Having dabbled with a few hens (we have had up to 10 so far) and with a seemingly ready market for our free range eggs, we decided to up increase the size of the flock. This of course has a number of knock on effects; a larger enclosure and larger hen house.
One of the main issues is security from natural predators and we wanted something a bit more substantial than the current 50m electric net fence although it has served us well. Friends of ours run a 4,000 bird free range poultry unit supplying Waitrose so we went on a fact finding mission to look at their fencing. They have used a 6' high wire mesh fence with electric nose and climbing wires so we have copied their set up albeit on a smaller scale.
The plan was to fence in the orchard and pond so we could keep the hens and ducks together. This required about 150m of fencing and as we didn't fancy installing all the posts manually (60 or so ...) we got some professional help.
The original energiser for the mesh fence was suffering from spending 3 years exposed to the elements and seemed to destroy batteries on a regular basis. We therefore bought a new mains powered Hotwire
Gemini 80 which is installed in the barn with a lead out cable to the fence. The fence has two nose wires at ground level and a climbing wire along the top. This should discourage any attempt to dig under the fence as it would have been too much of a project to dig it into the ground.
The inflow to the pond was left as a channel which had to be infilled and replaced with a small pipe. This stops flood flows draining through the pond which would overwhelm the small spillway and risk washing away the embankment. With the fence installed, it was then time for the hen house....
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