Friday we went to TSC for feed. Our Cornish cross meat chickens are getting
very big now. We have 29 left of the original 30 having lost one to a
raccoon. They are ravenous eaters and currently go through a bucket and a
half of feed daily. It's very likely that they will be "done" next weekend
with a finished weight of about 6 lbs. While we were pushing around the
cart loaded with 8-50 lb sacks of chicken and goat feeds I spotted
something we had discussed getting. It is a portable electric fence. It
comes with poles that you stick in the ground and 165 feet of 6 inch square
plastic mesh. The mesh has tiny wire embedded in it which carries the
current. We have many potential uses for a portable fence. One use is we
have many areas that get overgrown with weeds and yet are difficult to mow.
For instance, there is a fence that separates the front yard from the
garden/gourd field. Alond that fence has been left the remains of past
projects, tomato baskets, soaker hoses, T-posts, wire, plastic pipe and
planting pots. If I were to try to mow this area it would foul and possibly
damage my mower. Also if I mowed the area all that vegetation would just be
wasted. With the portable electric fence, we can create an impassable
barrier for the goats which will allow them to graze on the grass and weeds
and prevent them from destroying the gardens. So we buy the fence get it
home and we are anxious to set it up and fill the tummys of the goats. We
unroll the fencing, push the posts into the ground and unroll the netting.
Everyting goes up smoothly. I fastened a long wire from our permanent
electric fence across the driveway to electrify the portable fence. I check
the fence with our fence tester to be sure it's charged. Here is where we
run into one of those little challenges that adds seasoning to rural living.
The fence is dead. Huh, I said. I check the connection. I check to be sure
the new fence isn't grounding out anywhere. Then Kristi checks the
permanent fence along the driveway that we are taking the power from. Dead.
Shoot. That just made this a bigger project. Now we go hunting around the
fenceline for what might be sapping the charge. We trim trees, shrubs and
vines from around half the property. No luck. We found a wire that was
diconnected. We felt joy that the problem was found. Of course it wasn't.
we cleared more brush along the street and finally ran out of energy just
as it was getting dark. We quit for the day vowing to finish it up first
thing in the morning.

It rained the next two days....
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