BLACK BEAR BROKE INTO CHICKEN COOP-PLS HELP

[McChooky]

i have a australian shepherd who HERDS my animals and protects them from small things like crows/mink etc. but i wouldn’t never put her up against a black bear.

I never encourage my dogs to chase anything they instinctively like to chase predators. If they pick up a scent or hear something they're gone to investigate.

 

[McChooky]

i have a australian shepherd who HERDS my animals and protects them from small things like crows/mink etc. but i wouldn’t never put her up against a black bear.

My suggestion was to call a friend who hunts bears if you have one because its dangerous if you try to chase one off.Anytime one comes around here I have to put my dog in the house.He gets overexcited.

 

[No Coop No Problem]

Opening the coop door would be a temporary solution for a bear. It would prevent your coop from being destroyed and also allow your chickens to escape. Any chickens locked in a coop along with a predator are screwed

A long term solution would be raising an LGD

 

[FrostRanger]

Opening the coop door would be a temporary solution for a bear. It would prevent your coop from being destroyed and also allow your chickens to escape. Any chickens locked in a coop along with a predator are screwed

A long term solution would be raising an LGD

A game warden is coming to remove the bear

 

[SourRoses]

A bear is one animal that if I saw it near my chicken coop, I'd be backing up while whispering "Look, yummy chickens, over there!"
Or gators. Definitely not fighting those fence climbers either.
I would fight a mountain lion though! Just big kitty cats, and I have experience avoiding the pokey-stabbers of the smaller version.

 

[FrostRanger]

A bear is one animal that if I saw it near my chicken coop, I'd be backing up while whispering "Look, yummy chickens, over there!"
Or gators. Definitely not fighting those fence climbers either.
I would fight a mountain lion though! Just big kitty cats, and I have experience avoiding the pokey-stabbers of the smaller version.

I'd rather face a black bear than a mountain lion. Black bears are usually cowardly and will run off when confronted (not always, particularly a mother with cubs, but usually). I think a mountain lion would be more likely to try and actually hunt you, and if a big cat (although technically mountain lions aren't considered big cats) gets the jump on you, you're in trouble. As for gators, it depends on if I can see it with enough time to avoid the initial attack. If you can avoid the initial attack you'll probably be fine. I certainly wouldn't want to be ambushed by a large gator, I'd take my chances with both the bear and the mountain lion if I didn't have someone nearby with a gun

Incidentally i think the only time I saw a bear in person was at gatorland when my kindergarten class went there on a field trip

 

[SourRoses]

As for gators, it depends on if I can see it with enough time to avoid the initial attack. If you can avoid the initial attack you'll probably be fine. I certainly wouldn't want to be ambushed by a large gator, I'd take my chances with both the bear and the mountain lion if I didn't have someone nearby with a gun

When I was a kid in south Fl, ALL of the school field trips were to nature preserves, and it seemed they all wanted to do demo's of the gators leaping for snacks. Show off the skulls, talk about the bite force, then make us get in a boat to go see mangroves and stuff. They told us if a gator (likely a mother) was chasing you on land, you would lose unless you tried to zigzag to confuse their vision.
You could say I'm a bit traumatized, lol. Especially after my brother launched us out into a gator filled lake in a dinghy that couldn't take our combined weight and started to sink.
And my mom loved those "Rescue 911" shows where half the episodes featured people with their limbs bitten off by a gator.
Then when I was 11, mom took me back to Australia with her and we did this horseback riding trip (fun) but at one stop, everyone jumped in this marshy looking pond, and Mom insisted I join in. I wasn't having that, so in an impulse "fun" moment she still apologizes for, she pushed me in. The dock was so high compared to the water table that I couldn't climb back out and creepy things were touching my legs.
Everything about an ambush predator that hides in muddy water with giant snapping jaws just freaks me out.
And people - so many silly people - swim here in FL and claim they don't want people for snacks. They're just biding their time, people!

 

[FrostRanger]

When I was a kid in south Fl, ALL of the school field trips were to nature preserves, and it seemed they all wanted to do demo's of the gators leaping for snacks. Show off the skulls, talk about the bite force, then make us get in a boat to go see mangroves and stuff. They told us if a gator (likely a mother) was chasing you on land, you would lose unless you tried to zigzag to confuse their vision.
You could say I'm a bit traumatized, lol. Especially after my brother launched us out into a gator filled lake in a dinghy that couldn't take our combined weight and started to sink.
And my mom loved those "Rescue 911" shows where half the episodes featured people with their limbs bitten off by a gator.
Then when I was 11, mom took me back to Australia with her and we did this horseback riding trip (fun) but at one stop, everyone jumped in this marshy looking pond, and Mom insisted I join in. I wasn't having that, so in an impulse "fun" moment she still apologizes for, she pushed me in. The dock was so high compared to the water table that I couldn't climb back out and creepy things were touching my legs.
Everything about an ambush predator that hides in muddy water with giant snapping jaws just freaks me out.
And people - so many silly people - swim here in FL and claim they don't want people for snacks. They're just biding their time, people!

Eh, I was born in orlando, went to gatorland when I was 6, grew up watching animal planet, discovery health and whatnot. I think it had the exact opposite effect on me than it had on you. I am cautious and avoid confrontation with wildlife when possible, but i'm not afraid either. I think the early exposure mentally prepared me by making me aware from an early age that nature is brutal. I still love nature though and accept its brutality with its beauty

 

[chickenlady2004]

A game warden is coming to remove the bear

just thought u and everyone who helped me out last night know that i set up a light and talk radio for the night and slept in the kitchen lol. didn’t come back but the ranger came and set up the bear trap right in front of the chicken coop, i let them out for maybe 1 hour today and watched them like a hawk then put them away (they are not impressed with me lol) but hopefully that trap catches him soon as i just got a call today he ripped apart some peoples garbage then went and stalked the pigs at the farm down the road

 

[HerdAndHome]

I keep thinking how fortunate it was for your family to see the bear before you interrupted it eating. I see that as Grace. The whole situation had to be so scary!
Light on and talk radio was a brilliant idea; I am tucking it away just in case.
Good luck with brother bear. The younger males have been kicked out of easy forage range by older, grumpier bears so the young boys have to range farther to get food. We had a black bear in my n'hood 6 weeks ago and I am 8 miles from downtown Atlanta. Crazy.