I am in favor of letting bears live protected in areas where they have lived already before people moved into their territory. When people live in an area with protected wildlife they do need to be the smart ones when it comes to peaceful coexistance. At the same time, when human practices make bears engage in natural behaviors that are unsafe to humans it does become necessary to relocate or destroy a bear.
When there are bears in your backyard it does pose problems trying to feed chickens without attracting the bears since the birds themselves are a food source and not just the feed. I suppose you might need to build a coop and run with cinderblocks to keep hungry bears out. Once they find a food source, they will return for more. Sadly, even pets can become a food source for a bear. Having a safe run for a dog to pee may even be necessary in bear territory.
The only time I have been fearful of a bear was in grizzly territory around Yellowstone. I was breastfeeding my daughter at the time so that made me smell like a food source. I had heard of bears attacking people for using food scented shampoo and there was nothing I could do to not smell like food when I was a source of food for my daughter. We decided not to spend the night in our camper for fear a grizzly would rip it open to get to food so we kept driving until we got out of bear territory. Bears will be bears so people have to be cautious around them.
