Locking them up didn't work! :(

[ChickieDee]

I really don't think a coyote or bobcat can do what you described. Just my humble opinion.

 

[silkiechicken]

Sounds like a bear and if bears can break into houses and cars... making a coop is going to be tough.

 

[tiffanyh]

Put your coop on a pully system and pull it up into a tree at night. (Semi kidding) Isnt that what people do when camping with food and whatnot. To bad you couldnt...... dont bears climb trees anway?

 

[patandchickens]

A quick google on "electric fencing bears" seems to indicate that the consensus is that a) bears need 4,000-8,000 volts of charge on the fence (significantly more than you'd need for stock, coyotes etc), and b) the lowest wire is recommended to be something like 6" from the ground.

I personally would NOT be at ALL comfortable doing that with any children around. No. Having the lowest wire less than 12-18" from the ground really increases the chances of something Bad happening, since it means that a person who gets shocked and drops to the ground could still be contacting the fence and thus be trapped there getting a prolonged series of hard shocks (very bad).

On the other hand, it is quite possible that just one or two strands of electric, higher up but located where the bear would have to touch 'em (preferably with his nose) in order to get at the coop, might be sufficient deterrent. That would be somewhat safer at least.

Your main expense would be the charger, which would be likely to cost between $70-$175 depending on what exactly you use and whether you go battery-op or plug-in (solar would probably not be a good choice here). The cost of the wire, ground rod, insulators and posts is relatively trivial, maybe $40-ish for a 30x30 area but it would depend a lot on what exactly you did.

I wonder whether it would be worth putting up a bear-discouraging height of fence around the whole yard or property... seems to me bears might be a lot more likely to exert themselves to go over/thru a fence if there are chickens directly on the other side than if the chickens are twenty or fifty or a hundred feet distant?

Good luck,

Pat

 

[seminolewind]

Hi, I always had electric fencing for my horses. Go to Americanlivestock.com that's where I've bought it all. You need the "shock machine", which is your biggest expense. Then you need 3-8foot grounding poles to beat into the ground at 8 feet apart. You need a piece of thick wire to fasten to each pole and then to the zapper. You need shock wire, I think aluminum throws a good shock, polytape, a fair shock. And these little yellow insulators that you nail into wood, and they hold the wire away from everything. Just remember, this does stop horses and cows. I would do several rows of wire-the more the better. This wire also stopped the herd of hungry deer that ravaged my garden.
So the zapper is probably around 50-125 bucks, the poles are I think about 15 bucks apiece, the piece of thick wire, cheap, the shock wire, cheap, the yellow wire holder insulators, cheap.
Of course, the pulley on the tree sounds good, but it has to be hanging way out, bears do climb. Karen

 

[BeckyLa]

You could consider, since you only want 4 hens, getting a large wire dog cage and just bringing them in at night, into your home or garage. This would keep them completely out of danger and you wouldn't have to worry about your kids and the electric fence.

 

[emen8]

Thanks for so many replies.

Expanding on patandchicken's ideas, maybe I could put electrified wires just on the top of the coop, around the lid that the bear lifted up. It's about 6 feet off the ground. I'm thinking that would keep the bear away from the top, but I wonder if he'd be persistent enough to attack the coop from another point. If he doesn't give up after getting shocked, even though I think the coop's strong, a 300-500 pound bear would eventually tear anything apart.

Seminolewind, thanks for giving me an idea of cost. Does the idea of electrifying just the top of a coop sound doable? I can see by the scratch marks exactly where the bear grabbed.

BeckyLa, bringing the chickens inside overnight might be the best solution. I'd just have to work out how to care for them when I go away for a few days.

Again, thanks for so many comments and suggestions. I was so depressed thinking that I might not be able to keep chickens again, but I see that there's hope.

 

[Reinbeau]

Of course you need to be wary of an electric fence around children. The problem is now that the bear has had a taste it's going to be difficult to get rid of it. Best to prevent that first incident (I know, too late for you now).

The bear needs to get a snoutfull of 8,000 volts. One of the ways to do this is to bait the wire with, say, sardines. You cut into the sardine can to allow the scent out and attach it to the hot wire (of course the fence is off when you do this). The whole can will be electrified, when the bear bites into it it gets the jolt!.

You could have this baited wire high enough to keep it away from children. On the other hand, if you are usually home and around and about during the day, the bear isn't going to visit. It'll come at night, when the children aren't around. So there is no need to keep the fence electrified when the kids are up. Turn it on at dusk once everyone is in the house.

We're beekeepers, and we have a bear near our apiary up in Maine. So far so good, we think she (it's known to be a sow bear) visited and got a snoutful, judging from the pile of scat about a bear's length away from the fence

 

[Joferd]

Sounds like you have a candidate for a nice new rug...


Seriously, Either you go electrical and zap that sucker, or shoot it.

Once Mr. Bear knows about your hens, he will be back. If he doesn't succeed in getting in the top like last time, he will simply smash through anywhere else.

We lost our black lab to a black bear. He was inside a chain link dog run. Bear simply worked his way in. Too much strength and weight. We had to shoot him as once he knew where our animals were, he was a nightly visitor.

Doug in CA.

 

[Hotwings]

Bears are pretty quick to remember where good pickings are. Another is the bear will probably be going into hibernation soon. It is a sad fact that alot of our bear population has been decreasing due to the fact of the illegal gallbladder trade(where they are used in Asia to treat a number of ailments). Alot of this trade has depleted the bears in Asia, so people have come here. Bears have also been displaced because alot of their habitat has been lost and it is not rare to see them in the suburbs now.