Protecting chickens - and other livestock

It’s snack time! Electric wire has been cleared of all debris and little aluminum foil and peanut butter hors d'oeuvres are strategically placed. I just wish I could be there to watch the show.

Today my mother told me that when she was a girl they had a dog that started eating eggs. My grandpa set out a screen wire attached to the hotwire with some eggs on it. She said the dog never went near an egg again .

So I’m hoping this will keep away the dogs and other critters.

maybe tie a few dead chickens to that electric fence...

right now, in our area, it is so dry, I doubt they would get much of a shock. So, I like to run a ground wire as well, real close to the hot wire, so they touch both at the same time. Now, that's a real ouch!

Oh, believe me - they'll get a shock. My piglet of a Tom turkey just found out about that. He was pushing and shoving to get his share of watermelon and forgot where the hot wire was. He has remembered now!

The key thing you may be missing is a dog, or few. We have electric fences but they are far more efficient coupled with our livestock herding and guarding dogs. Predators foolish enough to cross the line get et.

http://SugarMtnFarm.com/watch-dog/

Snakes will enter a chicken coop at night through any hole big enough for them to squeeze their head. This Rat Snake ate a young bantam last night:



Not sure where the hole is....

Hardware cloth with 1/2 inch or smaller holes covering any hole that predators could come through.