Bear!

[Gonzo_MN]

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I'll be seeing my Brook Park aunt next weekend. I'll check into it!

I'm in the NW corner of Plymouth, which is still undeveloped. it's all farm, pasture and woods. Everyone else has horses and cattle, I'm the only chicken rancher

. There are lots of coyotes around. I hear them often and see them occasionally.

 

[panner123]

If anyone ever figures out how to bear proof a coop, they will be rich over night. Well, it can be done at a cost of about $30,000. A good electric fence and a radio on 24/7 helps. The best thing to do is use my 2 good friends, Mr. Smith & Mr. Wesson of the 30/06 size. Shoot to kill, a wounded bear is a 1000 times worst than the one you have now. Dig a BIG hole cover up what you don't place in the frezzer and never tell soul about it. THE TRIPLE S RULE, LIVES.

 

[Sillystunt]

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my husbands grand father's ranch has 1/3 of the snake river running through it. don't ask me where cause i have no clue, i heard the mountain lion vs ridgeback story and declined an invite....ahahha

 

[ravensview]

Happened during early morning hours. Most of the time dawn to dusk around here is "bear time." They can come through at any time, however, and are very quiet. You may not know they have been through. I had shut fence off because kids and I were going to feed the chickens and I didn't want the kids to get shocked. In the lag of time bear ripped through fence and ate chickens. I had seen signs that it had tried before (little pull marks in the chicken wire), but didn't think it would be able to gain access so fast. My advice: get two additional rows of wire up to deter that bear.

 

[Tonopah Pati]

And I thought I had problems with Rattle Snakes. I don't think my girls would win fighting a Bear. I know how the Bears can scare you. I had one that kept trying to get my Goats when I lived in the mountains in ARIZONA. Forest Lakes. That was so scary. Hope your chickens are going to be OK

 

[jafo]

My wife and I went to a seminar about Black Bears, given by Lynn Rodgers. His site is here http://www.bearstudy.org/website/. We went because we had a huge Black Bear around the house. 450 lbs or so. I have him on video. We were nervous about him harming our dog while we were at work. He said "if he has'nt already, then he won't" The bear climbed into the back of my truck, 25 feet from our dog, and helped himself to a 5 gallon bucket of apples. Mr. Rodgers says BB's are the most misunderstood animals on the planet. Actually pretty harmless, unless of course you happen to bump into one that has his mind on killing,,,,,,,anything. as is the case with ANY species. Man, bear, cat, dog. Check out his site, he's very widely known, the only man to put a radio collar on a bear who was NOT under anesthiesa(sp) and the first one to crawl into a den in the middle of the winter with a camera.

 

[mmwb]

Use your electric fence. Several strands at differing heights would be good. A small black bear would probably break into the majority of coops that will hold out other predators. Hardware cloth won't cut it in this case.

 

[Justin]

Sillystunt,

I would have to assume that the ranch you're talking about is on the big Snake River out west...No mountain lions to speak of here in east central Minnesota....

Lalaland,

I posted a pic of my setup on the coop board....If you would like to see more, you're more than welcome...

 

[Sillystunt]

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lol, ummm yeah~ didn't see where you were at! LOL

 

[thewarriorchild]

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Oh pulease, if he hasnt gotten your dog he won't. Do not take that to the bank you will be telling that to your dead dog wondering why the bear could do such a thing. It will eat the guy putting the collar on sooner or later just like the guy in Alaska and his girlfriend...

PROTECT your flock, I know all to well what the bear can do.