Freaking bears!

[wncpalm]

We can all agree that the black bear is definitely an omnivore. And if you've got what the bear wants to eat, then you are going to have a hard time keeping him/her out of it.

But at least here in the NC mountains, bears that have a taste for domestic poultry, are few and far between (as in one in 15 years for us). However, most bears in these parts are strongly attracted to poultry food. So if you are a poultry person in bear territory, then your first priority should be to keep your food supply protected - and separate from the poultry themselves.

As illustration #2, I present these photos of a young bear, an apple tree (with lots of apples on the ground), and three Chocolate Palm turkey hens who had escaped their pen.





The turkeys are still talking about their bear encounter, but there were a lot of casualties among the apples!

 

[chickengeorgeto]

.... The people near us with chickens have not had an issue with the bears bothering their chickens yet, but ... If I put bird seed that has peanuts in it out, the bears are there within an hour...

Bears are like everything else in the Universe, bears operate on an effort verses the rewards principle. If a bear can sit on his ample backside and gobble high fat peanuts and high protein chicken feed instead of running down birds like chickens, then that bear will gladly eat peanuts instead of your poultry. If on the other hand there is no chicken feed or other palatable bear food around then the same bear will gladly swallow his pride and work hard at eating your domestic fowl. The problem most bears have with eating chicken is that the bears don't realize what they are missing nor have most bears ever enrolled in chicken stealing 101.

Educate the black bears in your local at your chickens' peril.

While a brown or grizzly bear is many times more powerful than a black bear, the black bear is much more apt to break and enter a residence with the sole intent of eating any human unfortunate enough to be inside, while the vast majority of grizzly attacks are the result of a sudden and unexpected encounter between bear and man.

 

[bluejeans]

back when there was bees i remember as a little tot ,, a feller who kept some hives, in a meadow on the way down to the red ceder river nears
where we lived .. i hated tose bees because they always chased me when i croosed that open field .

one day bright and sunny day i thought i would get even with those bees and knock their house down .. it wernt one of my better ideas..