We Compared 4 Poultry Nets and 2 Energizers. The Energizer Matters More

Why Premier 1 PoultryNet wins this category

Two things, both of which show up the first time you move the fence rather than in the product photos.

The first is post stiffness. Budget netting uses thinner posts that flex, and a flexed post lets the net sag, and a sagging net touches vegetation and shorts. Premier's posts hold the line taut, which means the fence keeps working.

The second is horizontal spacing at the bottom. Chicks and bantams walk straight through wide-spaced netting, and a fence that a bird can walk through is not a fence.

Living with Premier 1 PoultryNet

The reason this comes up constantly in smallholding conversations is support. Posts break, connectors get lost, and a company that sells spares and answers technical questions turns a damaged fence into a repair rather than a replacement.

At 164 feet you can enclose a paddock big enough to be worth rotating birds through, which is what this kind of fencing is for.

Where Premier 1 PoultryNet falls short

There is no energizer, and this catches people out constantly. Netting on its own is a physical suggestion that chickens will simply walk into and eventually through. It becomes a fence only when it is electrified, which means a charger and a properly driven earth stake, and that is a substantial addition to the price.

Price is the other criticism. This is around half again what budget netting costs for the same length, and the budget netting does work. What you are paying for is that it keeps working after twenty moves rather than ten.

Single-spike posts also struggle in hard, dry or stony ground, where you end up making a pilot hole first.

Why the Starkline netting wins this category

Because the failure mode of electric netting is almost never the wire, it is the posts.

A single-spike post is free to rotate around its spike. Push a net with wind, or set it on soft ground, and the posts twist and lean, the net sags, the bottom wire ends up in wet grass, and the whole fence shorts to earth. At that point it is a physical barrier that chickens ignore.

Two spikes cannot rotate. The post stays square, the net stays up, and the fence stays live.

Living with the Starkline netting

Fibreglass is the other material improvement. Plastic posts chalk and go brittle under UV, and a brittle post snaps at the spike when you pull the fence up to move it, usually in year three.

Forty-eight inches of height is enough that most standard laying breeds will not clear it, though heavy fliers and lighter breeds will if sufficiently motivated.

Where the Starkline netting falls short

The double spikes that make it stable also make it harder to install. On soft pasture they push in easily; on a dry summer field or anywhere with stones you will be working for every post.

That leads to the real limitation, which is that fibreglass splinters. Forcing a post into ground that does not want it, or tapping it in with something hard, can shatter the spike, and fibreglass splinters in a hand are genuinely nasty and difficult to remove. Wear gloves and make a pilot hole with a steel bar in hard ground rather than forcing it.

As with every netting here, there is no energizer, so budget separately for a charger and earth stake.

Why the FZIFZI netting wins this category

Because of how the budget is best spent. An electric fence is a system, and the component that decides whether it works is the energizer, not the net. A cheap net with a good charger performs far better than a premium net with an underpowered one.

At roughly a third less than the premium netting, this leaves real money for a charger with enough output to push through vegetation contact.

Living with the FZIFZI netting

Forty-seven inches against the 48 inch standard is a difference of one inch and no practical consequence. Both heights are high enough for most standard laying breeds and low enough for a determined flier to clear.

Ground stakes included is a small but genuine saving, since they are frequently sold separately.

Where the FZIFZI netting falls short

Post flex is the durability criticism. Thinner posts lean and twist, the net sags between them, and a sagging bottom wire in wet grass shorts the fence to earth. It is manageable if the fence stays in one place and gets checked; it becomes a weekly job if you move it often.

The spacing issue is more serious and is a hard limitation rather than a wear problem. The lower horizontal strands are spaced widely enough that chicks and small bantams walk between them without ever touching a live wire. The fence never gets a chance to teach them anything, because they are not making contact.

If your flock is standard-size birds only, this is fine. With bantams, or with a broody hen leading chicks, it does not contain them and no amount of energizer output changes that.

Why Premier 1 PoultryNet Plus 100 wins this category

Because standard netting assumes flat, even ground and a straight line, and plenty of real gardens are neither.

On uneven ground or around a curve, a standard net with posts every 12 feet or so sags in the middle of each span. A sagging bottom strand touches grass, shorts to earth, and the fence stops working. Extra post density shortens each span so the net stays off the ground.

Living with Premier 1 PoultryNet Plus 100

A hundred feet is a much more manageable roll for one person than 164 feet, both to carry and to lay out. Anyone who has wrestled a full-length net around a corner alone will recognise the difference.

The post and mesh quality is the same as the longer Premier product, so you are not trading construction for length.

Where Premier 1 PoultryNet Plus 100 falls short

Cost per foot is much worse, and this is the criticism that matters. You pay nearly what the 164 foot net costs for 100 feet, because the extra posts are the expensive part.

That is entirely rational when you need the post density and poor value when you do not. On flat, regular ground the longer standard net encloses considerably more area for barely more money, and it is the obvious purchase.

The extra posts also mean more work per foot at setup and takedown, so if you are moving the fence frequently on easy ground, the standard version is faster.

And as with all netting here, there is no energizer, so the real budget has to include a charger and an earth stake.

Why the Happy Henhouse charger wins this category

Because an electric fence works by teaching, and teaching requires consistency. A predator that gets a proper shock on its first attempt learns and leaves. A predator that gets a weak tingle because the battery was low learns that the fence is unpleasant but survivable, and comes back.

Mains power delivers the same pulse in January that it delivers in June. No battery state, no panel, no cloud cover.

Living with the Happy Henhouse charger

Being the cheapest energizer here while being the most reliable is an unusual combination, and it happens because the expensive parts of a solar unit are the panel and the battery.

The output margin also means grass touching the bottom strand does not kill the fence the way it does with a small solar unit. The fence line still needs keeping clear, and you have more room for error.

Where the Happy Henhouse charger falls short

The location constraint is the whole trade-off. The fence has to be within reach of an outdoor-rated mains supply on an RCD or GFCI-protected circuit, and if you do not have one at the paddock, creating one is a real job.

That constraint quietly limits how you use the land. Rotational grazing is about moving birds across ground, and if every position has to stay within a cable run of the same outlet, the rotation shrinks to whatever a lead reaches.

Power cuts take it out entirely, with no fallback. In an area with unreliable winter supply, that is a night with no fence, and winter nights are when it matters.

Whatever energizer you choose, the earth stake is not optional. A poorly earthed energizer delivers a weak shock no matter how many joules it claims, and bad earthing is the single most common reason electric fences underperform.

Why the Epoify solar charger wins this category

Because most poultry netting is used exactly where mains power is not: a back paddock, an orchard, a corner of a field. Running an outdoor cable to it is often impossible and always a project.

A self-contained solar charger with its own battery goes wherever the fence goes, and it comes with an earth stake, which people frequently forget is required and is not optional.

Living with the Epoify solar charger

Set-up is pushing an earth stake in, connecting two leads, and walking away. There is no wiring, no consumer unit and no cable route to plan.

At 0.18 joules it has enough output for a single 164 foot poultry net, which is what most backyard and smallholding setups actually run.

Where the Epoify solar charger falls short

The output margin is thin, and understanding why matters. An energizer's joule rating is the energy it delivers per pulse, and everything touching the fence bleeds some of that to earth. A clean net in dry conditions passes almost all of it to whatever touches the wire. A net with grass growing into the bottom strand loses a large fraction continuously.

With 0.18 joules there is very little spare. A week of grass growth can drop the shock below the level a fox notices, at which point you have a very visible fence that does nothing.

Practically that means strimming the fence line weekly is part of the routine, not an optional tidy-up.

The seasonal problem is the same one every solar product has. Output falls in winter, which is when predator pressure is highest, and snow on the panel takes it to nothing.