We regularly have black bears in our area at this time of year- the really bad ones are hungry young males recently sent off on their own by mothers who have new cubs. They WILL seek out the easiest garbage in town but if you do the following they will probably leave you alone:
Freeze all leftovers including the following between collection days- meat/poultry/fish/fat/bone/grease/grain (especially corn), rinse all cans and bottles before recycling;
Thoroughly clean your garbage containers with soap and water, including the lids and keep all organics out of them;
Cease putting fresh organics in your compost except for leaves or grass clippings until no bears are sighted for a while, consider burying them;
Check all refuse in or near your coop/barn in the same way. If your land allows, a burial pit far from the house and coop can be useful.
The bear will choose the residences with the easiest food, and hopefully you will be exempted. As already mentioned, a bear in your coop will wreak so much havoc you might give up raising chickens.
This spring a male created major chaos at our general store because of garbage cans left for the use of customers. They had a heck of a time discouraging hm and it was a lot of work, but he's someone else's problem now (not ours!).
Speaking of bears how is my new avatar?
