Killer bear!!! Advice needed

[Hensndoes]

....That was Smooth....

Not really. But. We have tons of hawks here and if you are freeranging it's only a matter of time. Roo will go to the pot eventually as I have 3 but if someone could benefit from having one that would be a feelgood moment for me. I've yet to lose a bird thanks to the boys.

 

[Pamelajfilby]

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?

sorry... not interested at this time. I like having just hens.

 

[microchick]

As for hot wire and chickens. Does it bother the chickens? Well, let me put it this way, I have a bantam hen called Sparkles NOT because she is a firecracker. When she was a fledgling, she managed to squeeze through the chain link fence.....just because she could......and when I found her she was trying to get back in but kept hitting the hot wire. She was dancing on it quite literally and when I picked her up I could smell singed feathers. I checked her feet and skin over two or three times. No damage. But her excursion earned her the name of Sparkles.

Now I watch and the young birds will inevitably stick their heads through the fence in a quest for a tasty morsel they see but once their beaks make contact with the wire that habit ends.

I finally netted the bottom two feet of my run and that ended the problem both of young birds escaping and heads through the fence. So if you are using a hot wire, I suggest that if your fencing is chain link, or something the birds can stick their heads through, you do the same.

Does it hurt them? No lasting damage but it is uncomfortable for them as it will be for dogs or wild life that tests it.....even for you if you somehow make contact but hey, good way to tell that your fence is working.

 

[chickens really]

As for hot wire and chickens. Does it bother the chickens? Well, let me put it this way, I have a bantam hen called Sparkles NOT because she is a firecracker. When she was a fledgling, she managed to squeeze through the barbed wire fence.....just because she could......and when I found her she was trying to get back in but kept hitting the hot wire. She was dancing on it quite literally and when I picked her up I could smell singed feathers. I checked her feet and skin over two or three times. No damage. But her excursion earned her the name of Sparkles.

Now I watch and the young birds will inevitably stick their heads through the fence in a quest for a tasty morsel they see but once their beaks make contact with the wire that habit ends.

I finally netted the bottom two feet of my run and that ended the problem both of young birds escaping and heads through the fence. So if you are using a hot wire, I suggest that if your fencing is chain link, or something the birds can stick their heads through, you do the same.

Does it hurt them? No lasting damage but it is uncomfortable for them as it will be for dogs or wild life that tests it.....even for you if you somehow make contact but hey, good way to tell that your fence is working.

Around here, Alberta and more north of me..Its not used close to the Birds or livestock but as a perimeter around it..

 

[microchick]

We have too many critters that can jump over a fence set at 6-12 inches and then gain access to the run fence. Fox especially. I have my hotwire attached to yellow insulators like this:

I also use insulators that are shorter so the hot wire is at varying widths from the fence. Also varying heights.That way if anything tries to dig under the fence or tries to step over, they are going to make contact and change their minds. So far this set up has worked very well for me.

I'm planning to add a second hot wire at about the top of my 6 foot panels just to insure that nothing is going to get over the fence if by some chance they make it past the bottom wire.

Around here, a lot of the farmers use temporary insulator polls and run hot wire tape through the hole to make temporary corrals for animals to graze down tall grass. Seriously speaking if I was dealing with a bear, I would go this route, mounting the poles and tape 4 foot out from my run and coop so larger animals would make contact with it before they did the hot wire around the coop and run.

 

[Folly's place]

Premier1supplies has good information and products, even for (against!) bears! Multiple strands of hot wire and a very good charger, or two, always on. Mine here in non-bear (so far) country gives 9J, a very nice jolt. Mary

 

[Folly's place]

I wouldn't use the flimsy step-in posts, rather solid attachments, against a solid wall or chain-link, so the bear has to at least pause rather than just charge through. Mary

 

[microchick]

Good point. Bears are not cows or horses.

But would the step in posts work for an outer parameter fence? There are step ins out there that have different levels that you can put your wire or tape. And would tape work with bears or would they 'see' it and avoid it where as with wire they may not see it and be more likely to stumble into it.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

While we are cussing & discussing the pros and cons of electric fences, remember to use a very good copper clad (copper coated) ground rod with clamps like electricians use to attach the negative side of your fence charger to the ground rod. This becomes especially important if you live in an arid region.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

While we are cussing & discussing the pros and cons of electric fences, remember to use a very good copper clad (copper coated) ground rod with clamps like electricians use to ground the negative side of your fence charger. This becomes especially important if you live in an arid region.

Or if you get lightning. We have had fencers blown out by lightning.