what happens if a chicken gets shocked?

15 years ago

I been letting my chickens out lately and had a little area with a 4' fence up. Little did I know the cochin can fly pretty well and she disregards the fence and jumps over it. Today I was out in the yard cleaning up everything and let them out to roam around freely. The chickens were out scratching and digging pretty close to me.

I took a rest in my little gazebo which is not far from the goats hot wire fence and the chickens followed me over there too. Lucy, (the cochin) hit the fence and screamed and flew off of it. She immediately started going towards her pen but it was like she was drunk or something by the way she was staggering. She was clearly stunned.

She stopped like she was gathering herself then tried to walk a little further fell, got back up, and drunkenly made her way back to the pen. I had put some treats in there for them so she sat in front of the tray looking at it and not moving just swerving like she was dizzy. She finally started pecking at the food. I closed them up in the pen. When I came back about 5 minutes later she was walking normally and drinking water. She looked okay but it is getting dark so I might not have been able to see any other signs of distress.

Should I be worried that I am going to find a dead chicken in the morning? Or worse yet find her half eaten by the other hen Ethel?

I know someone had mentioned you can use a howtire around the chicken coop so I assumed it was okay to let her be near it. Once zapped and hopefullly never again was my thinking. Or did they mean hot wire on the other side of the fence to keep predators out, not to keep the chickens in. Has anyone else's chickens got zapped by a hotwire and if so what happened. I have 5 strands hot over 1/2 acre and the box is for 1 mile.

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Comments (11)

islandmanmitch
15 years ago
Ms Jay the hot wire is usually on the outside of the chicken fence to keep things out not the chickens in. I use electric fencing and have for years. Most of the time the chickens feathers insulate them from the electric shock but if they touch their heads to the wire, gotcha. The few times I have seem my chickens zapped they recovered completely in a short time.
brendasue
15 years ago
Same here only with other fowl. If in doubt you could segregate her & treat her for shock, but I highly doubt that is necessary unless she was stick on it for quite a while. We also have the electric on the inside-to keep the animals off the fence & the dogs in.
Brendasue
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msjay2u
Original Author
15 years ago
when your chickens got shocked did they get stunned like mines did?
islandmanmitch
15 years ago
Some seemed "shocked" (pun intended) or dazed and others acted like ouch and went on with their chicken business. How good the connection makes the difference. I stepped between the field fence and electric wire on a foggy morning. The hot wire touched the back of my neck. The moisture made for a perfect connection and it almost knocked me out. I staggered like I was drunk getting away from it. I had been zapped by the same fence on dry days and no big deal.
seramas
15 years ago
I can't help myself---Fried! Like Mitch says-depends on how grounded they were. I might add that how healthy they are plays a role, too.
msjay2u
Original Author
15 years ago
They are healthy but young (6 mos). well I am hoping to see the best tomorrow.
seramas
15 years ago
She will be OK with a healthy respect for that wire fence. I personally would not use an electric fence.

Those predator guards work good for nighttime predators. Have a bad owl and raccoon problem at the farm and started using them 3 years ago-not one single problem since installing NiteGuards. Worth the money.

Here is a link that might be useful: nite preditor guards
velvet_sparrow
15 years ago
She should be OK, as long as she had recovered from the initial shock. Like seramas said, she'll have a healthy respect for the fence!

We always strung our hotwire high enough so the chickens couldn't accidentally get zapped by it, and never had a problem. Unfortunately, my dad then got some turkey poults to raise for meat, and once they started to grow and those long turkey necks encountered the wire...well, let's just say that turkeys aren't terribly bright, and so did not learn to *duck*. Beyond the initial shocks, they weren't hurt.

Velvet ~:>
msjay2u
Original Author
15 years ago
I am happy to report that Lucy is doing just fine. She even laid an egg. I did not check it to see if it was fried though. LOL

The hotwire is around the goat pasture not the chicken coop. I had asked the question because I was wondering if the hotwire was safe for them. I am supposed to be getting a peacock and some guinea hens this spring but now I am wondering if the goats hotwire is going to be a problem for them. If so then I will not even bother. I have so many wasps around the property that I figured guineas would be an "organic" solution.

Thanks fot the advice though. I sure was worried about Lucy today!
msjay2u
Original Author
15 years ago
after effect. she is skittish of me now as if she thinks it was my fault she got shocked.
mersiepoo
15 years ago
Fried egg, lol!! That's a good one.

All I have to say is, thank God Nikolai Tesla invented AC!

Hey, she thinks you tasered her, hopefully she'll forget about it sooner than later!

what happens if a chicken gets shocked?

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islandmanmitch

brendasue

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what happens if a chicken gets shocked?

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islandmanmitch

brendasue

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