Anti-bear bee fortress; nearly completed.

[Aerindel]

My solution to my bear problem:

Things to add, more spikes in the ground, and electrified wire running parallel to the concertina wire.

[beeware10]

you have too much spare time. lol good luck

[Barry]

Please take pictures when you drop a super full of bees or honey of that deck or when you back up a little too hard and end up going over holding the super! In no time you'll wish you made it 4 times bigger. Gonna get pretty crowded up there real fast. Looks nice!

[dloop]

Wow!

That's amazing.

[Aerindel]

Already wish it was bigger but its cost me over $1k as it is.

And do't worry, if I fall off I'll almost certainly get hung up in the barb wire before I hit the ground.

[HTC]

And a cat found its way through O YA and this will stop a bear! I did notice two chairs. Who is crazy enough to sit up there with you? All so where is the 50 cal. and the clamors?

[Aerindel]

I actually I had to carry the cat up, She was looking up at me like she was worried I was going to fall off or something You can't really see it in the pictures but the base of the ladder is in the main towers moat so it should be safe from bears even if I leave it up.

Guns are in my bedroom but don't work very well for protection against bears unless I am manning the tower 24/7. The second and final time my hive got knocked over I had been running armed patrols every twenty minutes all night but that was too long and it got in through my electric fence between patrols and finished off the job.

I seriously considered land mines after loosing my last hive but there are five dogs that run around the property so that was out.

Second chair was for my girlfriend, who also gave me the money for the building. That reminds me...now that the bee fortress is done I have to build her a kitchen.

[Charlie B]

Cool bee fort!

[EastSideBuzz]

Are you going to add a crane? and a row of archers.

[WVMJ]

Why dont you add a bridge to the house and you wont have to climb up the ladder Wouldnt a bear dog be cheaper? Now you can do little cutouts on the side and mount your hives inside the tower to help protect them from the winter. You can paint each tower you build a different color so you bees dont drift between towers WVMJ

[DC Bees]

Looks like a good hunting seat.You could have made one out of chain link fence and some 4x4's.A medium super weighs 65lbs,you may need an elevator,good luck.

[Mbeck]

You have a very cool girlfriend!

[BeeTax]

Can your bees come out and play?

[gjd]

You know bears are very comfortable climbing trees, right? Because that pine near it looks pretty close.

[sqkcrk]

You probably have some big bears there in MT. What kind?

[Ozone]

What is a bear dog? Do they work?

Always?

[beeG]

What is a bear dog? Do they work?

Always?

The Komondor was reported to be capable to deter bear. But you have to keep them corded so the hair protects them from an actual confrontation with a bear. The Komondor was so effective of irradiating wolves from its native country Hungry it is one of the oldest guardian dog breeds . The cords are like dreadlocks. And they act as armor. Neat bee fort

[Aerindel]

Why dont you add a bridge to the house and you wont have to climb up the ladder

I thought about that a lot and in the end I decided it wouldn't be worth nocking a hole in the wall of the house for the door. I plan on building an addition to the house this summer and a wrap around deck that should give me better access.

Wouldnt a bear dog be cheaper?

Between my neighbor and I there are five german shepherds on the hill that love to chase beers but they all sleep inside at night. Sometimes they wake up and bark when there are bears outside but not always and it only takes once. I think the bears know when the dogs are inside and wait until then to cause problems.

Now you can do little cutouts on the side and mount your hives inside the tower to help protect them from the winter. You can paint each tower you build a different color so you bees dont drift between towers

Interesting Idea. I have been thinking about wrapping clear plastic over the top and side of the railings to help hold in the heat during the coldest parts winter, kind of like a mini greenhouse.

You probably have some big bears there in MT. What kind?

We just have blackbears in my area, which can get pretty big but not as big as grizzlies. Mostly they are just extremely determined in a kind of stupid way. They will go through far more work than its worth to get food and sometimes just randomly destroy stuff to see it its edible. I learned that I can't leave gas cans around because the bears will bite them to see whats inside.

You know bears are very comfortable climbing trees, right? Because that pine near it looks pretty close.

Its farther away than it looks, its about eight feet away. Blackbears do climb pretty well but I've never seen them jump long distances, they usually weigh about four hundred pounds and don't seem to fly very well

I may end up cutting down that tree anyway.

You have a very cool girlfriend!

I think so too.

Looks like a good hunting seat.You could have made one out of chain link fence and some 4x4's.A medium super weighs 65lbs,you may need an elevator,good luck.

Sadly its not legal to hunt on my property. I live on an Indian reservation, no building codes or permits of any kind needed but no hunting rights for non natives and I'm a white guy. There is a herd of about fifty whitetails that pass through the clearing below my house everyday yet I have to drive fifty miles away to hunt and often don't see anything.

I could have made some kind of fence but it probably would have ended up being more expensive and more work. By the time you bury the base three feet deep and build an overhang into the top you may as well just build a building. This way I not only have a place to put the bees but a nice storage shed for all the extra bee stuff.

[Barry]

Please beef up that railing. Won't take much to push it over and then you'll be tangled up in that razor wire!

[Aerindel]

Don't worry, its strong. The 2x4s go down the side of the building and are screwed to the rafters in five places with 3 1/2" screws, not just butt joined to the deck. If you look you can see they have about a foot of overlap with the deck and rafters. I the 2x4s themselves would break before those screws pulled out.