Bears and wolves what do I do??

[Kathryn4629]

I get to move back home in a couple of months and need some advice.

Home is about 30 miles from the Canada border in north Idaho. I have had problems with black and grizzley bear in the past and now also have a large number of wolves around. I am wondering if I could get some pointers for building a very sturdy chicken coop. I already know about using hot wire fencing and will do so but other ideas would be great! I will be getting another wolf tag when the season opens again and the game warden is good about letting you shoot problem black bear. Yet I really don't want a problem to begin with. Coexisting with nature is my goal!

I am thinking about building my coop into the hillside so it will be more secure and also warmer in the winter. Other than that, the ideas end there.

 

[Kittymomma]

I'd use large posts set in cement for the run with hardware cloth and an apron around it. I love the idea of building into the hillside. There was a thread on here several months ago about a coop built that way that came out really nice. As far as the electric goes I'd opt for as much power as you can get, I'm not sure what it would take to stop a bear though, that's a tough one. If you could wire some sort of sound to the coop (like an alarm system) that might help to startle/scare off a bear before it could tear things apart, but I'm not sure how the chooks would handle it....And of course, keep the feed stored elsewhere to minimize the chance that a bear breaks thru your set-up to get at that.

 

[frogdude]

live traps

 

[Barred Rocks forever]

u could start a gang war between the wolves and the bears

 

[Sir Birdaholic]

Sounds like you need an old bank vault for a coop!

 

[Kathryn4629]

Quote:
Now that is funny!!!

 

[Kathryn4629]

Quote:
Thats actually really close to what we were thing of using! I have three sheets of steel that were used in a plow truck to add weight in the bed. Just need to figure out how to use it on the coop.

 

[underground chickenman]

I think I would build many several small windows for ventilation, instead of one or two large ones and cover them 1/2 x 1/2 hardware cloth. The hardware cloth would be to keep out small predators. The small windows would be to keep out the bears. Either that, or build it out of block and mortar with bars on the windows. Make sure the framing and door are heavy duty. I have a regular metal exterior door like you would use on a house on my coop. But, I don't have bears.

UGCM

 

[Sir Birdaholic]

Sounds like the perfect start to a wolf & bear-proof coop. Good luck. By the way, bear meat stew is delicious!(hint, hint)

 

[Kathryn4629]

Oh bear meat stew is great!!! yummy, we still have ton of bear meat in the freezer, kind of sick of it now.

Its funny I am thinking of making my coop more secure than my house

The neighbors down the road had a grizzley and her cub tear there house apart when they were on vacation a few years ago, scary!