I saw an electric “chicken fence” recently at tractor supply but I’m not sure how effective it would be.
A double fence is supposed to be very effective against deer if they are the primary offenders.
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As I said, my fence has been 100% effective against racoons. The bottom wire is low enough that they can’t get under without touching it (about 3"-4" above the ground). Then 3 wires are each spaced about 4" apart. The top wire is probably not necessary, because racoons don’t jump. I’ve been using the same wire configuration for about 40 years and had to replace the original energizer about 10 years ago.
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Bought much of the electric fencing supplies we used on the farm over the past 30 years from the following suppliers; good equipment, and some helpful installation and maintenance info.
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I do not have raccoons but do have squirrels and chipmunks which eat my fruit. They can get through an electric wire fence.
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If you use 4’ tall 1" chicken wire that is grounded and run a couple of hot wires close but separated from that chicken wire on its outside charged with a steady shocker run from an outlet certainly stops squirrels in my experience. Pulsating shockers sometimes don’t happen to zap a swift squirrel and if they are starving they may even be willing to risk shock, but give up if they get shocked. Not sure about those details but I have made such a system work on sites where the squirrels removed green peaches every year without protection.
However, my customers vastly prefer running with my baffling method and I don’t quite understand why. Perhaps partially because I install baffles but don’t do fences.
Here’s a link to photos of baffles. They easily stop coons. DIY Squirrel Baffle ideas? - #24 by alan
Well that is a very successful run - 40 years! I will have to look at the cost of both more closely and figure out what I’m willing to do. I didn’t want to put up a permanent fence, ((permanent corners and braces) as it is only needed while fruit are ripening. That may change I suppose, but I can’t know that at this point.
I’m pretty sure my main two thieves last year were coons and coyotes. I also suspect some possums and skunks, but the major robbers were the racoons. There are random squirrels that show up every few years, but so far they aren’t a major problem.
I should mention that I only put up the electric fence temporarily, while grapes are ripe or nearly ripe. It’s easy to install. I use wooden stakes with 4 nails at 4" spacing; these are hammered into the ground about 10’ apart (maximum). In the past I have also used 4 of the same stakes to protect individual sweet cherry trees by just making a square about 2’ away from the trunk. In both cases the wires are only energized at night by using an automatic timer.
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To many predators for fence to work here. I keep the branches above the browse line for deer. Everyone else has to climb and the baffles get them. No defense for birds.
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Pete Larson of Just a Few Acres Farm uses ElectroNet by Premier1 for his free ranging layers and turkeys.
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For some reason strong nets at a reasonable price are no longer available in the U.S. that I can find. At least not in at 30’ width, which is the minimum for a free standing fruit tree. I’m relying on nets I bought a long time ago. American nettings sells crap that tears very easily. Forget monofilament.
Thank you for those links, very helpful!
Premier 1 is the brand the guy uses in the video that @krismoriah posted. For those of you that haven’t watched the video, he runs a double fence with enough room for a predator to get in-between the 2 fences and let’s them experience what he calls “predator pinball” getting zapped from both sides. It kinda sounds like he intentionally leaves a small gap in the outer fence for them to get in to that alley, so they get the full experience and never want to come back for another try. I don’t quite understand how they get out… it doesn’t seem like they’d be able to find the same hole to get back out. What with being zapped repeatedly.
@alan, thank you so much for linking your post with pictures of the baffles you install. I hadn’t seen that post and I have wondered what the baffles looked like, construction, and how you affix them to the trees.
I have been trying to prune my trees for a pedestrian style orchard, so my scaffold branches are probably to low for baffles to work. For simplicity’s sake, let’s just say my only thief is racoons for now. What would you say would be the minimum scaffold height you’d need to have, in order for baffles to work? Racoons aren’t great jumpers, but they can stand up and reach or jump to get in branches if low enough (whatever that “low enough” height might be).
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Coons probably require about 3.5’ to exclude. Of course some get crazy big and may be able to reach higher.
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I have used Kencove 4’ woven electric around my veggie garden. It has kept out coons and deer for several years. Small rabbits, and gophers and voles still get in. If you forget to keep it charged, the rabbits will chew the wires to enjoy the tasty plastic. One pain is that you have to take it down for winter. I store mine in a barrel with mouse poison in it. I also have a Premiere fence I haven’t needed yet. They were cheaper and had smaller spacing. I hope to try that when my hazelnuts start producing. I have three wires around another area. The deer kept knocking it over, so it only partially helps. Squirrels can jump from nearby trees. They don’t like crossing tall grass. I spend more on fencing than on nursery stock.
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Thanks for the guideline. I have seen some huge old sow coons… figured stretched out they can have quite a reach.
that’s irritating I bet! Good to hear your 4’ Kencove has done a good job! I don’t have to worry about squirrels jumping into the orchard from surrounding trees because there aren’t any. That’s a plus I guess!
@KSprairie In the past I used a two wire system one fence on a Premier solar charger (Solar IntelliShock 30 kit, with tester). Still had things getting into to eat my cantaloupes. Next year, I switched to double fence, two wires at difference height for each row of fencing(with an alleyway). That kept out the melon eaters, but did not keep out the cottontails on my cabbages or beet seedlings. So last December I purchased the chicken netting from tractor supply. The amount that I needed was too costly for the other sites, and Tractor Supply would ship to the store. I have not tried it out yet but considering that it’s tractor supply, it’s probably not going to be as high quality as other options. I’m hoping to prevent raccoons, rabbits, and squirrel attacks. I have not used it for deer. That is what the deer proof fence is for. The electric fence has consistently kept out armadillos though.
I had problems within the first year with the Premier solar charger, but after some back and forth with the company, they sent me a new part (first a chip board (not the problem) then a transistor I think) and replacing that worked. It was still under warranty. I did not have a problem with the energizer last year.
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Thank you for explaining your system @Vault22dweller . I sure hope the chicken netting works well for you. I’m undecided whether or not to purchase a solar charger, we’ve used those in the past, or tie into our existing fence charger.
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@Olpea, I was wondering if you have problems with racoons or squirrels? Deer? Groundhogs? How do you control wildlife in your orchard?
Hi KSprairie,
For squirrels I trap them at the house. I run a Tomahawk skunk trap all year long. It’s essentially the same thing as a Havahart trap, but much better, imo. I bait it with acorns and keep the squirrels thinned out, otherwise I wouldn’t get any fruits at the house. People dump squirrels out here, so it’s a constant battle, but consistent trapping keeps them at bay.
I also trap coons/possums at the house. People dump those out here too. We are just far enough from the city, where the rural area starts that it’s convenient for people to dump their wildlife out here. Coons are coy and don’t readily want to enter a live trap once they’ve been trapped. So I have to use some dog proof leg hold traps for those. Possums are dumb and will wander in a live trap, no matter how many times they’ve been trapped.
For the larger orchard, it’s more out in the country, so we don’t get squirrels. There are very few large trees in the orchard, so that also helps.
We do get lots of coons and possums (again people dump them out there, and a coon can easily travel 5 miles looking for a new home with a food supply).
For the large orchard, I use a combination of an electric fence and a horse fence. I didn’t want to keep the electric fence close to the ground because of all the weed eating required, so I used a 2"x4"x30" tall horse fence, then ran an electric fence wire at the top of that. It completely stops the coons. The possums are lazier and instead of climbing will sometimes dig underneath the fence. They don’t wreck quite as much as coons. For any possums which dig under, I still put out a live trap or two. Here’s a link where I discussed it extensively with lots of pictures:
If you decide to go with an electric fence, I wouldn’t worry about setting up some type of pinball fence. That’s overkill. A coon which gets zapped good, won’t challenge the fence again. It doesn’t take repeated zaps to teach a coon, unless it’s a really weak charger. If you can afford it, go overkill on the charger. That way, if you have weeds touching the fence, the charger will power through them and still deliver a good shock.
Kencove may have good electric fence supplies, but their regular fencing sucks. They have some problem with their galvanizing. I ended up buying my galvanized electric fence wire from Orscheln. It seems like pretty decent wire. I like the heavy stuff (12.5 gauge).
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That is a really good idea. I wondered how you kept coons and possums out of your large orchard. I guess I completely missed your post about this from '21. I appreciate the link. My husband handles the electric fencing… I don’t know the rating of the charger he is currently using… but I do know it will drop an adult to their knees if you accidently back into it 
The cattle respect it too.
We might go with a solar charger for the orchard, we have had several different ones over the years for horses and calves. I’ll make sure he knows not to skimp on the charger!
I might have to do some trapping as well as fencing so I appreciate the links you provided. I have plums in areas that would be difficult to fence and I’d rather not put any fence up there. Assuming plums are targets for the wild critters too, I might need to set a trap or two around those.
Thanks again.
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