Do bears eat chickens??

[azygous]

I've been living with black bears for twenty-one years, and before that I dealt with them in the state parks where I used to work. Bears will eat everything! They are always hungry! Opportunistic, they will eat anything they can, including plastics and motor oil. Present them with unguarded chickens, hello McDonalds!

Trust me, I've learned from experience, having had them destroy my infrastructure on numerous occasions, and actually charge me and attack as I barricaded myself in my run with my chickens, nothing short of hot wire and bear spray will deter them.

Hot wire is relatively inexpensive and easy to rig, and it's the only thing that will protect your chickens unless you want to stand guard with a gun and pepper spray 24 hours a day.

 

[PingoBags]

I've been living with black bears for twenty-one years, and before that I dealt with them in the state parks where I used to work. Bears will eat everything! They are always hungry! Opportunistic, they will eat anything they can, including plastics and motor oil. Present them with unguarded chickens, hello McDonalds!

Trust me, I've learned from experience, having had them destroy my infrastructure on numerous occasions, and actually charge me and attack as I barricaded myself in my run with my chickens, nothing short of hot wire and bear spray will deter them.

Hot wire is relatively inexpensive and easy to rig, and it's the only thing that will protect your chickens unless you want to stand guard with a gun and pepper spray 24 hours a day.

Scary when you think about it. If I ever encounter a bear while I'm going to my coop, I'd probably buy a shotgun and some slugs to take with me every time.

I'm not even sure how I'd handle a situation like that. Throw a chicken at it and run maybe haha jk

 

[Folly's place]

Serious electric fencing is the only way; premier1supplies.com has products, advise, and people to talk to on the phone. Try them for help. Trying to shoot a bear who's up close with a shotgun might get you killed, and I'd want to have another plan. Mary

 

[azygous]

In the years since I rigged up hot wire around my coops and runs, I haven't had any run-ins with bears, or bobcats, either. A bobcat once broke into my run and killed one of my chickens. Though not as numerous as bears, bobcats can be just as bad.

If you dab peanut butter on your completed hotwire system, it will initially attract a bear who will "sample" the peanut butter with nose or tongue with a predictable result.

I watched this happen. One quick taste, and the bear did a fast motion 180 and high tailed it out of there, not to return again. A bear will remember such a painful assault and when it sees wires around infrastructure, it will avoid that place. Such a wonderful training device.

Absolutely no live ammunition should be employed against bears. They're big animals and you would need a 50mm to bring one down unless you're an expert marksman and can put a round through the brain stem. An injured bear has been known to return and kill the shooter.

I use hefty rubber rounds when using a shotgun against bears. These rounds are hard plastic the size of marbles and can really sting. The rounds I buy are called "stingers" in fact.

But bear pepper spray is the best thing for a close encounter with a bear, of which I've had more than I prefer.

If you have a problem bear who keeps returning no matter what you do, you need to call in a fish and wildlife officer. Ask if they have a "pepper barrel". I watched one time when a small problem bear encountered the pepper barrel that fish and wildlife had rigged after he kept trying to get to my chickens. It's a short steel drum with a can of bear spray rigged inside with a pork hide attached to a trigger. Bam! That little bear got a face-full and zig-zagged in a blind panic out of there, never to return!

Another good practice when living in bear country is to remove attractions. I never leave food out in the runs at night, and I decrease the amount of time food is present in the runs by feeding fermented feed. The best defense against bears is prevention.

 

[salsss]

Karen, I am so sorry to hear about your flock. My bear never did return...other places he went were better I think. I heard someone "took care" of him at some point this summer. He was getting into porches and wherever he could find garbage around here. we are in the Adirondacks and have bears. I'm surprised people around here are so careless with their garbage...it teaches them to come to our houses. Bird feeders also have to come inside at night.

My birds are in a much more substantial coop now--but I'm still aware that if a bear wanted in, they could rip anything apart. People around here have stories about bears entering windows to homes...one person had a bear turn on the stove and the whole house burned down! Ugn..

 

[chickenweirdo1]

I have black bears at my house almost daily, they much more prefer to break into the coop and eat the food and sometimes eggs. I live in the woods and have many friends nearby that have chickens, and get broken into often. The bears have never touched the chickens only the food.

 

[Karen711]

Hi there you guys have been very lucky and Im glad. I just lost 6/7 of my chickens 6 nites ago to a bear They will eat chickens.
They didn't eat the food in their run or even go into it. He just climbed over our chain link fence and tore into the coop. My little Charlotte ( a Speckaled Sussex) to a local farm & wont be getting anymore. Several places in my area have lost chickens, ducks and a peacock to a bear just so sad.