Our rooster found our electric pasture fence this morning, and now he’s just a pile of feathers. It’s only a two mile mile charger so it’s about as weak as they come.
Commander Honeybunch is worried about her hens now. The internets says that chickens shouldn’t get killed by an electric fence. Anyone have experience with this? It is likely that he took the shock right to the head. It’s unlikely the bird died from other causes. The wife was out there when it happened.
“Can An Electric Fence Kill A Chicken?”
…Only if it tries to cross the road ~
(Sorry, couldn’t resist) 
I’ll contact the local CSI Unit but be warned, your wife will be the prime suspect. 
No idea if a electric fence will kill a chicken. If it’s keeping the chickens in a specific area I would say no cuz it sure isn’t going to keep a Fox out.
I don’t know the answer to your question. I’m sorry to hear about your rooster. You appear to be a man of great humor. I’m stealing the term “Commander Honeybunch.”
Did it fly into the electrified wire or walk into it? My understanding is that birds can land on it and not get electrocuted because they aren’t touching the ground.
Are you having deep fried chicken for dinner? 
Have a bite of it. If it tastes like electricity, it rode the lightning.
Maybe it had a bad heart?
I had to take the time to respond to this, yes ! an electric fence can and will kill a chicken if it was in contact with the ground when it touched/pecked the wire for whatever reason.
when we had cows and a mile of electric fence it was not unusual to find dead birds of all kinds at least three times a week,they would peck a bug on the steel post while standing on the wire and get zapped pronto.
a birds brain doesnt take much of anything to kill with electricity.
I had to take the time to respond to this, yes ! an electric fence can and will kill a chicken if it was in contact with the ground when it touched/pecked the wire for whatever reason.
when we had cows and a mile of electric fence it was not unusual to find dead birds of all kinds at least three times a week,they would peck a bug on the steel post while standing on the wire and get zapped pronto.
a birds brain doesnt take much of anything to kill with electricity.
So disappointed. 
I was expecting a Jack fueled story from your youth.
I had to take the time to respond to this, yes ! an electric fence can and will kill a chicken if it was in contact with the ground when it touched/pecked the wire for whatever reason.
when we had cows and a mile of electric fence it was not unusual to find dead birds of all kinds at least three times a week,they would peck a bug on the steel post while standing on the wire and get zapped pronto.
a birds brain doesnt take much of anything to kill with electricity.
Well I’m pretty chicken when it comes to an electric fence,,,,, I’m going to have to be even more careful. 
Did the Rooster pee on the fence?
Only if it had large talons.
Years ago, I was out morel picking. I ducked under my neighbor’s electric fence to check some dead elm’s on his fenceline. Got over to the trees, bent down to check( forgot about the fence), and all of a sudden my entire body went into one big convulsion! I’ve been bit by fences before, but holy sh…….!!!!! This one was by far the worst one ever! Can one kill a chicken?? Imo- hell yeah it can!!!
Our rooster found our electric pasture fence this morning, and now he’s just a pile of feathers. It’s only a two mile mile charger so it’s about as weak as they come.
No. An electric fence will not kill chickens without there being some other factor involved.
If you think about it, if an electric fence killed chickens, it would also be lethal to the dozens of other animals that are roughly the same size and would therefore also be killed. There would be dead rabbits, squirrels, other birds, etc, etc. Any animal that was on the ground or touched a post and a wire would get fried.
Have you ever found any other dead animals by your fence?
My parents have had a full 4 strand electric fence around their house/gardens for over 20 years including a rabbit wire just off the ground. Never found a single dead animal.
Of course, all this brings up an issue. Who really killed the rooster?
The killer is still out there. They just tried to make it look like he “accidentally” touched the fence. Quite devious, actually.
Grouse
I fenced our sweet corn patch to keep the chickens out of it and it didn’t stop them one bit. They sneak under with the fence touching the feathers on their backs. The feathers seem to insulate them, but I’d think if your rooster touched his bare comb to the fence, that’s what got him. What I did was put a hawk decoy on a pole in the corn and that keeps them far away.
I’d imagine if it was holding on to the wire with its beak when the zap hit it would kill pretty instantly with the thousands of volts going directly to the brain.
Otherwise the feathers would protect the rest of its body for the most part.
Sounds like fried chicken is on the menu for tonight.
Sounds like fried chicken is on the menu for tonight.
Yup Yup Yup!
Did you notice an empty box in your yard with ACME written on it? If so it might not have been the fence.
The simple answer is yes.
However, a pile of feathers – No
You stated that your wife what out there when it happened. Do you not believe her?
Out of curiosity how high off of the ground was the lowest electric wire?
No clue about a chicken but can say I had sparks out my azz while reaching for my spinner bait that was hung up on shore.
I used a cheap electric fencer last year to squirrel-proof my bird feeders and I killed some birds, flying squirrels, red squirrel, even a grey squirrel. Was not happy about it. This winter I put in a solar power one which pulses every second or so. No more killing. It was also effective in summer for protecting the garden from deer using a single poly-based line and “deer pops”. I found that cheap fencers are continuous charge which is why they kill as critters cant release at times. In addition, you must have better-insulating techniques or they will burn through insulators once they develop a carbon track. The bottom line go solar and pulse duty. You can get various power levels for distance and animal size as well.
I suppose it’s possible but probably some other factors than just the fencer. Brings back flashbacks of my teen years when I though I could step over the pasture fence. Don’t know what fencer we had but it was powerful. Could have dunked on a hoop 20′ in the air I think when I found out I was a little too short to straddle the fence.
How old was he, maybe his number came up and the old ticker gave out. I suppose he could have had more chicks than he could handle.Was he henpecked?
The moral of the story is don’t let your c0ck get near an electric fence.
The moral of the story is don’t let your c0ck get near an electric fence.
Winner.
Grouse
FACT: as I have witnessed more times than ten, an electric fence can and will kill a chicken, all it takes is a direct connection between the brain and ground period.
IE, chickens feet on ground, pecker, tongue or comb in contact with hot portion of wire, it takes less than two nano seconds to fry the brain of a chicken.
FACT: an electric fence can and will kill a fuzzy butt, a coon, a possum, pussy cat etc, as long as its grounded and a damp portion of its head is in contact with the hot portion of the wire, IE, nose, lips, eyes whatever.
most fencers that have a range of two miles or less work on 7000 joules of energy at less than one amp, whether its momentary or or a solid jolt it will kill.
furry animals whos hide come on contact with may get a buzz and thats it and wont be killed, it takes direct contact.
being first hand witness to this dont tell me I am wrong or I will hook you up to one and see how you handle it and no, I have never peed on one but I have been jolted many more times than I care to count.
Dutchboy, sorry I cant give you a story that involves jack, you see, my grandfather who was a kentucky shiner made the good stuff long before jack was a pup, er, uh, in my words a frazzled out old story teller who used others recipes to get where its at today.
that said, if you want a story involving a fencer using a twenty watt light bulb wired in series with 110 AC used in protecting a restored 1935 dodge coupe from a coyote who could not resist pissing on the thousand dollar set of rims the last time it did and got launched over the moon pm me and I will write it up for you.
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