hot wire suggestions

HeatherDriskill · #1 02/18/07, 08:52 PM

I've got to get some hot wire to go around my chicken coop, garden, etc... What is a cheap and easy way to go about it? What brands, etc?

rambler · #2 02/18/07, 09:00 PM

Be careful someone just ask about building cheap fences, & the thread got a little carried away.

What are you needing to keep in or keep out? How long do you want it to last? Do you have anything available to you now to start with?

I'll assume you want to fence chickens since you mentioned chickencoop, but such assumptions have lead many of us astray in the past.

A fence tends to be a very long term thing, and doing it right the first time will be a good thing. For many of us it is hard to suggest 'real cheap' things that don't last. Fixing an old broken down fence is a very miserable thing, we've been there. We don't like to see others make those same mistakes.

An innovative thing my neighbor did was fence in baby chicks with 3 electric wires only a foot high, they learned from small on to _not_ cross that line, and as adults they still (most all) stayed inside that fence, even tho they coulda hopped over. I was real small when I saw that, so this is as much as I know.

--->Paul

HeatherDriskill · #3 02/18/07, 09:21 PM

Ok, before anyone gets offended about the words "cheap" and "fencing" being in the same sentence, let me explain. I have a chicken coop already. It is nice and sturdy, but I am putting hot wire around it to keep anything from trying dig or tear into it. Basically as a back up precaution. My garden needs to have hot wire to keep deer and the like out. Both will be small areas and I don't have any materials to start with. So, hopefully you can see why I'm not needing anything fancy. Also, I rent my place so I don't want to install some huge investment.

mtman · #4 02/18/07, 09:35 PM

hot wire will not keep deer out they clear a 5 ft. fence without a running start

HeatherDriskill · #5 02/18/07, 09:45 PM

Well, the dogs pretty much keep the deer at bay anyway. I will have a regular fence around my garden but want to have hotwire around that just as an extra measure against all other varmints. I know how well deer jump. My dad owns a whitetail deer ranch and has eight foot fences around the whole thing.

Bearfootfarm · #6 02/18/07, 10:03 PM

http://www.ibiblio.org/farming-conne...s/fencebld.htm

This will have all the answers

rambler · #7 02/18/07, 10:37 PM

Step in rebar posts go for 80 cents or less a piece, bag of 25 insulators are 6 bucks or less, I'm not sure what thin wire costs but that would be the cheapest. The insulators can be set low or high, everything can be moved or taken with you. You can run a high & low electric wire on the posts if you need to.

The wire will last years, those mono-filiment ropes or tapes are handy if you need the visibilty, but for your needs go with real wire, will last much longer.

For your exsisting or soon to be garden fence, insulators on the posts you will be using, and the thin wire.

How will you energise it? Be careful of the super-cheap fencers, the milage rating they have on them means when it is about useless, not that it is actually good to that miles of fence.... Plug-in types are cheaper/better, but if you got no power where you are at the solar types are good too, just cost a bit more.

Brands don't matter much, other than the fencer - on that just don't buy too cheap. I like a 10 mile or better fencer, even for small tiny areas. The ground rod on the fencer is _very_ important, if you skimp there it will have the most effect on the whole deal. As the manual will say, you need some real good grounding for the fencer unit.

The critters will need to ground out to something, if they are climbing or jumping, they might not get a shock unless you have a bare grounded wire also. That will depend on the critter & how wet your ground is & so forth.

--->Paul

HeatherDriskill · #8 02/19/07, 10:26 AM

Thank you, Mr. Rambler! Just the info I was hoping for...

uncle Will in In. · #9 02/19/07, 11:17 AM

Heather I know you didn't ask but to keep coon out of our sweet corn I put a light electric fence wire around the corn at about 7 or 8 inches high. The coon have never crossed it. The main thing is keeping any vegitation from growing up into the wire. I kept it bare with a weed whacker, but roundup would be less work. If your hot wire is about a foot out from the fence it will keep "stuff" away from the fence. Put about 3 wires above the bottom one and it will be bear proof if you have a plug in charger.