Geese and ducks inside an electric fence

[rhoda_bruce]

I've sorta inherited a mess. Its an orchard, bordered on all sides by woods. Mom and Dad grew various types of oranges. Well, today was our 3rd day in the orchard, cleaning. I'm scratched up and covered in poison oak. I have no desire for the orchard to ever look like that again. It takes several hours to cut the grass in there in the summer time. Several more if we talking about trimming and doing it right. So I'm thinking I will invest in an electric fence for the safety of my animals. Don't want to feed the coyotes.
So DH starts telling me the birds will be electricuted. We've never used an electric fence b4.
Anyone use it with ducks and geese?
Hoping for good news.....It would be great if I can just tend to my animals daily and bring a pair of pruning shears to remove rootstock or unwanted tree saplings coming up, on a regular basis, rather than having a major project that covers me in an ugly rash and takes days away from other projects I'd rather be doing.

 

[Denim Deb]

I could be wrong, but I'm almost positive that they sell an electric netting for birds. I have electric fence in my field. The birds have run into the electric a couple of times and have run off squawking.

 

[rhoda_bruce]

My ducks and geese can't fly. They are too big. I want a portable, electric fence, because I would want to pasture them and then move the fence. I would need to do it this way because I'd have to give access for vehicles to go to the back of the property. So is it your experience that once the birds know the fence hurts, they stay away from it? I'm hoping it hurts enough to keep a coyote away. That seems to be the main danger for them. I do have a coon problem in the orchard, but I'm hoping an electric fence would also solve that, as well.

 

[Denim Deb]

They don't really avoid the fence because normally I don't have it on when I have them out. It's just a temporary fence to keep the horses out of an area of the field. But, they do have the electric poultry netting that's supposed to keep the chickens in and the predators out. I have no experience w/it, so don't know how well it actually works.

 

[animalfarm]

Premier poultry sells portable electric fencing for goats and poultry. Its designed for what you want.

 

[~gd]

Premier poultry sells portable electric fencing for goats and poultry. Its designed for what you want.

this is what I was going to recommend. I have used their stuff and it was great at keeping ducks and geese in during the day, Not really good at keeping coyotes out at night since I lost my flocks twice that way. I beleive the correct co name is Premier1 not "poultry" since they started out with electric fences for sheep. Birds and sheep are tough because because both wool and feathers are good electrical insulators. but their netting handles the problem. PRICY! i should explain that the coyotes just powered right through the fence I don't think they felt the shock until the fence was down and not working anymore this is a problem with electrical and other pain fences. If you use a building at night the ducks and geese are easy to herd out in the morning but more of a problem at night. Good luck~gd

 

[pinkfox]

standard strand wire electric fence will keep coyotes out but its not nessicarily going to keep the smaller birds in...
my geese stay away from the fence, not because it hurts them but because they are too big to duck under thebottom line...my guineas and ducks can (and the guines do) run right under/push uner the bottom line...you hear it zap but thye dont even flinch. birds are INCREDIBLY well insulated and very bad electrical conductors so unles the fence gets em right on the fence it doesnt even rmotly phase them.tle

that being said, my ducks only RARLY go under the fence, usually when im feeding the guines or goats first and they decide im taking too long and have to come remind me that they are waiting...and even then theyonly send out 1 to scout and bring me back lol. they seem to resepct the fence as a visial boundry line rather than a psycological boundryliek the goats do.

so if the goal is to make sure they are absolutly 1005 staying in 1 area youll need the electric netting (its portable, and actually lighter and easier to move than a wire electric fence im told) though a little more expensive...
however if your goal is more to keep the nasties out than keep the birds in....standard 4 wire electric woul work just fine

if you need more of a barrier to keep the birds in and dont want to do netting, get some deer neting or other cheap "none secure" material (ie chicken wire) assuming you have a breed that not a flyer 2ft tall shoudl be fine and run a mini fence inside your electric. birds arent typically hard o fencing and generaly theyl touch it and turn around, thats enough for them...so by putting a barrier of say deer fence on smal posts just inside the electric wire fence youd keep the duck in and keep the predators out...but by the time youve done all that work, the electric net/eectric poultry fence would be simpler

 

[Beekissed]

Yes..once they find out it zaps, they stay away from it. It's pretty comical when they first find out...sort of like a predator response. The bird squawks loudly, jumps in the air and tries to get away. They all run together far away from the "predator" that bit the first bird. It's pretty effective for adult birds but the youngsters will slip through the holes, screaming as they get "bit" and just go on through. And they will do it the next day too...and then you can't contain them until they can no longer fit through those fencing spaces.

 

[pinkfox]

mine dont even notice the zap at all...net or otherwise...I hear it, but the ducks, geese and guineas dont even seem to notice unless one of them gets it right at the eyes...
a friend lent me her electro net for a few days while i did some work, and the ducks had their heads through the holes all the timewith no thoughts...

so for me electric is more to keep things out than the birds in LOL

 

[rhoda_bruce]

My geese absolutely have never left the ground in their lives. It is more to keep the coyotes out. I'm just anxious to find an easier way to keep the orchard clean. Too many men in the family are living with disabillities now. That leaves way too much work for mainly women. I have to take what shortcuts I can and if it helps reduce my feed bill, so much the better.
I'm afraid I have no idea how I will sell the orange crop.....the local market is over supplied.