Bear!!

[OnionPatch]

About an hour ago I was awakened by the frantic barking of my two dogs. I went outside with a flashlight and OMG! There was a big, ol' black bear standing under the tree in my back yard staring at our chicken coop!! I yelled at him and he just stood there. Lucky for the dogs (or for him) there was a fence between them. I went back inside to grab the hubby but the bear was gone when we returned. We heard him crashing through the brush, heading away. Now I know what broke into my chicken coop two weeks ago when the dogs were inside! Four chickens eaten! (Anyone know how to bear-proof a chicken coop?)

I can't wait to see if there will be a copy-cat thread....."Bare!" ;)

[In_The_Wind]

1. I was

chasing bears away from my bird feeders for a while after we bought our house 10 years ago. :hi:

[OnionPatch]

2. They aren't easy to chase away

What was your method? That SOB ate my Americaunas!

[In_The_Wind]

3. I drove my car toward it while blowing the horn!

I wasn't going to hit it. I would never intentionally kill or hurt anything unless it was self defense.
I also tried firing my handgun but the bear didn't even slow down shoving seeds into its huge maw.

[RebelOne]

4. Seems as if you are going to have to build a more secure chicken coop.

That bear will be back, since now it knows where to get a chicken dinner.

[OnionPatch]

7. Yep, actually this is his return visit

The night he got into the coop and ate my chickens (about ten days ago), the dogs were inside the house. We'd been keeping them in because they kept chasing skunks. After the chickens were eaten, we secured the coop better and left the dogs access to outside during the nights. Sure enough, they were sprayed by a skunk just a few days later! But they did keep the bear from coming closer to the coop last night so I guess I'll have to take our chances on another skunk episode. Unless they learned their lesson about skunks. Yeesh, I don't know if fresh eggs are worth all this much trouble!

[meegbear]

5. I wasn't near your place!

And I prefer beef, not chicken, thank you.

[OnionPatch]

8. Lol, I'm glad it wasn't you

I'd hate to have the official bear of DU on my bad side.

[sarge43]

6. Advice

Here's what my husband did to protect his bee hives. Surrounded them with a metal cattle fence and rigged a solar charger to it - 9000 volt. Pricey, but it does make believers out of our local bears.
Every spring one shows up, tests it and that's that for the rest of the year.

[OnionPatch]

9. I was thinking of getting an electric fence

One of our property lines borders a woodsy park which connects to the national forest. I know they're climbing the fence on that border. I was thinking one strand would do it but you mentioned metal cattle fence. What kind is that?

[sarge43]

10. One strand won't do the trick

Bro bear will either go over or under. Plus, unless it's mega voltage, the charge generally won't penetrate the coat; contact has to be to bare (yes, there's the pun) skin, tongue, nose, bottom of paws to make an useful impression.

The fence is also called a range or field fence - open mesh (ours 6"x8"), heavy gage steel. The company that made ours is Rangemaster Field Fence. Any agri store, Agway, Blue Seal, etc, will have many types.

The charger is Red Snapper: Low Impedance Electric Fence Controller. Spousal unit researched the web; he said this was the best for price.

[OnionPatch]

11. I was thinking of putting it at the top of the existing fence

There is a five foot welded wire fence (2"x4" rectangles) there now with barbed wire strands on the top. A bear couldn't get under it. I was thinking if I added a strand of electric wire at the top it would get a shock if it tried to go over.

My main concern with electric fencing is that I keep hearing it's hard to keep it grounded in dry climates. Well, you can't get too much drier than southern California in September.

[sarge43]

12. That top wire should do it

An old timey NH trick is to coat a piece of tin foil with peanut butter or honey and attach to the charged wire. Bro bear licks it and gets an education. Generally they don't need more than one lesson. They're smart and they're omnivores without natural enemies or competition, so they don't tend to work any harder than they have to for a meal.

SO says that dry ground does impede an electrical charge - more resistance. His advice is to start with the standard 6 foot grounding rods and check for a charge. If not, you may have to go to longer ones.