Well, last night around midnight I could hear some pretty loud banging sounds. Since we had some thunder a littler earlier I first thought that's what the sound was. Only it didn't sound quite right. I open up the front door to look outside and recognized the sound coming from the back yard. Then it hit me, bear! I walk out the back door and shine my light and notice quite a bit of damage to my coops and then see a fairly large bear standing next to one of the coops trying to rip the roof off! I start yelling and waving my arms as I walk toward it. Surprisingly for a bear it ends up walking right toward me rather then running away. Believe it or not I first contemplated between camera and gun, well I chose camera. When I went back out it was gone. Unfortunately it returned again later that night and since I had stayed up for a few hours afterward it must of been real late and it did more damage to my small coop and ripped the roof right off. When all was said and done I ended up loosing a bunch of eggs that were laid yesterday afternoon but it appears that all the birds are still there . The funny thing is that my dogs were out just a little earlier in the kennel and started flipping out. I went outside to bring them in because I thought it was another rabbit and in reality it must of been the bear.
I'm so sorry about your beautiful coop. Bears are really destructive! I have never had a bear around here, but I saw another coop totally destroyed by one on here a few days ago. I am glad your chickens are OK. And your dogs and YOU!!
We have the occasional bear out my way, too - my avatar pic was taken in our front yard. I figure I can coyote-proof and raccoon-proof fairly well, but not sure what to do about bears. They're just so strong! Sorry to hear about the eggs and coop, but I'm glad the chickens seem to be ok.
WOW! I'll bet it will be back for more now too. You walked TOWARDS a bear? I'm sorry, but, chickens can be replaced... you can't. Be careful out there!
Quote:I need to try and repair the pop door on one of the coops before tonight, it wont stop the bear but will keep out everything else. The small coop is trashed. I was going to replace it with a larger one anyways but I just wasn't planning on it right away.I'm thinking I need to start using an electric fence around my coops.
Glad the birds are ok, eggs can be layed,,, don't walk towards bears,, it's early in the season and they are hungry.
Quote:Thanks. We have quite a few around hear but I never had a problem with them and my chickens. I'm thinking since they just came out of hibernation it happened upon a good protein source and tried to capitalize on it.
Quote:I was thinking along the same lines. I wouldn't trying getting between a bear and a food source. Even if it was my chickens. Be careful.
Wow! I'm glad he didn't take any of your chickens. And I'm glad that's worse than anything I'll ever see from predators here in Arizona!
Next time, grab your gun, please! A friend of mine live in the mountains of NY, 220 acres. She and her husband came home to find that a bear had broken down one of their doors to their home, their 3 dogs are missing and the bear trashed their pantry. The bear also destroyed their bird feeders and deer feeders looking for food. The pictures she sent me were unbelievable! I'd keep the gun handy just in case. Good luck! Laurie
