Do BEARS bother chickens?

[rhodiegal]

I know someone who had a black bear break through the wall of a wood shed to get chicken food. Oddly, the bear left the chickens alone!

We had black bears that would come near to our house and were not scared of us or our black lab who would stand 20 feet away from it and bark its head off. I was worried about the kids and the chickens, so to make long story short, we now have a Great Pyrenees and have not seen a bear since.

 

[Clay In Iowa]

By "bother" do yo mean 'kill, mangle and Eat'. If so then yes they have been known to "bother" chickens.

 

[texaschickmama]

Um, do bears poo in the woods? My guess would be yes, they will eat your chickens. I would also keep my kids inside unless I was there with a large gun.

 

[Ducklove334]

black bears are mainly vegitarians, not like grizzlies, they eat alot of grass and fruit and berries this time of year, they're trying to get fat back up after raising cubs, they wouldn't want to waste the engery trying to get at chickens, they'll eat the feed yes.

so long as he's leaving you alone, leave him alone, and enjoy the sights of nature, I'd love to see some bears around here, I know we've got them.

 

[Zookeeper9000]

Quote:
Not sure where you heard that black bears are mainly vegitarians, but they will eat anything they find and meat is just as high on their favorite food list as berries and veggies. My brother raised them for years. I have them here and see them every week, any thing dead on the sides of the road is dragged to the ditch and eaten. I have an electric fence around my chickens and watch my grandkids very close when they are here.

We also had a local guy who was a bear expert and he gave a 5 hour talk once a year at a local banquet. In his studies they would pick meat over veggies and fruit every time. I sat thru 8 years of those speaches.

No disrespect meant, just thought I would share what I have seen first hand as well as what I was shown by an expert 8 years straight.

 

[skeeter03]

small bear is even worse - could be a baby not yet away from mama and that means mama is not to far away. or it could be one that has just left his mama and doesnt have all the hunting skills developed yet and will go for the easy meal of your chickens - or your kids or garbage - just be careful with bears.

 

[peepsquad]

I woke up at 7:30 christmas morning to find my rooster all loopy wandering around the backyard wobbly. Couldn't figure out how he got out (looking thru the window in the back door) until I saw the HUGE gaping hole in the side of the coop. Yeah my rooster survived, and 2 of his lady's and 5 of his children, but they got 8 of the adult females. He must have fought for hours. After picking up what was left of the eight, lets see, heads, legs/thighs he ripped off the body, and the wings, I buried them. Only to go in and take a shower to get ready for family that was coming over to eat. Before the snacks were served he was spotted in our front yard, then as we were starting to eat our christmas dinner, there he was in the front yard again. Ok, we live in Florida, so most of our lives are spent on our huge screened in front porch, great view of the ONF. The coop is not more that 50 ft from our backdoor. Before the day was over the bear had been spotted around our house a total of 5 times. We can't kill him, its not legal here. They say to lock up your chickens, and your garbage. Ok, understandable, no problem we have been, but this bear ripped the whole section of the wall down and just had a feast I guess. Today we got an electric fence, says its enough for a bull, we got the 25 mile package, to do a 10X20 coop. The chickens have been living in the house the past 2 nights, tonight is there first night back out there. I hope the fence works. I kept hoping I'd hear him squeal or something when he went back to check it out, so far nothing. I keep checking on them with a flashlight from the back window. I can see all of them sleeping peacefully. I know I can't keep watch all night, and I don't know what will happen if I wake up tomorrow and have to re-live that all over again. I will be looking for rock salt or something for the shotgun I guess. They say I can't kill him, but I'm guessing I could start puttin' a hurtin' on him every time I see untill I just don't see him anymore. So anyway, thanks for letting me vent, some how it does feel better.

 

[peepsquad]

my siggy picture, yeah they got her too. My all time favorite hen. It just sucks.

 

[zazouse]

I woke up at 7:30 christmas morning to find my rooster all loopy wandering around the backyard wobbly. Couldn't figure out how he got out (looking thru the window in the back door) until I saw the HUGE gaping hole in the side of the coop. Yeah my rooster survived, and 2 of his lady's and 5 of his children, but they got 8 of the adult females. He must have fought for hours. After picking up what was left of the eight, lets see, heads, legs/thighs he ripped off the body, and the wings, I buried them. Only to go in and take a shower to get ready for family that was coming over to eat. Before the snacks were served he was spotted in our front yard, then as we were starting to eat our christmas dinner, there he was in the front yard again. Ok, we live in Florida, so most of our lives are spent on our huge screened in front porch, great view of the ONF. The coop is not more that 50 ft from our backdoor. Before the day was over the bear had been spotted around our house a total of 5 times. We can't kill him, its not legal here. They say to lock up your chickens, and your garbage. Ok, understandable, no problem we have been, but this bear ripped the whole section of the wall down and just had a feast I guess. Today we got an electric fence, says its enough for a bull, we got the 25 mile package, to do a 10X20 coop. The chickens have been living in the house the past 2 nights, tonight is there first night back out there. I hope the fence works. I kept hoping I'd hear him squeal or something when he went back to check it out, so far nothing. I keep checking on them with a flashlight from the back window. I can see all of them sleeping peacefully. I know I can't keep watch all night, and I don't know what will happen if I wake up tomorrow and have to re-live that all over again. I will be looking for rock salt or something for the shotgun I guess. They say I can't kill him, but I'm guessing I could start puttin' a hurtin' on him every time I see untill I just don't see him anymore. So anyway, thanks for letting me vent, some how it does feel better.

Put some raw bacon on the fence the bear will get a quick lesson about eletric fence when it tries to eat the bacon.

Sorry for all your losses.

 

[animals1981]

you will be okay he is probably just passing through my friend shoots off fire crackers usually scares them away and yes bears eat very lil meat