Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Poultry Fence 101


The seemingly endless transition from winter to spring back to winter has us wondering if we'll ever see spring again. We've been trying to wait 5 minutes for the weather to change, but as soon as we see a glimpse of spring, back to winter we go.

The fleeting glimpses of warm weather has folks getting their chickens out of the coop and into the pasture. And with that, we receive more than a few calls on PoultryNet. What follows is the basics on Premier's PoultryNet and electric fence.

What is the difference between PoultryNet and PoultryNet Plus?
Posts! PoultryNet Plus has more posts per ft than PoultryNet. PoultryNet Plus has posts every 6.8ft vs. PoultryNet's 10ft. Added posts increase net support (which reduces sagging) and aid in adapting to curves, corners and dips. Click here for more information on Plus Nets.

Double spike vs. single spike—number of ground spikes at the bottom of the post. For more information on when to use double or single spikes, click here.


Connecting two rolls of netting together—place the end posts next to one another, connect the clips at the top of the net (image above). Tie posts together with supplied strings.

Energizers and electric fence—A fence energizer is a box that takes in small amounts of electrical energy from an outside source (battery or 110 volt outlet). 

The energizer stores this energy, then pushes it out of a metal terminal (marked “fence”) in very brief, high voltage and high amperage bursts (pulses). The outbound terminal is commonly called the “positive” or “fence” terminal.

All energizers also have a second terminal (marked “ground” or “earth”) whose purpose is to absorb as much of the pulse energy as possible back into the energizer. Experts call this the “negative” terminal.

An electric fence v is an extension of the 2 terminals (fence and ground/earth) of the energizer.
The inbound (earth) terminal is extended by driving metal rods into the soil and connecting them to the earth terminal with conductive wire. 

Because soil moisture is a good conductor, this makes the subsoil for miles around (not an exaggeration) an extension of the earth/ground terminal. So animals, humans and grass are all “standing” upon an extension of the energizer’s earth/negative terminal.

The outbound/fence terminal is extended by attaching conductive wires to it. They are suspended above the soil and kept separate from the soil by insulators and/or nonconductive posts.

In short, an energizers pulse travels out from the fence terminal, along the fence, through an animal, into the soil, up the ground rod and ending at the ground terminal, this completing the circuit. 

If you have any questions about netting or energizers, please call one of our fence consultants (800-282-6631) or email (info@premier1supplies.com).