Portable poles for overhead netting?

I want to design a stand alone movable post that can hold up netting over a movable chicken yard. I would imagine I need several approx 8' high.
My goal is to have a modular system (several) to move around my property, to use for breeding groups, grow-outs and possibly meat birds. One 4 x 4 or 6 x 6 coop, chicken tractor/greenhouse that can attach to the coop, 100' portable electric poultry net fence (48" high) and netting over the yard to keep out aerial predators and keep the naughty cocks in.

I don't want to reinvent the wheel...anyone seen anything like that before? Ideas?

Attached is a pic of my tractor. Plans came from John Suscovich of Camp Roads Farm (Foodcyclist)

Thanks all!

Leela
Kindred Hill Farm
NH

Two ideas come to mind, both of which I've done in different settings:
1. Pound sections of pipe into the ground where you want your poles to be. Pull them out as you pound them in to knock the soil out, so that when they are sunk in, the inside of the pipe is empty. Have these wider than your poles and simply drop the poles into them. The other way would be permanent stakes, say two or three feet tall, that your poles (pipes? bamboo?) fit down over.
2. especially for hard or rocky ground, use tall tripods made of bamboo or other lightweight material....these would be moved with the net....

Another hint...a jar, or even a metal can, over the end of the poles allows the net to slide over them and stretch without catching on the end....

Alder Burns wrote:Two ideas come to mind, both of which I've done in different settings:
1. Pound sections of pipe into the ground where you want your poles to be. Pull them out as you pound them in to knock the soil out, so that when they are sunk in, the inside of the pipe is empty. Have these wider than your poles and simply drop the poles into them. The other way would be permanent stakes, say two or three feet tall, that your poles (pipes? bamboo?) fit down over.
2. especially for hard or rocky ground, use tall tripods made of bamboo or other lightweight material....these would be moved with the net....

Another hint...a jar, or even a metal can, over the end of the poles allows the net to slide over them and stretch without catching on the end....

I like the idea of a tripod, could be covered and provide a shady place for them to hang out!

Thanks for the ideas!

Leela

Alder Burns wrote:Two ideas come to mind, both of which I've done in different settings:
1. Pound sections of pipe into the ground where you want your poles to be. Pull them out as you pound them in to knock the soil out, so that when they are sunk in, the inside of the pipe is empty. Have these wider than your poles and simply drop the poles into them. The other way would be permanent stakes, say two or three feet tall, that your poles (pipes? bamboo?) fit down over.
2. especially for hard or rocky ground, use tall tripods made of bamboo or other lightweight material....these would be moved with the net....

Another hint...a jar, or even a metal can, over the end of the poles allows the net to slide over them and stretch without catching on the end....

I would vote for using bamboo poles. Not only is bamboo an incredibly sustainable resource, it's also stronger than steel and more robust than concrete, and way healthier for the environment than PVC pipes.

Alex Everette wrote:

I would vote for using bamboo poles. Not only is bamboo an incredibly sustainable resource, it's also stronger than steel and more robust than concrete, and way healthier for the environment than PVC pipes.

I know there is the type of bamboo that spreads underground and one that just stays in clumps. Can you recommend a clumping variety that will grow in my climate, zone 5 New Hampshire US.

Thanks!

Here is a Canadian company that specializes in cold climate bamboos:
Cold hardy bamboo

They have a couple dozen varieties that they rate down to USDA zone 5
Good place to do some research.

I'd been letting a group of Khaki Campbell ducks out into some Dog Xpen fencing. I used umbrellas over rebar stakes to both give them shade and discourage aerial predators, but it was not enough. One day I got to the field and a Raven was eating a duck inside the run on the ground. So I built the "Octopod".

This worked Ok, until the winter "wet season" started. We've had a particularly blustery one this year. Since duckling season was over, I gave the group a "mini-hoop" so they had more protection from the weather.


This set up was too labor intensive to move daily - I aimed for every 3 days. However, the ducks loved being able to go out, and the grass could handle 3 days, and I had no better options at the time.

However, one day I think a Raven decided to challenge it, collapsed the Xpen fencing and ate one of the chickens right through the fence. The rest managed to get to the mini-hoop and were safe.

No matter what we do, the predators have all day to think of how to defeat our defenses and are hungry enough to try... I would love to have a series of permanent paddocks for these birds, but with our predator pressure, they'd have to be fully enclosed. Ducks make such a mess that I'd need quite a few of them. Chickens will jump Xpen fences, but it's rare that the Khakis will, so I can potentially have some larger permanent paddocks with Xpen subdividing it and not create too much more work.

A way my brother and I are putting up moveable poultry fencing  is using 2 meter tall deer netting on slim tall cedar poles we have cut down.
( Lots of cedars here in south central Missouri ) They are spaced roughly 10 feet apart and corners are anchored around existing trees. The
netting is fairly light and nearly invisible so we laced white poly twine at the top 4 1/2 feet with those 3 lines spaced at about 18 inch intervals
to discourage birds from trying to fly through it. The lower half is electrified to discourage predators and to keep the dogs from trying to just
push themselves beneath it. Plus, those wires also help make the barrier more visible. The top line could have wire or a sturdy but small diameter
low stretch polyester line that can be pulled tight enough so the netting doesn't sag too much. (it doesn't take much to hold the netting up...
like I said, the netting is very light.) Line laced through the netting or just  small zip ties to attach netting to the support line.
Conduit tubing or 1.5" to 2" inch PVC pipe might be workable alternatives to wood poles. (though corner poles need to be stiff and sturdy.

We figure if the netting needs to be moved to an area without trees to anchor the fencing to, the idea is to use old car tires with holes cut into
the sidewall of the tire facing the ground for drainage. (and they could be painted so they aren't so ugly) Corner anchor poles could be attached
to the tread face of the tire to hold the poles and netting up. The corner anchor pole tires could be filled with dirt, gravel, rocks or whatever or
bricks on a board laying on top of the tires to give them extra weight to resist tipping. And that should do... concrete would be overkill. The
operative word is "moveable"; rocks, dirt and bricks would be WAY easier to just empty out of the tires to move the poles with their tire bases
than cumbersome concrete filled tires.  The reason for using tire platforms and wood poles is that rock is not something T posts can be used
in very easy, if at all in a practical way.

The corner anchor poles  could be reinforced with a couple boards or a section of conduit bent into a "V" with the point of the V attached to the
pole about 2 1/2 or 3 feet above the tire and the spread ends of the V screwed or nut and bolted to the tire as a triangulated brace. Fencing poles
standing between the anchor poles just need to be held upright. (the tires with unbraced poles and the tension of the line between the corner anchor
poles should be enough.) Really trying to get by without using guy lines at the corner poles.... just another way some predator might be able to climb
up and get in to my chickens.

I've had free range chickens for 30 years (a few of those years, when I lived in the holler, we had ducks too but they'd run away from home downstream during a drought and be lost, and now I live on a ridge so no ducks). Last year the predator pressure got so bad we finally gave up and fenced a run for the chickens, a pretty big one that includes my orchard. It's made of  that 2 X 4" inc h wire, about four feet tall, and we originally planned to put a line of electric fence above the top, but that would involve adding some kind of post extensions and we haven't done it because we only lost one pullet since putting them in the run. I also had the idea of running cord from the fence top, through the tops of my fruit trees, to the fence on the opposite end, enough of them to make a confusing tangle overhead that would deter hawks. But then this spring I decided a better permaculture solution is to plant more bushes and small trees in the open spaces so the hawks can't get at the chickens--and they might as well be bushes that will provide food for us or the chickens or both. I'm going to try to propagate my goumis; I don't know if there are good choices that would provide seeds or something more full of protein or fat rather than just berries.
One more little point--someone mentioned a way to avoid having movable netting rip on the ends of poles. I have four blueberries inside a cage made from metal posts at the corners and one-inch-mesh poultry netting, which is permanent--in the fruiting season I stretch plastic netting over the top to keep birds out. We don't tear that netting because we put tennis balls atop the poles--my husband plays tennis, and they only use the balls once, they're pressurized. So if you know anyone who plays tennis you can likely get all the used balls you want. These are also good for putting on the feet of chairs to avoid their scratching the floor when moved.