This chicken fence thing is not going well
By Gina Spadafori
August 2, 2009
I knew it.
I knew that something advertised as “easy” would throw a non-handy person like me for a loop. But it’s even worse than that: I can’t finish the poultry net fence without help because it turns out I am afraid of the charger.
Not kidding. I am going to ask the neighbor, a general contractor, to come over and help. Overkill undoubtedly, but I can’t do this. Fear isn’t rational, and here’s proof: I am utterly convinced I will kill us all if I touch those alligator clips.
The netting is up. The puppy immediately jumped into the netting and got herself so tangled up that all I could imagine was her screaming in pain while I frantically disconnected the power source and tried to untangle her.
A power source that wasn’t, please note, even hooked up. Because it was sitting on the table while I carefully read the directions.
She wasn’t hurt, and sat patiently while I disengaged her. And now I’ll work with her on a leash to teach her to stay off the fence before it goes live.
Whenever that will be. Right now, I want to put it all back in the box and just put non-electrified netting over th entire chicken yard. No pasture-ranging for them.
This is putting a big crimp in my plans to have land and livestock.
Stupid city girl.
Help.
Update: Neighbor Brian, the general contractor,will come over to hook up all the juice while I watch from a slight remove, trembling with irrational anxiety. I think once I see him calmly attaching everything, testing the fence and nobody dies, I’ll be OK.
Image: The late Charlotte, with McKenzie in the background. These two are the reason why I’m putting in the electric netting.
Um … you do know that you don’t plug it in until after it’s hooked up, right?
Comment by H. Houlahan — August 2, 2009 @ 4:53 pm
Yes! I read the destructions. I get how it all works, can see that it’s really easy and am not having problems with seeing how it all goes together and how to get that to happen.
I am just a little … skeered. No accounting for it. Just a surprise phobia!
Going to work on it after dinner. Brian’s the backup plan. I will not be defeated by poultry netting!!
Comment by Gina Spadafori — August 2, 2009 @ 5:06 pm
Gina, I am afraid of electricity, also.
It almost wiped me out when I got a strong surge from my stove. I touched the plug-in part (they don’t put them there anymore) with wet hands—boy!
Ya, I thought the picture looked like the late Charlotte and then I read the posting. Sad, sad, sad.
Electricity I leave to others—I cannot deal with it.
Comment by Colorado Transplant — August 2, 2009 @ 5:21 pm
I *heart* electricity. Regularly install my own light fixtures, ceiling fans, switches and etc. I also have a half dozen electronic training collars - all of which have been tested on my own neck. SRSLY, once you get over the hump of the fear of the unknown on that first exposure, it’s not such a terrible thing. And not necessarily painful.
Plus if you read and follow directions you’ll find that electricity is a wonderfully predictable thing.
Comment by Janeen — August 2, 2009 @ 7:19 pm
I hope your fence is all hooked up now-I use Premier’s netting for my goats.
Just a word of warning-have all the dogs touch it with their nose so they get shocked. You will feel like a horrible meanie(and they may refuse to go out in the yard for a while ‘cause something BAD is out there) but it WILL save you from a screaming dog tangled in a live fence. I’ve been there, done that with a goat that decided to go through a square and it was awful. More for me than the goat-he just didn’t go through the fence anymore-I twitched and ran for the fence at any goat noise for a week!
Comment by redheather — August 3, 2009 @ 6:35 am
I agree with having a dog touch it even if you have to walk the dog up to it. My friends have horses and use an electric fence. I make sure each of my dogs gets a reminder once a year so that they don’t run into it and panic.
Of course when I helped repair it one day, I refused to touch it, too, and made my husband do it!
It’s hilarious to watch a dog and horse play ‘catch me if you can’ with the dog dashing in and out of the pasture, running, ducking and sliding under the fence while the 1 year old colt tries to catch him on the other side. Laughed until I thought I was gonna, well, need clean pants. And the dog and colt are good friends; no predation.
Comment by Liz Palika — August 3, 2009 @ 11:38 pm
I don’t like walking a dog up to the fence. Set them up to learn any other way, including baiting it with peanut butter, but don’t be the one who lures or forces him near it.
It is a BIG jolt, nothing like the pulse from an e-collar, and a lot of dogs go hide under the porch for a while after getting zapped.
I don’t want to be associated with nasty bitey fence. Nasty bitey fence works just great without me.
Comment by H. Houlahan — August 4, 2009 @ 12:31 am