We've been lucky so far

Hi Karminski. Putting posts in is the big expense, of time and money. I would still need thirty 4" x 8' which is £120. Could make 30 saddles for same price or less and no digging. Just need a design simple enough. In fact, as we won't be here much longer, I could use any old scraps of untreated stuff and nails to put them together and burn the lot when we go -taking off the insulators and wire of course. I'll see if I can scrounge some pallets.
 
yiks didnt think you would need that many :o good luck with getting it sorted sounds like a right big job .
 
Decided not to rely so much on urine, even though it has been totally successful in the daytime for the past three years. Our foxes are getting more daring, possibly because someone nearby is feeding them -we have had several sets of 'townies' move in recently.

Just closed the gap in the wall with a removeable gate arrangement and have decided to electrify the walls at the top using old pallets and a lot of the timber we have lying around that we won't take with us anyway. So making saddles using 4 pieces of timber spaced 2 metres apart. Under the bottom will be a bare earth and hanging from the top, 8" above, will be an insulator carrying a single conductor. This will ensure a full 8000 Volts. It will all be tensioned with sea fishing weights. Just need another 110Ah battery and some warning signs, oh and some spare time!!
 
Well I haven't done the 4th phase yet which is to electrify the top of the wall. Spare time is at a premium. The wall is a 5 feet 6" jump outside and 4 feet inside of the Orchard. Damn thing is back! Fresh prints in the veggy plot from this morning. Jumped the 5' 6", walked around and back over, presumably when the cockerels started the alarm call and I came running. So that's the next job on my list!
 
Wretched things! Heard from our game keeper that there was a young fox spotted over the road in the maize and another one seen about 200 metres up the road!

Hope you manage to find some time Chris - it's a big job you've got there!
 
Rosie has rigged up a temporary measure while i was out. Willow poles carrying a string line set across the top of the wall with pieces of ribbon tied to it. Should be enough of a distraction to keep the fox away while I make 15 saddles, buy and fit insulators and connect it all up.
 
Well Rosie's 'distraction' worked and 18 saddles have been made from what was going to be kindling held together with nails from a Charity Shop. In case anyone may be considering running a line across the top of a wall photos of my 'Heath Robinson' arrangement are below.

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The insulators and wire are Rutland items. I've run a double wire to make tensioning easier -at the far end in the loop is hanging 8 oz of freerunning lead weight (seafishing). This maintains the tension during warm weather when the cable will expand and go loose otherwise. Blowing around it could snag on the overhanging branches or drop out of the insulators. Could do with another 4 oz really. The other ends are tied to an insulator in a fence post.

Every third saddle is beefed up because the others are rather flimsy and the wood splits if not extended above the insulator carrier. The last two next to the weight are linked together with another piece of wood which stops the end creeping along the wall. Using brown pre-treated timber of reasonable quality and the appearance would be improved considerably. But these won't be up very long so rot isn't an issue.

Haven't connected it up yet. Only concern is the earth to the top of the wall. I was going to run a bare wire under the saddles but the cost! So I will check the voltage, particularly when the weather is dry, to make sure it has the full 8000 Volts. Its a big generator, sufficient for 20 nets, so if the fox gets a belt it might be knocked out!
 
Totally amazed by that, Chris. What a brilliant solution, right down to the tension maintainance (and what a lot of work to get it up and running.) Is that a walled garden you have there? - lovely plot. When you move, those modifications will be a great selling-point to anyone with chickens who thinks of buying it.
 
Walled on two sides Marigold. They are what's left of a brewery built in 1830 and demolished 1845. There was a third wall on the canal side but the last owner knocked it down. Very noisy with A38 and industrial site opposite, but you do get used to it and it's very convenient for commuting as no village traffic jam to cope with.

I'll be taking the insulators with us as the new proposed owner doesn't keep chickens. Will leave the saddles though.
 
Well it's switched on but not performing as well as I hoped. The wall is very porous 1830 handmade bricks. I had hoped that the water retention would make it very conductive, but no such luck. Only getting 2000V between the top of the wall and the conductor. Will measure it again after todays rain, but it looks as though I will have to lay a 200mm wide mesh strip under the saddles to get the full 8000V -more shopping. They don't make 200mm wide so I will cut 600mm into 3. Problem is the cheap new stuff unravels if you cut it because it isn't galvanised after maufacture, they just twist galvanised wire. Another forum located some proper stuff so I may have to get it mail order.
 
That's what Rosie said Marigold! Just tested it when wet and no improvement, except that I got a shock because the earth lead was in my hand when I touched the conductor with the meter -pretty stupid thing to do I must say!
 
Excuse my ignorance Chris, and electrics is not my forte! Have you attached the earth wire to an earth stake? We use 1m2 stakes. We we have a fault we also check the energiser by disconnecting from the fence and test the energiser to see what voltage it's generating?

When we have electrified top of fencing we used 6" insulated stand-offs and screwed into the top of the fencing posts. We added a separate stand-off with earth wire to earth stake, so when Mr Raynaud has all four paws of the ground he still gets a shock by touching both earth and live wires together. I have to say this system proved to be simple, cheap and very effective.
 
A bit late in the day for this Chris, but would barbed wire not be a solution?,by the time you move it wont have rusted and you can respool it and take it with you to use in France, also just make sure that your volt meter is working correctly as I had problems with that before, was getting utterly zapped everytime I touched the fence yet was only showing 2000v on the meter as there was an internal break in the meter wire connecting to earth.
 
That's what I was hoping to achieve Foxy, the stand-off earth wire effect. The ground is earthed with 3 x 1 metre stakes along the length of the wall (linked back to the generator) and I get 8000V between the ground at the base of the wall (the soil that is) and the conductor in the air above, but the wall is such an effective insulator we lose 6000 Volts up it. So we only get 2000V between the top of the wall and the conductor.
 
OK...maybe I am a numpty.. have you attached the earth conductor on the top of the wall to any of the earth stakes using wire? :shock:
 
That's the problem in a nutshell Foxy. There is no earth connector on top of the wall to connect to so I am relying on the conductivity of the wall at present, which turns out to be extremely inadiquate. So need to put mesh or something over the top of the wall and take a direct earth connection to it from the stakes in the ground. Unless someone has any cheaper ideas? Thought about a single strand under the saddles but can't be sure a fox will touch it.
 
So can you staple an earth wire (through) to the wooden saddles, then bring the earth wire down to one of your earth stakes and connect there?
So anything standing on the wall will connect with the earth wire (stapled to the saddles...) and the live wire will which in turn is earthed through one of your stakes?
:shock: :shock: ( Did you notice what I did there btw? :D :D )
 
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