Does anyone have to keep bears away from your coop?

[chickengeorgeto]

Someone beat me to the bacon strips, and those must be some hungry neighbors.

The salt maks bacon a very good conductor of electricity. You'll be able to shock the bear on it's moist, wet, and sensitive nose, mouth, lips, and tongue. What's not to like?

 

[Sara Ranch]

There is at least one bear that lives on my property. They come close to the animal houses (based on the location of the bear scat).

My dogs bark loudly. The dogs like to poop near the bear scat. (We dogs also want to roll in the bear scat...I dont let them.).

I am outside often.

This spring/summer I hope to make the perimeter fence between pastures and the open area where the animals are. I hope it helps in the big picture. .

Things will probably be fine. The more you do, like fencing and electrifying it, will help. Something that makes loud noises will help.

 

[auntiesocial]

We have bears, we run electric fence, and use bear unwelcome mats. Google will give you designs.

 

[Howard E]

There are a lot of things you could hang on a fence to attract the notice of a bear.

Some years ago I went with a group of Boy Scouts on a trek through Philmont Ranch in NM. Bears are plentiful there. Our group had one pass through our line of hikers and another of our hikers was confronted by a bear in our camp from a distance of less than 5 feet. That one had been attracted to a washed sleeping bag.....washed as the kid who was in it blew chunks from altitude sickness. So the bear had been attracted by the smell of vomit.

When we got there, we were given a list of so called "smellables".....things that would attract the notice of a bear. At night, all "smellables" went into a bear bag that was hoisted over 20 feet in the air. Kids of all ages......ahem....not me of course but some of those other adult kids......were warned NOT to try sneaking food of any kind into their tent, unless they yearned to have a bear rip open the side of their tent at night to check out what potentially tasty smellable item might be found inside. Anyway, the list was long.....and included just about everything organic or scented. Chapstick.......Kodak film canisters.......chewing gum.....toothpaste.....anything. Remarkably they tended to not be attracted to smelly kids and adults.

One reason why salty bacon might be good is because the salt acts as a preservative......the bacon strip is likely to dry out without going rancid. You could do the same thing with any type of meat stick, salami or even a slim jim. Or a piece of lean meat or raw, fatty chicken skin that had been dredged in salt to preserve it, then hung on the wire to dry where it will stick like glue. It will dry down there just like a dry cured salami.

Bears, dogs, coyotes, coons, cats and any of their cousins wandering through the area are going to smell it and almost certainly lick it, upon which they get their lips fried. In my case, 13,000 volts worth. Ouch.

 

[Howard E]

Go ahead.......make my day.