Killer bear!!! Advice needed

[theoldchick]

There is always bear season......

 

[oregonkat]

I live in rural southern Oregon and we have black bears here all the time. I have lost countless chickens to them and only last year secured my coop so that it looks like a bomb shelter. There are steel cattle panels as walls, and metal roofing lined up along the bottom edge secured with huge bolts, and 4 hot wire cables that run around the entire thing. All that being said, I have my chickens in a run in the garden so that they can free range during the day and come home to roost at night inside the coop behind an automatic door. I came home in August to find the bear sitting in the run outside the coop waiting for the door to open. The fence to the run was completely crushed down and she had figured out the timing on the door and was aware that there were no people about. My husband heard me yelling and came running with the rifle, fired some shots and scared her away. Needless to say, the hotwire now runs all the way around the run too! My advice, lots of hot wire, the bears big paw pads cause the shock to be very effective, a very strongly built coop and an automatic door if the chickens have a run. This year seems to be a big bear year!

 

[itsasmallfarm]

bears, one of the few animals i am terrified of running into. (have the odd/rare to see a bear where i live)
like i was told the only bear to fear is the one you see.

how ever i would shot the thing. (if you legally can). we had a bear this year attack our garden (never saw the thing but saw the prints).

ps. i heard bears are really tasty game animals if they eat berry's/not garbage or fish. i plan on hunting one this coming spring to eat it.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Hot wire! Electric fence charger and wire up the coop and run..... They make ones of different strength. I use a hot wire with a charger designed to zap a dog to keep my bird dogs away from my chickens. Very effective tool. Oh and I do wish the circumstances were better.

Get a charger with enough Jolts to burn a wet mule, then only use barbed wire instead of high tensile or "slick" electric fence wire. The barbs on barbed wire tend to get down in amongst the fur and next to the skin on Fuzzy Wuzzy the Bear. Thus barbed wire tends to negate the electrical insulating value of bear fur on "slick" wire.

Finally bait up the hot wires by wrapping salt cured bacon around them. Bears love bacon better than Alton Brown. When they go to nibbling the bacon off the wire Mr. Bear will get a good shock. Most animals with an IQ higher than pond scum will remember where they got zapped and in the future give that area a wide berth. Isn't that what you want?

 

[Abriana]

Use hardware cloth on the coop instead of chicken wire, which not only a bear but a fox can easily rip/bite through. Electric fences are definitely needed for keeping bears out.

 

[21hens-incharge]

Seriously.... There is NO wire fencing that does not cost a bajillion dollars that a bear cannot demolish.

Fence chargers and a serious zap really do make an impression on a predator.

I wonder if the charger for bull pens would be enough......

 

[Mr Pink]

Seriously.... There is NO wire fencing that does not cost a bajillion dollars that a bear cannot demolish.

THIS ^^^

I lived In south Arkansas for a dozen year ... Had a hunting camp just outside the White River Refuge ( bear central ) Had a camp house and with a cook shed next to it and we were always careful to take any food that would attract bears with us when we left EXCEPT when one jackwagon member left two bags of corn in the cookshed .... Went back three days later and a bear(s)had tore the siding off one of the outside walls !

If a bear sets his mind to get in and is not disturbed aint NO wire, wood or siding going to stop them ... spikes and electric is a good first line of defence.

 

[getaclue]

3 words. Ready, aim, fire.

 

[Hensndoes]

I live in the lakes region in NH. We have a small flock of chicken (had 8)
Their coop is in a totally secured yard but we let the out during the day to free range.
Tuesday night we had a bear break in to their yard when we had no motion lights working due to the storm. It pulled fencing down to get The yard. Then it ripped chicken wire off the smaller yard around the coop. It smashed in the glass window and ripped the doors right off the hinges. Ripped shingles off the roof!! It was the most violent predator attack I've personally seen.
We have no evidence that one was killed but we have one chicken missing. I've searched everywhere and can find no remains. We know for sure it was a bear because of the paw prints and claw marks everywhere and a giant mound of poops in the yard filled with chicken feed.
I never imagined a bear would kill a chicken or be this violent.
Has anyone ever experienced this? I'm devastated.
Also I have one little girl who's been hiding in a hen box since. I picked her up today and noticed her chest is bare of feathers. She seems ok other than that as she makes sweet noises when I pet her. She's alert and oriented. Just lost a ton of feathers. I'm so worried about her. Any advice or thoughts would be appreciated.

Sorry that happened! You're not far from me so makes me nervous as I know there have been bears on our hill. Like the previous advice here says, we do use an electric fence as we also have goats. I'm not sure that would help so much in a bear situation but I'd like to think so. It doesn't bother the chickens at all. Must be the feathers insulate them when they crawl under it. We also leave our dogs out a better part of the day which is a pretty good deterrent.

Shameless plug: any chance you're interested in a pretty and sweet cockerel to protect your ladies as you freerange?

 

[chickens really]

Sorry that happened! You're not far from me so makes me nervous as I know there have been bears on our hill. Like the previous advice here says, we do use an electric fence as we also have goats. I'm not sure that would help so much in a bear situation but I'd like to think so. It doesn't bother the chickens at all. Must be the feathers insulate them when they crawl under it. We also leave our dogs out a better part of the day which is a pretty good deterrent.

Shameless plug: any chance you're interested in a pretty and sweet cockerel to protect your ladies as you freerange?

....That was Smooth....