Are bears ever a problem?

[koop]

I don't have any chickens yet and am thinking about when kind of coop I will need for them. We have black bears in my area and I was wondering if they are ever a problem with chickens, I'm thinking I will be putting an electric fence around the run anyway, but bears aren't greatly deterred by electric fences.

 

[sfw2]

Bears seem to be more of a problem in some areas than in others. Many times, they seem to be as attracted to the chicken feed as to the chickens themselves. A black bear is capable of doing a great deal of damage to your coop and/or run in an effort to reach its goal.

There were a couple of long threads about bears last spring. Do a forum search for "black bear", and I'm sure you'll find plenty of information.

In fact, here's one: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=83881

Good luck, and

!

 

[PortageGirl]

An electric fence won't STOP a bear if it's really determined, but a zap on the nose is a good way to discourage them.

I can't tell where you're from, but I've had some experience with brown bears in AK, and we have some AK people here (I don't live there anymore so I'm a bit unqualified I suppose).

Bears are extremely opportunistic, so if you discourage them right from day one, they will usually quickly move on to greener pastures. A sturdy fence with some strands of electric around it is an excellent way to make them think twice.

A decent building for a coop, should be enough really, they CAN rip siding off, but they don't generally do so if they don't have a good reason to think it's worth their trouble.

 

[theFox]

Quote:
A really good electric fence should be able to stop most bears.

By really good I mean one that makes it highly probable that they will short more than one strand to ground with their bodies.

Most electric fences fail if they have poor grounds or they can't sustain the weight of the animal that is trying to get through them.

 

[koop]

My wife has a fencer for her horses, and the shed I want to build the coop in is in the fence, I have never seen a bear in with the horses yet. But I was thinking I might just build the outside run so the hardware wire is in the inside of the posts and have insulated page wire on the outside, this I would hope will keep the horses from chewing up the run also.

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

We have quite a few bears here in Eastern NC some very close. You see bear tracks in our driveway from time to time. We have never had any problem with them. I don't know if it helps or not but since they hunt bears with dogs around here every so often I take ours back through the woods around our pens to try and keep a fresh dog scent around. A friend of ours about 5 miles away had one come into his pens last year and kill some geese and turkeys and they don't have any dogs so maybe it does help?

Steve in NC

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

Quote:
Off Topic:

Steve is that YOU!?! or is this Sharon? Turkey Steve if that is you we are talking about you over on SS:
http://www.sufficientself.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=5309&p=20

 

[freemotion]

Yeah, Steve, come join us, wontcha? I am a big fan! Thanks for all the help you gave me a year or two ago.....keeping turkeys and chickens together. My BR pair has survived nicely for over a year, free-ranging with a motley crew of chickens and goats!

 

[Birdbrain99114]

The Olympic Game farm that houses and cares for the grizzlies used in movies only uses electric fencing to keep them in. The bears appear very wary of the wire while they are begging for scraps as you drive by. Maybe they are a bit different since they are semi-tamed.

 

[acid_chipmunk]

Hubby and I had a bear break into our coop last fall and killed 4 of our girls. It was awful. He didn't even eat them, just killed them. Hubby heard them screeching when he went outside to the compost pile and came in, got the shotgun figuring it was a racoon. He went out with the gun and flashlight just as it was sauntering away. Hubby only had birdshot in the gun, but the bear got a shot in his rear and took off running. He hasn't been back since. Worst part was, one of the girls he got was our daughters bird. She was devistated.