Locking them up didn't work! :(

[patandchickens]

Quote:
Remember an electric fence only works if you are also touching the (or "a") ground when you touch the hot wire. If the bear's up on top of the coop, as he'd almost have to be in order to get zapped by a wire 6' in the air, he is unlikely to be well enough grounded to get much of a shock. You could wire all your coop mesh to a ground pole, but what if he's mostly standing on the wooden frame? A neutral wire strung a foot or two away from the hot wire and wired to a ground rod *might* work (making it a positive-neutral fence instead of a "regular" electric fence) but honestly those fences don't really work as well as "regular" ones, especially since in this case it'd be hard to guarantee the bear touched both wires simultaneously.

I think you really SHOULDN'T use shockwire, electric twine or aluminum wire. They are so weak they can virtually be broken by human hand. One swipe from a bear, or just a bear bumping carelessly into them, and *ping* no more electric fence. (I use them to horseproof my wooden fences precisely because they're weak and a horse is unlikely to get hurt if he gets tangled in them... but therefore I know just how easy it is to break through them). Use electric rope or electrobraid, although unfortunately they cost more, or at least a relatively large-gauge (strong) steel wire, which would be cheaper.

Quote:
Gee, bears can break into peoples' houses. It might be real hard to bearproof a coop. OTOH, if you could build it strong enough, you could just make sure they had enough indoor room that they could stay inside 24/7 if you had to go away for a few days.

I still think if you intercepted bears before they got near the coop, they'd be a lot less likely to get excited enough about chicken dinner to bother breaking in. Me, I'd probably try to run a fence around as large a portion of yard as I could afford and was convenient -- even just a page-wire (farm fence) fence -- then run a couple of lines of "regular" electric at maybe 3,000-4,000 volts along the outer top of the fence.

The idea would be to slow the bear down and get him to poke his head up to look/climb over the fence, whereupon he gets popped in the snoot by the electricity and thinks "ow, that hurt! Well, I don't see anything especially exciting on the other side of the snout-biting fence so I suppose I'll trundle off elsewhere". This avoids the dangers of very high voltages and low-hung wires.

You might talk to the folks at www.premier1supplies.com and see if they have any suggestions, they sell lots of really good-quality electric fence stuff and are good at advice.

Good luck,

Pat

 

[skatcatla]

Here's some information I found that might be helpful to you. There are phone numbers you can call; they might be able to tell you what kind of electric fencing you need.

It's a good point about the chicken feed too. If you are keeping that in the coop, maybe you can just bring THAT inside so bears don't smell it in the future.

I agree with pp about not getting new chickens right away too.

http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache...en+coops+from+bears&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=12&gl=us

 

[nccountrygirl]

How about Barbed wire strung every few inches or so, or razor wire like they use around prisons. Good Luck

 

[rufus]

I hate to say it, but if you have small children, it may be best not to keep animals that will draw the bear to your property. Bears don't make a distinction between domestic animals and people. Meat is meat.

Avoid putting up bird feeders or leaving your barbeque grill out. Don't feed pets outside, and don't leave water outside. Keep the garbage in the garage or shed away from the house.

Buy your eggs and honey at the store rather than risk having a problem with the bears. It is a small price to pay in comparison to losing a child.

Rufus

 

[seminolewind]

I'm not sure what is going to help, and where is the best place to put the wire because we don't know how big and aggressive the bear is, and whether he will continue to try. I like the suggestion from other members that you may need to bring them in at night, and/or build a coop on wheels. If you are good with a shot gun, you might try a baby monitor in your coop and next to your bed, run out and shoot the bear. But don't let him see you, he will start to just avoid you. Karen

 

[emen8]

If I had to decide right now what to do, my inclination is to check into prices of electric fencing for the top of the coop. If it's not too expensive, I'd bait it as annbal suggested (without chickens inside) and see if the bear learns to avoid it. I just wonder if he would be persistent enough after getting a shock to try to attack the coop from a different angle. I'd like to avoid electrifying at ground level. I have kids, and although the coop is in the woods about 30 feet from the house, and although I could just turn the power on at night, I don't want to take the chance.

I'm also looking for a large pet carrier to keep the hens in overnight. We have enough room in the basement for them. When we travel, the car will be out of the garage and I could come up with some type of run they could use in the garage for a few days. This would be incentive to build a tractor on wheels so I could let the hens graze in different parts of our lawn from time to time, instead of the permanent run.

I'm not going to get new pullets now, while I digest all this information.

 

[bantymum]

I guess a battery powered radio playing rap music in the coop wont help or would it????
heck, the bear may even start dancing to it.
I really hope you have a good outcome.

 

[Scrambled Egg]

Being an urban chicken owner I can't relate (hardly believe!) that a bear of all things!, got your chickens. Good grief, that is so scary. I have no idea what would bear proof a chicken pen but I have one part that is roofed and shingled and one part that we used those large plastic sheeting pieces from Home Depot on and the top is basically solid. You can nail through the plastic, which we did, into the two by fours under it. It keeps the rain out and I think it would prevent predators. I'll try to take somepics when I get home from work this evening and show you. Good luck and so sorry for your loss.

 

[seminolewind]

Hi, I might also try baiting the whole outer coop with rat traps, setting them off might scare him away.

 

[horsewishr]

I have a friend in CO who has chickens. She HAD a bear problem, but somehow hooked up electric wire and a PEPPER SPRAY dispenser around her coop. As far as I know, she hasn't had any problems since. If you're interested in details, I could try to call her tomorrow and ask about the pepper spray.