[m1p2m3]

I am new to bee keeping although I have over 300 hives. But I am looking into moving a few of my bees into a few areas that could be infested with bears. I have heard ideas of a fence that includes barbed wire and a 12v marine battery. I have one fence with a solar powered regular cattle fence. But Im looking for cheaper effective methods of deterring bears.

 

[mike haney]

cheap is to effective as a square is to a circle. not gonna happen. good luck,mike

 

[beardance]

After my apiary was destroyed by a bear, the Colorado Divison of Wildlife supplied me with everything I needed at no cost to me. In Colorado bees are considered livestock, so the D.O.W. would rather pay for a preventative fence, than pay for your damage or loss of hives due to wildlife. They are required to do this in my state, which in the long run would obviously be much more cheaper. Check with NC DOW first before you go much futher. beardance

 

[m1p2m3]

I am wondering if anyone knows how to hook up a fence with a 12v battery?

 

[Michael B]

You need numerous wires set 6" apart at least 4' high. You will need some sort of power source. I use solar. You need a charget that put out 4-5 times the voltage that is required for livestock. My set up to protect my 6 hives puts out 8500V. When you are talking about bears you are tolking stored energy over time. Jules to be specific. Bears need a minimum of .50 jules. My fencer is 2.5 jules.

If you are serious about protecting your hives, you have to be serious about your set up.

 

[m1p2m3]

thank you for the information. Its sounds like thats a serious fence. I believe I am going to use 4 strands of barbed wire and have one as the ground wire. I just wonder if the solar unit or 12v batt would be better?

 

[beardance]

You can do both. I use a Parmak 30 mile range low impedance fence charger that hooks up to a 12 volt battery. You then add the solar charger to keep the 12 charged. Three grounding rods 6' in length is important for a good ground. If you want to see a real good set up, check out this websites "how to videos" on building a bear fence. I'll give you the website address because I'm to computer illiterate to give you an easy html click . Here it is : http://www.apishive.com Good luck! One more thing! This ain't cheap but it's effective!

 

[stoweski]

Went to Agway a few weeks ago. They were very helpful to someone who had no clue about electric fencing. The only issue I ran into were the plastic step-in posts that they sold me. I ripped PT 2x4's and pounded them into the ground behind the posts and then used zip ties to attach them together. That made them nice and strong.

The energizer they sold me has two connections, ground and fence. The two other leads coming out of it attach directly to the battery with clamps similar to jumper cables.

I also ran four wires starting at 6" above the ground going up to 4'. Pulled them all tight and attached them to plastic gate handles.

Real easy to use. The guy told me not to use barbed wire for an electric fence. Said if you have a dog they'll thank you for it the first time they get zapped and caught on the barbs.

Some say to bait the fence if bears are around as they will go for the bait and pause, possibly getting zapped a few times before backing off.

Total cost for 1/4 mile fence and the other supplies, including the 12 volt battery was just shy of $200.