Electric Fencing Pt. 2

Over the course of the last two weeks since I purchased the A50LIL fence controller I had it and two others fail on me due to a design flaw... Disgruntled with that model I returned the third defective unit for cash and purchased a second B10LI, identical to my original controller. For me this is a proven, dependable unit that more than satisfies all of my fencing needs, except for the possability of adding a Storm Guard module to the fence controller... However I have a feeling that I will probaly be safe without one...
I installed the new B10 on the fence earlier today, and put the old, "proven," unit back in the blister pack as a backup/secondary controller. I add the secondary because if I decide to use an electric fence around my garden the B10 is capable of running up to a month and a half on four "D" cell flashlight batteries, and requires no shelter from the elements. For common pest control a 6' ground rod driven only 4 feet into the ground is more than sufficient (as I learned when I purchased the first B10). This makes using electric fencing around my future garden easier, as I don't have to string insulated wires across my lawn (which would need to be reeled up every time I mowed).
Anyways, aside from my fence energizer fiasco I have made a few additional upgrades to my fence since the last post. First and foremost I added a lightning arrestor to the control post. Second I added a second 8' ground rod to the grounding system which, especially in dry months, will substantially improve the performance of the fence. Both of these are "invisible" upgrades (the ground rods and their wiring are completely buried, mostly so I don't have to mow around them, and until I finish the control post I'm not going to bother taking pictures of the lightning arrestor).
Third I finally re-strung the lower wire and added the second wire I had talked about in the previous post. The lowest wire is a mere 4" off the ground to exclude vermin, and as you can see already needs weed-wacking. The second wire is about 16" above the ground, and is the main predator control wire. It is between the average nose height of cats (or raccoons) and cyotes, the main predators that I am worried about. Any animal brave enough to climb the chicken wire will still have to deal with the tightly strung top wire, and with over 150 feet of it touching the ground an animal touching both this wire and the chicken wire is in for a nasty surprise!
As you can see both the Mighty Rooster and two of the pullets made a cameo in this picture. I think they have already grown significantly since the last post... With any luck my next post will be about the Henhouse.

Home Farming: Electric Fencing Pt. 1

As stated in my previous post I have opted to use electric fencing both to help contain my birds and to exclude other animals (rodents, feral cats, and true predators such as foxes and cyotes). The principle of electric fencing is simple: An energizer produces a very high voltage (generally between 3,000 and 12,000 volts) in controlled pulses of 1/10,000 of a second once every second. Seperate wires lead to both the fence and a ground rod system. When an animal touches both the fence and the ground simoultaneously, when the fence is energized, it completes the circuit and recieves an electrical shock.
To some electric fencing may seem cruel, however it is far more humane than the alternatives. When properly installed electric fencing is infinately safer than any other fencing system. When an animal is "hit" by an electric fence it recieves a high-voltage, high-current pulse of electricity, however this pulse of electricity lasts only a tiny fraction of a second. This pulse is rather painful (as I personally found out last week), however it contains so little energy that it is physically incapable of injuring an animal or person. Thusly electric fencing is more of a "psycological barrier" than a "physical" one. Conventional fencing, such as barbed wire, relies on either sharp edges or physical restraint of animals, either of which can kill either a person or an animal.
The picture above is of my upgraded electric fence controller setup. After both doing the math and considering the options I opted to purchase an AC-powered electric fence energizer, on the grounds that it would cost about the same as purchasing two batteries, a dedicated charger and a (decidedly substandard) backup fence energizer. The unit I purchased is the Zareba Systems A50LIL (if you ask me the name is rather ironic, since the second "L" means "Large Cabinet"). It is a 2-joule low-impedance energizer which, (unlike my B10LI self-contained unit) can accept Zareba's "Storm Guard" module, a purpose-built surge arrestor intended to mitigate the effects of lightning strikes to the fence. Since my fence controller is located inside my house I plan on installing both this and a true "lightning arrestor" on the fence line itself. Considering the extreme power of lightning I feel that it's worthwile taking every practical measure to mitigate it's effects on my property... As before, the two new danger signs (the two 10KV signs and the Authorized Personnel Only sign) I printed off myself.


After the heavily-insulated leadout wire leaves my house it first stops here: the "Fence Control Post." The post itself is temporary as I plan on replacing it with a pressure-treated 4x4. In addition I plan on adding seperate cut-outs for the top and bottom wires, as well as a third cutout for temporary garden fencing (for when I plant a garden next year).
Though it is not visable in this picture the leadout wire is bent several times to serve as a lightning choke. The short-radius bends discurage the high direct-current lightning stroke from continuing along the fence wire, and finding an easier ground...









Which leads to this: My temporary, "Home-Brew" lightning arrestor setup. Here I pushed a short ground rod into the earth and placed a solidly-bonded grounding wire just outside of the 10KV arcing range from the fence wire, right next to the leadout wire. This was an "emergency measure" I took last night, due to the predictions of severe weather over the next three days. After today's rather absurd lightning storm I felt that this system was well worth my time... Thankfully I don't think I got to find out if it worked or not...
I plan on replacing this system with a true lightning arrestor with a fully-buried 8-foot ground rod as soon as is practical. Here you can also see a new fiberglass rod with two insulators for the new permanant exclusion fence. Hopefully I will get to post about that tommorow...

Chickens Update

Finally, through only partial fault of my own, the chickens are outdoors... Now, the explination:

Yesterday I erected what was intended to be a temporary enclosure for the chickens. I didn't have nearly as much wire as I had thought, and had to improvise a coop for them... After several near escapes I thought I had the birds contained, and left for game night...
I was wrong...

When I came home at 1:00 the first thing I saw when I pulled in was what looked like a dead chicken. Fortunately it was still alive, but very VERY far from where it belonged. It turns out that it and one more bird had ran right under the electrified chicken wire. About an hour later, just as I was getting to bed, I heard a lot of commotion outside, and when I went out with my flashlight... NO CHICKENS!!!

The next morning after I got up I looked around and, sure enough in the pine trees on the north edge of my property I found five of the birds in short order. Soon thereafter I found the rooster in another pine tree by himself. After reuniting him with the hens I left for Tractor Supply to get supplies to make a much larger run for the birds. Here are the results:
The run is about 50 feet long and 15 wide. The chicken wire is topped with an electrified security wire, and the base is surrounded by a second electrified wire. Both wires are energized with a 6,000 volt pulse once every second, which (according to the fencer manufacturer) is enough to control all predators and livestock as large as bison! This fencer is rather overkill for my purposes, but it is a "weed clipper" unit, which means that it has enough power to literally "burn through" weeds. This is both good and bad: Good in the respect that out-of-control spring weeds won't negate the fence, but bad in the respect that the unit is more than capable of starting brush fires in dry weather... I plan on adding a seperate cut-out for the bottom wire, so I can turn it off during drought and red-flag warnings.
This fence was not as cheap as I had thought: All told it cost about $250-300 (mind you I had bought most of the electric fence parts three years ago, which accounts for just less than half of the total). This is the main reason for my advocacy of electric fencing: For what I spent on a 200-foot chicken fence I could've built a 5 mile cattle fence using a purely electric fence. The other reason is that electric fencing is very humane compared to the alternatives (such as barbed wire). The shock is rather painful (as I found out while testing the fence), but causes no actual harm to the animal. Barbed wire, on the other hand...

Now for some pictures...

My custom indoor electric fence energizer setup. It features a Zareba Systems 1/4 joule battery-powered controller currently running off of the battery from my big truck (which is currently out of commision). I printed off the "High Voltage" signs myself.













Four pullets enjoying the evening beside on of my pine trees.












And the Mighty (in his own opinion) Rooster... When the birds escaped last night he had picked his own tree to hide out in, and unlike the hens had actually climbed up into the tree to roost. His wings were the first to be clipped, so I doubt if his tree climbing prowess will be a problem...