Worse, when panicked, chickens forget that their chicken-wire fence even exists and will try to rush right through it. If you’ve ever had a predator get into a chicken yard fenced in with chicken wire, you know that the the predator can kill every single chicken: they can’t escape. A quarter-mile spool (enough to fence 40 acres) cost around $30 the last time I checked. Fortunately, a step-in fence post only costs a couple of bucks, and aluminum fence wire is a real bargain, too. If the wire is too high or too low, both predators and chickens will have no trouble getting past it. The key to success here is to use plenty of step-in fence posts, especially if your ground isn’t perfectly level. No gates! When driving a tractor or pickup past them, it’s best to uproot a couple of step-in fence posts so the wires lie on the ground, so they won’t be snagged by the vehicle. One thing I love about these fences is that you can simply step over them. It surprises people that such an electric fence will keep chickens in and predators out, but it works! It helps that predators generally sniff at anything new they find, so they will get their noses zapped by a fence wire they could easily step over. This is about the cheapest and easiest to set up fence you can imagine. It’s just two strands of inexpensive aluminum fence wire held up with step-in fence posts. In the picture, you can see one of my two-wire fences. But dogs and coyotes are also deterred by even the one-wire fence. Predators keep low to the ground when they’re sneaking around, and many aren’t really all that big to begin with: foxes, bobcats, and raccoons, for instance. You wouldn’t think such a low wire would work, but it does. If you use a second wire, put it about 10″ off the ground. In it’s one-wire incarnation, the single wire is about 5″ off the ground. It is commonly used to keep raccoons out of gardens and all kinds of predators out of chicken yards. This kind of electric fence, with just one or two wires, we developed over 60 years ago. What worked for me? Simple electric fences. If it weren’t for the techniques described here, I wouldn’t have any chickens today. Trust me on this. I have been almost put out of business by predation several times. Maybe, must maybe, the local predators are afraid to run off with your chickens today. To a lot of critters-raccoons, coyotes, bobcats, dogs-your free-range flock is a 24-hour all-you-can-eat chicken buffet.
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