# Will black bears break into a coop/duckhouse?



## Runestone (Jan 7, 2007)

I have a momma bear and yearling cub hanging around in our hayfields. Sometime last night they came closer and were around the duckhouse...It's brand new, and built very well - Any chance they might try to break in? I know they will break into sheds for garbage but are my ducks safe?


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## chickenista (Mar 24, 2007)

Theoretically.. yes.
In the goat forum there is a thread about a bear that broke down the barn to get 4 goat kids.
But, if you were to put a radio out in the barn or in the yard near the barn and maybe some flashing christmas type ligts etc.. the bears will get the message that your place is a bad, bad place with too much noise and too much light.
maybe.
Now, I lived in bear country for quite awhile and never had a bear problem and I ahve friends that still live there and they have had no problems either..knock on wood.


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## Sanza (Sep 8, 2008)

Yes they can rip apart a building to get food if they are hungry. Never underestimate an wild animal especially a bear with cubs. Call your local game wardens to set traps for them because they are a danger to humans as well as animals if they are hanging around, and if they're prowling around farm buildings they must be either very hungry or very brave.
They would live trap and relocate them....


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## fordson major (Jul 12, 2003)

i would get an electric fencer and run as many wires as you can ! was up near Eganville last week and saw a bear out by the road plus saw one near Pembroke the week before, more bears than i had seen i the last 40 years! with things being a little behind they must be getting hungry! depends on the bear, but most don't seem scared of radio! (maybe if you put cfra and Lowell Green on but not sure you could get that station that far up!) play safe with bears, they play for keeps!


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## jen74145 (Oct 31, 2006)

Eek.
Bears, with cubs, in the early spring when food is still scarce-ish, come upon a wooden shed... full of fat, sedentary living meat... and all they have to do is destroy a bit of wood to get at the lovely dinner inside?
I would be very nervous, yes. Not just for your ducks, but a predatory animal is not afraid of your presence/your dogs.


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## Runestone (Jan 7, 2007)

I should be more clear about the 'hanging around'....they graze through the fields then head for the bush. I have bears every year but they haven't come close to the house until this year. 

I haven't had time to check with the neighbours to see if they've had any issues-I'll give them a call tonight.

Ford Major - I was thinking of some electronet fencing when I get some sheep...maybe I'll just order some now.


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## Elsbet (Apr 2, 2009)

Yep, they sure will.
When I lived in Maine, we had one try to get into our chicken house. I could see it from my bedroom window (it was night) and yelled down to my dad, "There's a big dog trying to get into the hens!" He ran out with his pistol, and then came back in a few minutes later glaring at me.

A few years later a friend of mine a few miles away had one break into her sheep barn and kill some of her finns.  Black bears are very, very strong, and can sometimes have little or no fear of man, so be careful with yours.


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

At the very least I would remove all food and food remnants every evening.

A recording of a barking dog triggered by a motion sensor would help but I would be running some hot electric fencing on the coop. Then put some peanut butter smeared tinfoil on the lower wires to educate them.


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## mooman (May 19, 2008)

I've seen several shows on bears although no personal experience. They always deal with them the same way....pyrotechnics. bottle rockets, mortors, M80s fired from a slingshot even would probably scare them off (as long as things aren't too dry there). I would be torn between setting up a photo blind and scaring them off to keep the birds safe.

I say either scare her off now, or resign your self to the *possibility* of a disaster. What I would have a problem with somebody doing is enjoying the bear's majesty while it was in the field (ie not taking measures to run it off) and then posting two weeks later that they had to SSS a bear. In other words if I leave a basket of freshly harvested tomatoes next to the chicken coop and come back to find them eaten whose fault was it? Not a perfect analogy but you get the picture. 

Not sure if that's what you're asking, but that is my 2 cents.


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## snowshoehair (Jul 3, 2008)

Bears are very curious and will get into anything that strikes their fancy at the time and do a heckuva lot of damage in the process. If they are successful once, they will come back and you will never get rid of them ... it's best to make sure they decide early on that your bird area is a good place to stay far away from. I second the lights/radio/electric fence ideas.

Oh, and that's not to mention the danger of having a sow with cubs in the area! You *DO* want them to leave your area... trust us on that!


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## fordson major (Jul 12, 2003)

Runestone said:


> I should be more clear about the 'hanging around'....they graze through the fields then head for the bush. I have bears every year but they haven't come close to the house until this year.
> 
> I haven't had time to check with the neighbours to see if they've had any issues-I'll give them a call tonight.
> 
> Ford Major - I was thinking of some electronet fencing when I get some sheep...maybe I'll just order some now.


we tried using flexnet with our sheep, did not work so good!:Bawling: tend too like straight plain wire but even then just use it for horses and cattle!:happy:


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## Runestone (Jan 7, 2007)

ford major - I do plan on using fixed wire fencing with a hot wire - electronet was just for moving the sheep through the fields.
No appearance by momma bear tonight. I have radios playing, all food that might be of interest is put away securely and I've rigged some chimes at the duckhouse. Hopefully, momma has moved on


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## Jcran (Jan 4, 2006)

We've got a bear right now hanging out at the neighbor's and eating their chicken feed. I wish they would take better care of their stuff because they are essentially chumming it in to the neighborhood. Bears will think nothing of digging through a board/wire wall to get at poultry.


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## ai731 (Sep 11, 2007)

It totally depends on the bear and whether or not it has lost it's instinctive fear of humans. If the bear has been hanging around human habitation long enough to get used to "people" smells, maybe eating animal feed or garbage - then you have a potentially very dangerous bear.

OTOH, if you are very far away from your neighbors, and you've only seen it on the edges of your property, and it acts skittish when it sees you, then you might be lucky and the bear might still be truly "wild", which means that lights, loud noises, and "people smells" might be effective to scare it off.

There is a GREAT book that I recommend to anyone who lives in bear country:
"Bear Attacks: Their Causes and Avoidance" by Stephen Herrero. It deals with the true facts about bears and their interractions with people.

Jan


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## fordson major (Jul 12, 2003)

ai731 said:


> It totally depends on the bear and whether or not it has lost it's instinctive fear of humans. If the bear has been hanging around human habitation long enough to get used to "people" smells, maybe eating animal feed or garbage - then you have a potentially very dangerous bear.


these are the type of bear i grew up with, after an attack that left 3 teens i grew up with dead i do not mess around trying to determine if a bear is fraid of me or not!:viking: (Algonquin park mid 70's)
when predators of any sort start scoping out that which i hold dear the gloves come off and i don't take a knife too a gun fight!:soap:


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## where I want to (Oct 28, 2008)

This is second hand stuff but a lady told me that she puts a tab of aluminum foil on her hot wire that has peanut butter on it. Seems it's irresistable to bears, they have to take a lick. She inisisted that this was enough to convice most bears that other places are better to be.


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## Jcran (Jan 4, 2006)

where I want to said:


> This is second hand stuff but a lady told me that she puts a tab of aluminum foil on her hot wire that has peanut butter on it. Seems it's irresistable to bears, they have to take a lick. She inisisted that this was enough to convice most bears that other places are better to be.


Might be a good way for my goats to learn about hotwire, too!


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## Runestone (Jan 7, 2007)

Momma and cub moved on so I think we're okay. The bears around here are 'country' bears - so they do run off. I wasn't trying to scare them away when they were in the field for the simple reason that I figure they were busy eating - and a full bear is better than a hungry bear! The neigbours haven't had any problems. We're all on 1/4 sections or better so nobody is too close by.
I made a mistake with my portable composter - I foolishly put some outdated relishes in it - lovely sweet smells! I've never had an issue with the compost before and we like I said, we do have bears every year.
So, for now, I'll keep the radio going at night and be double sure not to leave any food around.


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## NorCalChicks (Dec 7, 2007)

We had a bear that set up residence near us when we lived in Northern CA. The first few days it just hung around at night getting the dogs riled up; however once it decided the dogs couldn't get it it went through my chicken coop like a tornado. We lost about 4 or 5 chickens. After that my partner and I shared sentry duty for about a week before finally discouraging him with some dove shot. Fish and game sent us a bear tag to kill it, but that's just not something we felt good about doing. A sting to his rear seemed to do the trick just fine!


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## heather (May 13, 2002)

Our electro-net kept our bear out of the chickens


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## jil101ca (Jul 2, 2007)

> Might be a good way for my goats to learn about hotwire, too!


I was thinking the same thing


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## patsdogs (Jun 18, 2009)

Living in the mtns in NorCal, we never had a problem with the bears. They wandered around out in the meadow, grazing on blackberries, until the neighbors began keeping chickens and ducks. The bears understandably considered this an instant snack bar, and did not want to be driven away. They can destroy a coop or a pen really, really fast, and dusting them with birdshot can often just make them mean. Not a pretty picture. To try to relocate them might be worth a try, but the peanut butter/hotwire trick sounds pretty good. If an animal does something to cause itself discomfort, it will learn MUCH more quickly than if they think a human is causing it. It's always best to try to set up a situation where the animal causes it . . . sort of like a burglar alarm effect. Once or twice of having something really unpleasant or startling happen if they come too close and they'll usually decide to find someplace else to be.


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## Runestone (Jan 7, 2007)

Well, I haven't seen hide nor hair of momma bear and the cub so I guess they were just passing through. Any day now the wild strawberrries should be ready to eat so they'll be getting plenty of food and I doubt I'll see them again. Lesson learned - NO SWEET stuff in the composter!!


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## elkhound (May 30, 2006)

you better believe they will raid a coop..heres proof.my small chicken tractor got ran over by a 400# bear.


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## elkhound (May 30, 2006)

likes my ATV also


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