# Bear question



## egrogan (Jun 1, 2011)

Yes. This summer a black bear pulled a solid wooden sliding barn door straight off the front of my barn to get into a closed metal garbage can full of chicken scratch. He appeared to favor the black oil sunflower seeds, as he left the cracked corn behind. We hot wired the barn with a ridiculously large charger and that ended his summer visits.


----------



## ACinATX (Sep 12, 2018)

egrogan said:


> Yes. This summer a black bear pulled a solid wooden sliding barn door straight off the front of my barn to get into a closed metal garbage can full of chicken scratch. He appeared to favor the black oil sunflower seeds, as he left the cracked corn behind. We hot wired the barn with a ridiculously large charger and that ended his summer visits.




Darn darn darn.

Good to know I need to plan for it, though. I wonder, if I put the feed in a "bear-proof" container, if that would contain the smell and maybe keep them out.


----------



## egrogan (Jun 1, 2011)

Around here everyone pretty much says the only deterrent is really hot wire, and I didn't want to risk finding out because I worried the next visit, he'd skip the sunflower seeds and go for my chickens, who live in a separate "screen porch" off the back of the barn.


----------



## ACinATX (Sep 12, 2018)

Yeah, I'm trying to work out a way to have a chicken run, ideally set up off the barn so they could go in at night. I was thinking I'd hot wire the chicken run itself and then make the door to the barn too small for a bear to get into. Or a mountain lion. Or a coyote. Still worried about raccoons and foxes, though -- raccoons got our chickens here, and I can tell you that death by raccoon is NOT pretty.


----------



## WildestDandelion (Apr 4, 2019)

When I worked in wildlife rehab, one summer i had issues with a mama raccoon who kept getting in my barred owl enclosure. I agree, not pretty at all. Until we managed to trap her, we kept finding owl parts in their water bowls.


----------



## ACinATX (Sep 12, 2018)

WildestDandelion said:


> When I worked in wildlife rehab, one summer i had issues with a mama raccoon who kept getting in my barred owl enclosure. I agree, not pretty at all. Until we managed to trap her, we kept finding owl parts in their water bowls.


Exactly.


----------



## egrogan (Jun 1, 2011)

Well, if your chickens will have a run, well-installed hardware cloth on a solid frame, with a buried skirt and a solid roof, goes a long way to keeping out foxes, coyotes, and raccoons, and hot wire around the outside of that is helpful for the bigger visitors. Minks/weasels can exploit even the smallest holes and I'm not sure there's a fool-proof way to avoid them if they're determined.


----------



## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

egrogan said:


> Well, if your chickens will have a run, well-installed hardware cloth on a solid frame, with a buried skirt and a solid roof, goes a long way to keeping out foxes, coyotes, and raccoons, and hot wire around the outside of that is helpful for the bigger visitors. Minks/weasels can exploit even the smallest holes and I'm not sure there's a fool-proof way to avoid them if they're determined.


Weasels were described to me as "furry hotdogs with teeth". I had a hard time getting that image out of my mind ....


----------



## ACinATX (Sep 12, 2018)

Furry EVIL hotdogs with teeth.


----------

