A Bear…

[Evadig]

A neighbor told us that yesterday in the early afternoon a large black bear was seen crossing the road about a quarter mile or less from our house. We live in a decently wooded area interspersed with fields and a couple ponds (one of which is in the backyard). Do you think this bear would be tempted to pay us a visit?
The chickens and other poultry free range during the day and my coops are definitely not bear proof!

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Do you think this bear would be tempted to pay us a visit?

Yes, it's possible.. everything likes chicken dinner and many things, including bears love chicken feed.

It's worth considering your options to become resistant or at least less attractive.. collect feed nightly if you don't already do so, possible electric fencing, etc.

 

[Theorrin]

i second the electric fencing one line around the bottom and another near the top should be good

 

[Evadig]

How user friendly is electric fencing? I am not a electrician!

 

[Evadig]

Also, would the bear be more likely to come at night or during the day?

 

[thecatumbrella]

Also, would the bear be more likely to come at night or during the day?

Every bear we've seen over the last six years (and we have cameras) comes once it's dark. Check out the Premier 1 bear fence; it comes as a kit and takes out a lot of the guess work. Surround the coop for sure.

 

[StinkyAcres]

How user friendly is electric fencing? I am not a electrician!

The Premier netting is very easy to set up, no need to be an electrician, it just takes some strength to drive in grounding rods, etc. Maintaining it is the hard part for me, but it's more of an annoyance.

 

[Alagirl]

How user friendly is electric fencing? I am not a electrician!

very simple to set up once you make yourself familiar with the systems.
However, for a bear, you need to pack a punch, and inadvertently a human will touch the hot fence.
Simply put, the strength of the shock is determined by the size of the charger, and the load (length of wire) connected to it.
It also depends on the soil and moisture content as usually the ground completes the circuit, but you can also put up a system with wires only.

Contact your local wildlife wardens on how to secure the homestead. Not just feed and birds are attractive to bears, carbage cans are a temptation as well.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Also, would the bear be more likely to come at night or during the day?

Bears are active day and night and black bears in populated areas are often attracted to easy meals - bird feeders, outdoor cat food, trash. So make sure you don't leave obvious food items out whenever possible. My in laws had a bear on their porch in the early afternoon (eating their bird feed) and we had one last fall around 4 PM. The one we saw was a juvenile and my dogs treed it. It ignored a storage can of chicken feed but was obviously looking around for dead salmon due to location and time of the year, as it went upstream and then back down a few hours later. Haven't seen it since.

 

[McChooky]

How user friendly is electric fencing? I am not a electrician!

Installed my first electric fence this summer and Predators haven't bothered my chickens.