Tuesday, June 22, 2010

This is War

If you're getting tired of hearing about the plight with my chickens, I hate it. It's getting personal now. We lost four more last night to marauding raccoons, so I'm raising the bar - taking off the gloves. I am not a happy farmer.
I went to the Tractor Supply place today and bought a super-duper solar charged electric fence. In an area as small as mine, this little rig puts out about 2000 volts. 
I charged that baby up, wired the perimeter, and I'm hoping that raccoon gets tangled up in it. There's very little current (amperes) running through the wires, so it won't kill him/her, but there's a good chance they'll lose all control of their bladder and bowels if they get in it just right. I hosed down the perimeter to make sure they get max juice if they try to get in tonight.  
Believe me because this is the voice of experience talking here, once they get in an electric fence, they WILL be respectful of them from that day forward. 
We'll see what daylight brings. 

2 comments:

  1. Any news on the critter front? Did the electric have any effect?

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have not lost another chicken since I get the fence installed.
    I took an additional step which was to build a containment room and I keep the chicks in there at night so making them harder to access may be helping out too.
    I've got my fingers crossed. If they survive a while longer, I plan to buy a few more chicks but I want to wait a while longer.
    Thanks for asking.

    ReplyDelete

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