Installing electric fencing

I've taken advantage of this unexpected summer-like weather, and after my research on sunny spots last week, I chose a spot for my beehive and installed the electric fencing and the beehive.  I ended up choosing the site to the left of the greenhouse.  That area gets a good amount of sun and dappled light later in the day which the folks in Swanzey, NH. emphasized that some dappled sunlight was good as it can get pretty hot in the hive in midsummer. 

Here it is. You can see (barely) the 4 posts that mark the spot. The length of fencing is 80 feet, but a square didn't work for me so I went with 25 foot length and 15 width which worked out fine from my perspective....except now I want to add on to it already.

I moved my peach tree into the fenced area in the right back corner.  My cherry tree too...that's so small, I'm not sure if you can see it in the photo but it's at the front left corner.  I'm hoping it survived the winter. It's not showing any buds yet.  If it didn't survive, I'll get another one...maybe a larger one. I am buying larger plants and trees these days so I have a chance to see them mature.  That's something I'd never have thought of in my younger days when I thought my life was endless. 

Back to the subject...  I also want two dwarf apple trees, which is why I'd like another electric fence because, without the electric fence, I fear I won't be successful getting any fruit.  I've never had good luck with fruit trees, even before, when I lived in places that had no bear around..  The few I've had haven't produced fruit for me, or something happened to the fruit.  Like last year, the peach tree I had planted in Maine 6 years ago had lots of fruit for the very first time...and a few weeks later, it was stripped clean by something. My tenants will need to deal with that tree this year.

Here, I will try some netting  if I'm lucky enough to see fruit on either the peach or cherry tree.  Because I just moved them, however, I'm not sure I'll get anything this year but it's not impossible so we'll see. Here's the peach tree and you can see where it's positioned within the fenced area.

The fence is called a mesh fence and I bought it, along with the entire setup at a great farm in Harrisville, NH called Wellscroft Fence.  They were terrific and gave me an in-depth overview of this fencing solution for apiaries.  They walked me down to show me their setup, and always, a picture is worth a thousand words.  I was able to see exactly how it went together and got it all done within a few hours when I installed mine this past weekend. 

Notice in the image below...something red and something yellow.  The red item taped to a stake is the battery energizer that electrifies the fence.  It runs off 4 D batteries that need to be replaced monthly. It comes with a metal rod (to the left of the energizer) which goes into the ground and you attach the green clip to that ground rod.  You can just see a yellow wire going from the energizer off to the right.  That yellow wire clip attaches to a clip at the end of the fence and that completes your connection.  If you want to shut down the fence while children are around, for example, just reach over and remove the yellow clip. 

You want this inside the fenced area so that animals can't get to it and break the connect.

That dark object hanging off the fence is the voltage meter that monitors the strength of the current at any given time. According to the guy at Wellscroft Fence, it's a good tool to have around because weather, interference due to high grass touching the fence, and other factors, can interfere with the strength of the current.  So you want to monitor the current to be sure there's enough voltage to deter any animal that tries to get near the beehive.  You don't leave the voltage meter on the fence by the way.  But you hang it when you're taking a reading and there's a little probe that you stick into the ground and that registers how much voltage you have on the meter where lights flash.  Then you remove it until you want to check voltage again.

I set up my hive, or some of it, in the center of my fence.  I ended up laying down some black cloth and covering with wood chips so I wouldn't need to worry about mowing right next to the hive.

And then I baited my fence with some bacon.  The idea is to hope a bear comes now, before the bees arrive.  The bear gets a shock and decides that my yard is not a happy place for them and leave and never come back.  I do wish I had a camera set up so I could see if a bear comes through...but I wouldn't enjoy seeing them shocked.  My carpenter's dog got shocked yesterday and it made me feel awful, but I had warned him and was willing to shut it down while they were here.  But instead the dog got a lesson and she didn't go anywhere near that fence again.  So it works.

Now I'm ready for the bees.  In the meantime, I need to learn how to use the smoker which will take probably a half hour.  And the next month will be used taking a class on adding bees to hives and growing plants in the greenhouse and starting up more gardens.