What would chew through Premier Electric fence & kill chickens?

[beepbeepinajeep]

We had quite a bit of our portable electric fence chewed by presumably the same animal that killed several chickens. We're thinking perhaps fox or coyote since we've seen them around. Would a skunk do this... they are around too

 

[CrazyCatNChickenLady]

I'd say a dog. Were the chickens just killed and left or only certain parts eaten, completely missing chickens? I had dogs chew through chicken wire and kill 15 8 week old chickens. Only 1 of the chickens was actually gone too. He probably took that one home for show.

 

[babsbag]

Sorry you lost the chickens, and the fence. Neither of those are cheap.

Are you sure that your fence was Hot? I have one up as a first defense around a chain link dog kennel that I have some separate chickens in. I have not had any predators but my fence is tied to the electric fence that is around my pasture and it BITES. I can't imagine anything actually chewing through it while it is on. If it isn't hot then it could have been just about any predator that would do that. Sometimes you can tell the predator by the damage they did to the chickens.

 

[beepbeepinajeep]

I'm pretty sure it's not a dog, but it could be a coyote. We have two sheepdogs that run the farm & are very protective over the animals. They are old though, and sometimes don't hear a threat if they are asleep.

One chicken was left behind, but the others vanished with little more than a few feathers left behind. Seems like when it's been a fox, the heads would only be missing. We check the fence with a tester to make sure it is hot, but my husband said the very bottom line is not hot. So, it seems whatever chewed through knew which part of the net was hot and which wasn't. It's been repaired and no more lost chickens, but I worry it will happen again. We have lots of wildlife around us that enjoys a chicken dinner

Thanks for the help!

 

[Stubbornhillfarm]

Sorry to hear about your chickens. It is maddening when that happens. How many chickens are you speaking of? It seems, through past experience that if a fox, dog, coyote kept coming and going taking one after the other, that there would be a LOT of noise. Is it possible a bear? Are there any tracks around? A bear could withstand a electic fence "bite" more then some smaller animals.

Again, sorry for your loss and I hope that the rest of your chickens remain safe and sound.

 

[CrazyCatNChickenLady]

Yeah, I had a bear come in and test the hotwire nightly before he got the gall to bust through. You need QUITE the charge to deter a bear and they'll come test it to see which strands are hot and how often and how strong it shocks. My wire used to go zap.zap.zap.zap... about every second, and you could hear it click. Pretty sure thats how he barged in.

 

[Beekissed]

You shouldn't really be able to hear your electric wire...if it's going zap, zap, zap then you have something grounding your wire, like a blade of grass or such. At night you will even see the light from that grounding as it pulses. This grounding can render your wire less effective and, if you are using a solar charger, it can drain your charger post haste.

If the fence is working correctly, no animal is going to chew through it...a bear might charge through it, but I doubt he'd chew through it. Some animals will go to climb through or over and the electric pulse comes along and propels them forward to get away from the shock, depending on how far they are in their attempts. If not far, they may back out of it...if further in, it will propel them forward to escape the shock.

Ideally, an electric fence should be checked daily or as frequently as possible.

 

[cutechick2010]

I'm pretty sure it's not a dog, but it could be a coyote. We have two sheepdogs that run the farm & are very protective over the animals. They are old though, and sometimes don't hear a threat if they are asleep.

One chicken was left behind, but the others vanished with little more than a few feathers left behind. Seems like when it's been a fox, the heads would only be missing. We check the fence with a tester to make sure it is hot, but my husband said the very bottom line is not hot. So, it seems whatever chewed through knew which part of the net was hot and which wasn't. It's been repaired and no more lost chickens, but I worry it will happen again. We have lots of wildlife around us that enjoys a chicken dinner

Thanks for the help!

Usually just the head missing means a raccoon. Did you see a fox around?

 

[treeclimber233]

I had a fox kill a bunch of my young chickens and he carried them off and hid them then came back and got another one. When I interrupted him he dissapeared into the woods. When he came out he had a dead chicken in his mouth that he was not carrying when he went into the woods.