Electric fence/tape recommendations?

[chickiemama27]

We have a pretty tight run and coop, but we’ve seen two separate foxes on our property in 1 week and we watched one fox trot toward our run when my girls were out, until I ran outside to chase it off. We want to put some deterrents in place to discourage them. Thought of motion light, electric tape...any other thoughts?? And any tape system y'all recommend?

 

[Folly's place]

Motion lights or sounds don't work, so electric is the best choice. @Howard E and @cmom have good information here, and Premier1supplies.com is an excellent resource.
Mary

 

[cmom]

I tried motion lights but the predators got used to them and it didn't seem to bother them when the lights came on. My fence charger died once so until I could replace it I put a radio turned up on a religious talk show, no music. I thought the sound of voices might work. I still saw predators on my cameras but they were used to the hot wire, they may not have bothered because of a past experience with the hot wire. Years ago when I first put it up I did hear some yelps which I think were coyotes testing it. Once they got zapped they didn't test it again. I have had some attempt to dig under the fence but once they touch the hot wire they abort their attempt.

 

[cmom]

I use the poly rope wire. It's quite visible and when the predators touch it they will know it.

 

[Matzwd]

I use the poly rope wire. It's quite visible and when the predators touch it they will know it.

I have wanted to install some type of electric fencing around the perimeter of our 5' chain link fence, but I feel so lost. I keep reading how easy it is. I need to know the exact items I need to purchase and exactly how to connect them (would be solar). I am definitely no electrician!

Sorry, OP, for semi-hijacking. Thought this was something that might be helpful for you too.

 

[cmom]

You can use posts. If you have a TSC you can get everything there including a solar fence charger. You may want to consider a DC fence charger but you would also need a battery. Mine is AC but my barn has electricity so it was easy for me to go that route.
I have the plastic fence posts for my hot wire in some places and in other I use the insulators that mount on a fence post. You will need a ground rod. I hope this helps. I also put in a switch under the fence charger for cutting off the power to the electric wire. Good luck.
Here is some wire.

This is poly rope wire. You can also get it in a tape.

This is where something attempted to dig but immediately aborted the attempt. These are the plastic poles to hold up the electric wire if you go that route.

Here I used insulators on some EMT. Worked well. I also have netting covering the pens.

We have added another coop since this picture was taken but the wires are the same except we also added another pen.

Here is another of the plastic posts we used to hold up the electric wire. I also burried welded wire along the bottom of the fence. The birds kept digging there. I guess they were trying to dig out.

On the coop to the right is where the fence charger and switch are mounted. The ground rod is under them sticking about 6/8 inches out of the ground. I took the wires down temporarily while I was working on the coops. Some of the post for the electric wire are laying on the ground.

 

[Howard E]

This is a thread I started a few years back. It was also made into an article.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/a-treatise-on-electric-fencing.1117877/

I have also done a few variations on this since, but still need a much simpler version....like and instruction manual vs. a book. More photos and less talk?

 

[chickiemama27]

Motion lights or sounds don't work, so electric is the best choice. @Howard E and @cmom have good information here, and Premier1supplies.com is an excellent resource.
Mary

Thank you very much