Rob Thomson Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 Hello all, After our cat incident a couple of weeks ago we invested in some poncey electrified poultry netting to keep our little girls safe. This has been up and running for a week now but we can't bring ourselves to remove their old fence from within the new because we can't bear the thought of the little darlings being shocked! I wasn't too worried about this until I got shocked for the first time... and was surprised how powerful it was. I'm 6'7" and 17 stone, if it knocked me for six what's it going to do to a fragile 4lb ex-batt trying to live a happy retirement pecking around the garden without the stress of electrocution?! Anyone got any experience of this? Many thanks, Rob. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chickabee Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 Sounds like it would fry them Is it really poncey? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chickabee Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 Just checked it out on internet. It seems that they will be fine. Type in "will my hens get hurt by electric fence". There's lots of answers on the subject Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eggasperated Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 My girls get the occasional shock, generally when they are concentrating on something outside the fence and forget it's there . Although they make a lot of complaining noise, it hasn't had any long term effects on them. When I looked after some ex batts for a friend one of them was a persistent escaper and she spent a whole day testing the fence out until she eventually gave up - judging by the squawks and indignation she must of touched it a least dozen times that day, and she lived another 3 years after that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Thomson Posted May 8, 2014 Author Share Posted May 8, 2014 Hello all, I thought I should update this in case anyone has similar worries in the future... All three little ex-batts have been shocked a couple of times resulting in much squalking and a couple of days of slightly nervous looks, but they've quickly sussed out that they can't touch the fence and are happily pecking their way around the garden once again. Previously if we'd gone into the garden carrying a bag of mealworm the little girls would have come tearing over and crammed themselves into the nearest corner of their fence, pushing past each other to be closest to us. Now they stop eighteen inches short. Even the excitement of mealworm isn't enough for them to forget about 10,000 volts. The initial shocks did seem to upset their laying a little, but after a week of one or two eggs a day we're now consistently back to the usual three. Sadly the neighbours cats seem to know they should steer clear of the fence so I haven't had quite as much as enjoyment from the fence as I was expecting! But otherwise all good, apart from having to mow the grass under the fence once a week or so. Cheers, Rob. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eggasperated Posted May 8, 2014 Share Posted May 8, 2014 Glad to hear your girls are getting on with the fence ok. My cat now seems to know the difference between the fence on and off from several feet away - I can only assume she can hear it. Yes, the mowing is a pain; some people weed kill the grass altogether under the fence but I don't like to do that. You'll be looking forward to the winter when the grass doesn't grow much . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beantree Posted May 8, 2014 Share Posted May 8, 2014 I've always worried about that Rob. Nice to get feedback from someone with first hand experience who has observed things in great detail. So I can expect to miss a few eggs and they won't charge it for treats and get stuck. I have heard people use 9" wide damp proof course plastic under the fence. It comes on a large roll from builders merchants. This will kill the grass a bit I suppose but save taking the fence up to mow. I've never tried it myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
