Help! Multi-use fencing...

[MTplainsman]

I have a half acre lot that must be re-fenced this Spring. It is right next to a main roadway. I run chickens, ducks, geese in there, and will be adding some goats and a butcher hog. Please give me ideas as to how I should fence for this mess of critters. The existing fence is wire netting with 6" squares and two barb wires stretched across the top. Of course the smaller birds squeeze through the netting. Adding goats and a hog will really make things interesting. I was thinking of adding a hot wire so far up from the ground all around the inside perimeter for the hog/hogs. I need finer mesh to keep the poultry inside too. What type of economical fencing can I employ in this situation? Please keep in mind, that I can't go to fancy with the wire, as it is 110 miles to where I can get much of a choice at all. I do have access to a Tractor Supply, though it's hours away. The local store won't order in anything sub-standard, and they usually only carry "range" netting (the 6" squares) Tractor Supply has a good variety of mesh fencing though. Thanks for any help/ideas.

[dorothyl]

we put orange snow fence tight against our wire hog panel fence. fence feels like it is a heavy plastic polymer so it holds up & the triangles are small. should be able to get some on clearance come spring.

[fnfredux]

first suggestion I can make is don't put your goats in with the chickens. The goats will have the chickens free in minutes. If you put poultry netting in there, well, that will be ripped to shreds by the goats within *a couple of days, and if they have horns, make that a couple of hours.
As to electricity and goats, I have seen a couple of postings on other boards that say DON'T, the can get their horns stuck in the hot wire and slowly excute themselves.
Hogs and goats together? I don't know about that either, goats are a lot more fastidious than hogs, I don't think they would do well with them.
Chickens and hogs or goats, I don't think its a good idea to put poultry and hoofed animals together, I remember reading about some respiratory disease the hoofed animals can get from poultry feces. I'll see if I can find it.
Chickens don't need much room for roosting, and if you are way out in the country, why not let them free range during the day?
The goats don't need to be confined during the day either as long as you don't have nearby neighbors with crops or gardens in. Once trained to show up at dinner time to be locked up, your life will be easy. A good dog or two will be of great assistance.
Hogs? don't know much about them. They are smelly, they are messy, personally I wouldn't put any other animals in with them.
I would get poultry netting for the chikens, the goats, the best logistics:out during the day penned at night. Hogs? at least half that half acre just for one, maybe two. Use hog panels, it will be worth it in the long run, they will last, I don't know of any fencing that will stop a 600lb animal that wants out, but hog panels are the best bet.
I wouldn't be afraid to put an electric wire on the inside of those hog panels either. They have pretty sensitive snouts and a couple of jolts would keep them well mannered.
Now, I go look for that article about chickens and goats.

here is the name, couldn't find the article but maybe you could search,


59. Mycoplasmosis of cattle (contagions bovine pleuropneumonia and other infections)
60. Mycoplasma infections in sheep and goat (contagious agalactia of sheep and goats, contagious pleuropneumonia etc.)
61. Mycoplasmosis in pigs (mycoplasma pneumonia etc.)
62. Mycoplasmosis in poultry (chronicle respiratory disease etc.)

[humbug]

I am not sure about putting all the animals together like that either.
I do know that goats are one of the hardest animals to keep fenced in. I had mine in welded wire panels and they still managed to jump out from time to time. Ate my raspberry bushes almost off to the ground this year just as they were getting ready to bloom.
If you don't have any coyotes, dogs or anything else that eats chickens running around I would just let the chickens run free until you put your garden in. Chickens will clean out your lettuce and many other things in the garden so you will want to keep them in a chicken run during the growing year.
Have you thought about the utility fencing that has the 2" by 3" squares in it? I think you would have to run a hot wire along the inside of it to keep the goats from jumping up on it and ruining it.

[mom]

PIGS WILL EAT YOUR CHICKENS