The American Beagler Forum

Hello all,

I am getting ready to build a 4 acre starting pen. Any one with any advice please post. Problems etc.....Thanks Jim Stinnett - Brair Busten Beagles

use the fence with apron on the bottom.does it have water on it ? neeeed too.

If the area has any standing water at times, you are going to be waging war against rust from now on. Even heavy guage wire will rust into in 2-3 years. Some of my pen has 5 layers of wire on it. Either get the coated wire or dip your wire in tar before hanging it. The best pen I have seen used barbed wire for support at top bottom and center. Used the pop on apron and had no wet spots.

I should add that you will probably need a hot wire at the top to keep out unwanted guests--dogs, cats, other 4 footed predators. Believe it or not, I had some 2 footed guests as well until I put on the hot wire.

If you need wire. E-mail me(prevot@yahoo.com). A buddy of mine is getting ready to go pick up a hugh truck load. of 18ga with Apron. It is around $65 for 150ft roll. I just used it on my pen. Worked great. I'll send you his name and #.

i have a 5 acre pen and the work never ends.creating cover,felling trees and triming brush.small saplings are a big problem. the most important thing is creating cover.

I'm almost ready to fence in several acres for a starting pen. My question is what can i plant in this area that provides good cover for the bunnies. I have already built several brush piles. In the process of building feeders(from the pic in TAB Feb. issue) and have put out salt. This area was previously pasture land. It has a lot of broomstraw on it now with a few cedars. I have thick stands of pine on the neighbor's place on one side of me and a combination of farmland and pines on otherside of me. I was able to attract a few bunnies last year by feeding (corn) but by fall i could go out at night and count a dozen or so rabbits in the quarter mile drive to main road. This was great to help start puppies but in past few nights haven't seen the first bunny. I went out after the snowfall and by counting tracks on the place noticed that there were about 6 sets . My plans are to add a couple more brush piles and palnt food and cover this spring. Any suggestions??