Black Bears

[dawj]

I have a few black bear that love the neighborhood bird feeders do i have to worry about chickens with deer and bear?

 

[darbella]

Quote:
I live in SOuthern NH and there have been several of the chicken people in the area that had their coops demolished by bears. Some wrote on here about it with pictues so maybe if you did a search you can see that bears like chicken...well, I think it is the feed that attracts them first.

 

[Emmalion]

Funny you brought this up. I have one that actually surprised me the other day. It lost its fear of humans and came right into the yard with people in it then proceeded to growl at them like they were not supposed to be there. Nothing a few shots into the air didn't take care of but now I have to worry about my chickens.

Lets just say if I see this guy again he is going down and I will have a brand new fuzzy rug to roll in.

 

[CMV]

In a word- yes. Black bears are opportunists. They will be attracted to your chickens by the smell of feed, but then discover an easy protein dish readily available, and make a try for it. An electric fence is your friend in an area where bears are present. I have bears, but have never been hit. I like to think its because
a) I don't leave feed out at night. Very particular about that because I have rodent issues.
b) I have an electric fence around all my poultry.
Between those two things I have managed to live in an area where bears are prevalent and not been hit by them in 4 years.

Good luck. And wish me continued good luck with mine.

 

[okieinalaska]

CMV, can you tell me more about your electric fence? What kind is it and do you have any photos of your set up?

 

[MysticScorpio82]

Quote:

I second all the above!

 

[sourland]

I agree with all the advice given in regard to the bears. Since deer are vegetarians, your chickens are in no danger from them.

 

[CMV]

Quote:
I use Premier I poultry netting on a solar charger. I have a couple different capacity chargers depending on how much fencing I am running at the moment. I also like to bait my fences with little tinfoil packets of peanut butter. By baiting the fence you ensure that anything sniffing around is going to hit the fence nose first and get the full effect of the fence with the first pass. My electric fence is the second line of defense. I have a permanent fence made of hardware cloth and welded wire with a hardware cloth apron and a deer netting top as my first line. Can you tell I have a few predators in my area? So far, so good. Nothing has gotten in, yet.

 

[Yardbirds286]

I have seen bears in our yard every year, and with a hot wire run around the top and bottom of the run I have had no problems. (Knocking on wood!!) I also bring the grain in EVERY night. The grain will bring them in just like a wild bird feeder. I got the entire set up at TSC for little to nothing for peace of mind. Our charger plugs into the house off an extension cord. We used 2" insulators on our woven wire fence with 14g wire 8" from the top, and 6" off the ground. No problems with bears, coons, coyotes, or dogs yet. Works like a charm all winter long even buried in snow.

 

[dawj]

What if the chickens touch the elect. fence?