Locking chickens in coop for the night, a neccessity if they have a run?

[MrsRodgers]

No, the suggestion to move the coop is so that it could be wired for electric fence, which works pretty well for bears and other animals with wet noses. I also predicted it would be back. Yes, I would pull an all nighter to eliminate the problem as I am also up at dawn to let the dogs out to protect my own flock, while I'd rather just stay in bed. But then, as you said, you can't kill it and that is fine, it's good to know your limitations. Maybe you can hire a professional and take care of it. Good luck.

I see your point. I thought about where else I could move the coop in order to have an electric fence, and my issue with that is that we live on a mountain. A hole had to be blown in the rock to put this house in. Everywhere around our property is pretty much solid rock with a little dirt on top. To put up an electric fence, I have to be able to drive the stakes into the ground, and that would prove to be difficult, if not impossible. Of course, there are many Ponderosa pines that are sandwiched between all that granite, but they have been there for over a hundred years. The back yard area is the only place that you could even try to get stakes into, as it was part of the big explosion. Now, I may have another idea. You are correct, only an electric fence will stop him. If I cut their yard area down, and put another fence further away from the tank, it would work. They will just have a much smaller yard, which they will just have to learn to deal with. My husband loves that I love my chickens, and he is willing to try and make this work.
We predicted he would be back, too, but we thought we would hear him, as close as we are to the coop. He was a stealth bear, and it's odd that even my dog, who hears everything, wasn't alerted until he actually went back over the fence. Tonight, our friend the hunter will be here in our driveway, which is next to the coop yard. He will pull the all nighter, and see what happens. He has his bear tag, so that will work out. He only has till Sunday to get him. We also have shotguns, but to be honest, I think I would be shaking so hard that I wouldn't be able to take aim. My husband doesn't see well at night, so although he could shoot, the chances of getting him are slim anyway. It would be awful if we just seriously wounded him, and it only ****** him off. We will let this pro take the wheel, and see what happens. Thanks for the good luck, and I hope I haven't offended you with any of my comments..I'm just really frazzled right now.

 

[coolcanoechic]

I wish you luck tonight. I have my fingers crossed for you.

 

[MrsRodgers]

Well, bear season is officially over..and he is still here. I made a nice night coop in my garage under my workbench, and I will be putting the girls in it every night till the bears go to sleep. He came this morning at 6am, and only got in the run before we spooked him and he got back out. I don't think he knew the girls were not in there..he was only there for about 15 seconds. We went to get an electric fence yesterday, hoping that there was some way to do it without driving rods 6 feet into the ground..and were told there was not. We have a rep for a fence company that is supposed to call us, to see if he has any ideas.
Now that the girls have to go in the garage every night, does anyone have any thoughts on that? As in, egg laying, or stress (although it's better than being eaten by a bear) or the like?

 

[MarineCorpFarmr]

If all else fails, a 12g is still loud as hell. warning shots may be your best bet when/if you catch him around again.

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

I don't understand why the electric fence insulators cannot be attached to the existing structure? All you need to do is the coop and run...but the bear is not going to give up because he has had a kill there. He is now a nuisance as well as a menance an your local authorities are obligated to remove it. Yes, talk with the fence rep, all that needs to go into the ground is the ground wire,not all the insulators that hold the fence....if you have electricity you have ground wires on our property. Seriously, if trees a will there's a way.

 

[MarineCorpFarmr]

run enough hot wire and cause enough pain, he'll look for an easier meal. Ive got a parmak 50+ mile charger running my lines. with 5 miles of wire run in 6 strands i hold steady at 17kV. as for the ground rods we have 3 6' copper rods in the ground 10' apart. if you have enough area to do that you should be good to go.

 

[Nancygardens]

Has any one tried a bear trap?

I live in town and the cougars are bad this year three are in the area eating dogs, cats, and have attacked horses fish & game vowed to hunt 'em till they got them. Wishing you luck.

 

[MrsRodgers]

A 12 gauge works as long as you are at home. If I need to leave, those chickens are fair game. In order to have an electric fence, you have to have it grounded, which means there must be grounding rods, 3 of them, driven vertically at least 6 feet into the ground. The ground has to be damp for the electricity to travel properly, and when you live in the mountains, where it is very dry, that's a problem. The only way to do that here is to drill through rock, at a great expense, and that's not happening. Yes, we have electricity in our house..but there is only one grounding rod, and it is located in the front, far from the coop area. Improper grounding will cause the fence to malfunction, and if it's not going to work, why spend the money? Believe me, I have spoken to several companies, and an electric fence is just not feasible here. Now, I have a friend who swears that he can make a fence out of a battery..he said they do it in the Czech Republic as a rule. We will attempt it this weekend, and see what happens. I have another friend who is in the alarm business, and he is bringing me something to sound an alarm. The bear has been absent now for 3 days, but I am sure we will see him again. Another guy said he put a boom box in the coop and played talk radio..and the bears stayed away.

 

[MrsRodgers]

Hold the phone, there may be a way...after several phone calls, and some more research..grounding rounds can also be buried horizontally. If we dig as far down as we can, and bury them in a trench, they will still work, as long as there is some moisture there. I'll let you all know what happens...

 

[RiddleMe]

Hold the phone, there may be a way...after several phone calls, and some more research..grounding rounds can also be buried horizontally. If we dig as far down as we can, and bury them in a trench, they will still work, as long as there is some moisture there. I'll let you all know what happens...

That was going to be my suggestion, I have horizontal grounding rods, buried about 1 foot ( it's solid rock below that). They work well, I did run a hose sprinkler to the area to water the ground every couple weeks because we also live in a dry area.