Response to Original message
3. I have 25 years of electic fence experience.
Most fence energizers are designed to charge miles of wire. There are battery operated and solar units and they cost about $150 to $250. There are some small AC units called Fido Shocker or something similar but they are dangerous. These units are only a transformer that takes 120 AC to about 5,000 Volts that is continuous. If an animal gets hung up in one of these they are dead and I suppose the same could happen to a person.

The better energizers put out a huge charge that last for a few milliseconds. This pulsing action saves energy and while the shock is huge the danger is minimal.

Regardless of what you use, you will need a good ground and the hot wire(s) need to be keep insulated from the post and existing wire fencing. Besides putting a lead on top you might consider one 2 feet off the ground on the woods side mounted on extended insulators. Once the bears become aware of this hot wire they will leave it alone.

One thing that won't be a real problem for you is not having enough charger for your wire length. The important things are good grounds (I use 3, 8 foot rods, 8 foot apart) and good insulators.
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
OnionPatch Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Sep-19-06 12:52 AM
Response to Reply #3
6. I heard that dry terrain
make it harder to ground. We're very dry here most of the year.

Thanks for the warning on the cheapo units. I was curious...is there a fire danger from using electric fencing? We're very dry and fire-prone here.
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
TexasProgresive Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Sep-19-06 09:01 PM
Response to Reply #6
10. In answer to your 2 questions-
Since your area is very dry I would ground the woven wire fence. You must make sure that the hot wire is clear of the fence but that will make a complete circuit if the intruder touches both fences. The other thing is to get a low impedence charger. These fencers will maintain a high energy charge even will a heavy brush load and are low or non-existant fire hazard. As well as the fido-shocker type avoid any that claim to be "weed burners" because they certainly can cause a fire.

I have had really good luck with Gallagher products. Here's some units that you might consider.
AC powered
G331 Fence Master JR. A small unit $41.99
The Wrangler I think a better buy at $73.49.

DC powered - Use batteries
B11 - We used one of these sucessfully for temporary fences - $104.99 uses D cells
S17 - Super Charger - Don't know much about this one at $199.99

http://www.afence.com/store/home.php
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
OnionPatch Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-12-07 09:14 PM
Response to Reply #10
16. Thanks for the link
and all that great info. I still haven't gotten to putting up the fence yet but hope to soon, so this will help.

I did reinforce the chicken coop, though. It's now enclosed in a 12'x12' heavy-duty, galvanized steel, chain link fence cage, complete with roof and all. We haven't had any bear problems since. :) Still, though, I do let the chickens wander the field all day. I'd still like to put up that fence.
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
madhoosier Donating Member (130 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Oct-18-07 01:01 PM
Response to Reply #16
17. Bear Country Zoo and electric fence
Edited on Thu Oct-18-07 01:08 PM by madhoosier
Last fall I visited "Bear Country" near Rapid City South Dakota, it's a drive through private zoo with all of the large wild animals of the west. They had two grizzlies on display and to keep the grizzlies entertained they were chickens in their pen. The chickens scooted under a fence when the bears paced back and forth. The chickens knew just how close they could get to the bears and stay safe.

The elk were in the rut and all of the female elk had been removed, the very first animals we saw were two giant bull elks alternately mounting each other every 15 seconds. It made for quite the photo-op.

On my electric fence around my garden I have three hot strands and five ground strands. I used treated 2x4x10s buried 18" and set with cement. It keeps adult dear out but the fawns are so nimble they just hop between strands. The reason I used such tall posts was I originally had nylon dear netting suspended from these posts but it rotted out after the second year.

Grounding is much easier here in the Midwest, two 6ft ground rods and the steel fence posts between the 2x4s work fine even during the 6 week drought in June and July.

The local Tractor Supply store carries all of the supplies needed for an electric fence, the chargers are rated according to the length of fence you'll be charging, mine is rated one half mile and is 120V AC and there are a variety of insulators for diffrent types of posts.

The gate on mine is six individual wires that have an insulated handle and spring that hooks to a post.

I have seen as many as 20 deer in my yard at a time and it's not unusual to see 150 within 2 miles in the winter when the crops are out and there's snow on the ground. Since the electric fence has been installed there are a lot fewer dear using my yard!

Weeds will ground out an electric fence but shouldn't be much of a problem if it's dry.
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
Kolesar Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Oct-11-07 03:40 PM
Response to Reply #3
15. Lethal? Wow!
This inexpensive one is not pulsed, so it is probably just a transformer. http://www.afence.com/store/home.php?cat=257
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
drthais Donating Member (771 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-18-06 02:26 PM
Response to Original message
4. I actually got up and went to the file cabinet for this:
we had a similar problem
the 1 acre we have in organic produce
was being ravaged by deer etc
this was maybe five years ago
we bought the following:
online, from Speedrite electric fence systems
a 5-ft high system (we had to install it)
Patent # 5,139,235, and #5,697,600


look for THe COmmon Sense Fence by GEOTK, Inc
geotekinc.com

works like a dream
we have had zero problems since
of course, the dogs did hit it once and only once, early on
didn't kill them of course, but they never went near it again
same for the deer

good luck

its worth the investment
I believe it cost us around 1K
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
OnionPatch Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Sep-19-06 12:49 AM
Response to Reply #4
5. Thanks for all the specifics!
I'll do some more googling. Good to know it works for you.
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
DaleK2 Donating Member (7 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Sep-20-06 06:48 PM
Response to Reply #5
11. Reply
Get a good one and put up at least 3 strands. The worst thing that can happen is with only 1 or 2 strands, sometimes the bear gets in, but can't get back out. We have a beekeeper who keeps a huge yard on our place and he used to have that problem, before he went to three strand he had 3 occasions when he showed up at a yard and there was a bear inside waiting for him.
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
MuseRider Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Sep-21-06 09:06 AM
Response to Reply #11
12. YIKES!
Now that would scare me! Great suggestion, I don't have bears around here but never would have thought about getting something trapped inside. When I get moved to the farm I am going to have to protect chickens and goats so this is good for me too. I know how to do horses but each critter is different. Thank you!
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
OnionPatch Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-25-06 03:11 PM
Response to Reply #12
13. What about the horses?
We plan to get two horses in the spring. And we have cougars around here as well as bears. There are tons of horses around here and I never hear about any of them being attacked by wild animals. But then, most of the little mini-farms around here don't have a boundary against the woods like we do. Losing a chicken is one thing. I'd be severely depressed if I lost a horse. How do you protect yours and from what? Thanks!
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
MuseRider Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Sep-27-06 06:03 PM
Response to Reply #13
14. Well, we supposedly do not have
cougars but I and several others have seen them. They are rare here. I do know that they will take a horse though.

I don't know if an electric fence would stop a cougar, they could either get under it or go over it I would think.

I really don't have any animals around here that would attack my horses. I suppose the occasional hungry feral dog might if it was big enough but so far so good. Most people around here have to worry more about kids with guns who will occasionally go out and shoot them from cars. If something dies the coyotes will take them down to the bone over night along with the bobcats but really that is about it here.
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
Jolly Sapper Donating Member (16 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Oct-21-07 10:59 PM
Response to Original message
18. bears?...
You would probably want to look into the electric fence chargers used to keep cattle or bison. Google cattle electric fence, one of the shops that pops up will have something.

A possible solution to having really dry soil keeping the fence charger from grounding properly that I've yet to actually get around to attempting...

Use something like a post hole digger and dig down a few feet and put some PVC pipe ( or some other similar object that will retain water) into the hole. Back fill around the pipe. Put your grounding rods inside of the pipe and fill the pipe with dirt. Find something that will fit completely over the pipe (hopefully its something that you can easily cut a hole in) to use as a lid. Cut a hole in the lid big enough to feed the grounding wire through and attach to the grounding rod. Let the lid slide down the wire and seat it onto the pipe. When the weather gets dry, or the fence doesn't seem to be grounding enough to give a good shock pop off the lid and pour some water inside.

I'm hoping that the lid covered pipe would help keep the evaporation to a minimum but I've yet to get around to trying it.
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
PhD Donating Member (284 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Oct-22-07 04:09 AM
Response to Original message
19. "Electric fence" and "clueless"...
...two phrases you generally don't want to combine!
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
OnionPatch Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-24-07 06:58 AM
Response to Reply #19
20. LOL, you're probably right.
:D
We were getting pretty desperate with our chicken situation when I wrote this initial post. And I can only speak for myself. My husband probably doesn't consider himself clueless. I'm sure we could figure it out if we educate ourselves, but I don't think we'll need the fence after all. We solved the bear problem by enclosing our chicken coop in a 12x12 cage of heavy-duty chain link with a roof of the same. We do let them run free during the daytime, though, but bears don't seem to come around here in the daytime. It's been almost a year since we lost a chicken to any predators, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
DU AdBot (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author Click to view 
this author's profile Click to add 
this author to your buddy list Click to add 
this author to your Ignore list Sun Dec 22nd 2024, 03:55 AM
Response to Original message
Advertisements [?]
 Top

Home » Discuss » Topic Forums » Rural/Farm Donate to DU

Powered by DCForum+ Version 1.1 Copyright 1997-2002 DCScripts.com
Software has been extensively modified by the DU administrators


Important Notices: By participating on this discussion board, visitors agree to abide by the rules outlined on our Rules page. Messages posted on the Democratic Underground Discussion Forums are the opinions of the individuals who post them, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Democratic Underground, LLC.

Home  |  Discussion Forums  |  Journals |  Store  |  Donate

About DU  |  Contact Us  |  Privacy Policy

Got a message for Democratic Underground? Click here to send us a message.

© 2001 - 2011 Democratic Underground, LLC