rimfire4969 Posted August 22, 2013 Report Share Posted August 22, 2013 One of our syndicate members found a fox in one of our pens, the electric fence wire at the bottom and the straining wire at the top of the fence were both broken. We only lost 9 birds and the fox won't kill anymore. The fencer was working but i am struggling to understand how a fox could break both wires on the way in? there was no other entry point apart from going over the top about 6ft once the top wire was broken and not a difficult climb. We run 2 electric wires one about 6" off the ground the second one about 12" and about 12" to 18" from the main fence does anyone else run wires different to this? We have had this pen for about 5 years and never had this before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deershooter Posted August 22, 2013 Report Share Posted August 22, 2013 Too low we run 4 wires 6 12 18 24 inches Deershooter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinF Posted August 22, 2013 Report Share Posted August 22, 2013 (edited) We had a fox in one of our pens last season. I had put the fence on 2 weeks before the birds were due to arrive, and the first night the birds were in, the fencer failed, which allowed a cub to squeeze through one of the pop holes. Luckily, the cub was more concerned with getting out than killing the birds, and we only lost about 10 from a pen of 400. Once your electric fence wire was broken, it would earth out and the remaining wire wouldn't work properly allowing the fox in? I'm not sure how a fox would break the electric fence wire or the straining wire in the first place though. Were there any signs of the wires being cut? Edited August 22, 2013 by ColinF Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al4x Posted August 22, 2013 Report Share Posted August 22, 2013 realistically the electric is mostly to stop them digging in so you have been unlucky, our wire is higher than yours I guess a good 8ft which is part of your issue but you do get the odd fox that can do fences. We had one last year that could get over building site fencing by running flat out at it, I shot 12 foxes before I got the one that was actually killing the chickens inside. That had electric all round as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kes Posted August 22, 2013 Report Share Posted August 22, 2013 We seem to do standard stuff. two electrified wires at 5 and 13/14 inches from the local ground level. Our wire is about 6'6" high with a floppy outward hanging top. We have had a dog in the pen and a fox on one occasion caught both in a trap inside the pen. The dog went back to the landowner the fox to a shallow pit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scolopax Posted August 22, 2013 Report Share Posted August 22, 2013 tempting fate big time with this post but we have never run an electric fence, in over twenty years and two pens had one fox in which killed 4 before finding its way out again by jumping from a tree. We have plenty of foxes so guess we have just been lucky! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rimfire4969 Posted August 22, 2013 Author Report Share Posted August 22, 2013 realistically the electric is mostly to stop them digging in so you have been unlucky, our wire is higher than yours I guess a good 8ft which is part of your issue but you do get the odd fox that can do fences. We had one last year that could get over building site fencing by running flat out at it, I shot 12 foxes before I got the one that was actually killing the chickens inside. That had electric all round as well Thanks all for the info. Our fence is normally around 7 - 8ft but once the top wire had broken it flopped inwards to a height of about 6ft. If it had flopped out i am sure there would not have been a problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al4x Posted August 22, 2013 Report Share Posted August 22, 2013 yup thats your issue, the electric isn't to stop them jumping and climbing in really otherwise you would need a serious height of it, 7-8ft of wire stops pretty much all getting in Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r1steele Posted August 22, 2013 Report Share Posted August 22, 2013 I always build pens around 8ft in height with a good 18" outward 'flap' with a slight downwards angle on it. When I first started keepering we had about 12 pens built this way with no electric fencing. Never once had a fox get into a pen. I'm not saying it wouldn't happen but I haven't had it happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lordripon Posted September 3, 2013 Report Share Posted September 3, 2013 I always make "fag pots" position one jam jar full of cigarette butts and water mix on each corner of my pens .. they stink! .never had Charlie pay me a visit...touch wood Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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