[Fivej]

Woke up this morning to both hives tipped over and strewn about. One was mostly intact, the other doesn't look so good. Totally my fault. I broke the connector on the energizer 2 days ago. Was going to go get one yesterday but it was a rare sunny day so I stayed home and mowed the lawn. Regrets.
Anyway, couple questions. Should I bait the fence with bacon? I assume the reason for baiting is so s/he gets a jolt right on the nose, correct? Second, how long should I wait to go in the hives and check for the queen and their status? Anything else I should do? I didn't spend a lot of time putting them back together but I reduced both hives to 2 deeps (was 3). Both had good frames of brood and stores. It got below freezing last night so they may be lost. I guess time will tell. J

 

[Antarctica]

Anything else I should do?

Buy a meat grinder and wait for September 1st?

 

[Ravenseye]

I'd try to get into the hives fairly soon. I've had bears more than once and even though you quickly put the hives back together, damaged comb is sometimes built out all wrong by the bees unless you straighten things out first. It won't hurt to get into them sooner than later in my opinion.

 

[crofter]

Woke up this morning to both hives tipped over and strewn about. One was mostly intact, the other doesn't look so good. Totally my fault. I broke the connector on the energizer 2 days ago. Was going to go get one yesterday but it was a rare sunny day so I stayed home and mowed the lawn. Regrets.
Anyway, couple questions. Should I bait the fence with bacon? I assume the reason for baiting is so s/he gets a jolt right on the nose, correct? Second, how long should I wait to go in the hives and check for the queen and their status? Anything else I should do? I didn't spend a lot of time putting them back together but I reduced both hives to 2 deeps (was 3). Both had good frames of brood and stores. It got below freezing last night so they may be lost. I guess time will tell. J

Some good articles on bear fencing and the pro's and cons of baiting.

https://www.beesource.com/forums/sh...proof/page2&highlight=mountaincamp+bait+fence

 

[Fivej]

Thanks guys. I read the thread on baiting and I did just get in from baiting with bacon. But I have a question. I have electric netting and one strand is hot, followed by ground, followed by hot, etc. I wired bacon to both the hot and ground. I got to thinking maybe I am just creating a short and the shock will be less effective. Should I wire the bacon to just the hot strand and thus the bear would be the ground, creating more of a jolt? J

 

[crofter]

Thanks guys. I read the thread on baiting and I did just get in from baiting with bacon. But I have a question. I have electric netting and one strand is hot, followed by ground, followed by hot, etc. I wired bacon to both the hot and ground. I got to thinking maybe I am just creating a short and the shock will be less effective. Should I wire the bacon to just the hot strand and thus the bear would be the ground, creating more of a jolt? J

Definitely dont put a bait on the ground wire. They could touch that and get the message that sometimes it is OK to touch a fence! You want to instigate them to touch a live one! On the tongue or bear nose a perfect ground wont be essential to deliver the message.

We had a horse who would not go near a spiral striped piece of wire even if it was a stray piece laying in the middle of the yard. Her eyes would get as big as saucers with the memory!

 

[Fivej]

Thanks for the reply Frank. I should clarify that I threaded wire through bacon and attached one end of the wire on the hot fence wire and the other end on the fence ground wire below it. I am wondering if this is like short circuiting the fence. I think it is carrying electricity, but wonder if the bear would get a better jolt if it was only attached to the hot wire and by touching the bacon, the bear creates a circuit by grounding. I couldn't get my wife to touch it to see how strong it was. J

 

[Riskybizz]

Natural History Article: "Bears are thought to have the best sense of smell of any animal on earth. For example, the average dog’s sense of smell is 100 times better than a humans. A blood hound’s is 300 times better. A bear’s sense of smell is 7 times better than a blood hound’s or 2,100 times better than a human"...


Why on earth would anyone think that they have to use a bait on their electric fence to attract a bear? If you do that and they breach your electric barrier wouldn't you feel like a real fool?

 

[crofter]

The current carrying capacity of the salted bacon would be a load on the fence since the one end of it would be a ground potential. In the middle it would be half the hot end potential. I use a blade of grass to test my fence. Usually I can barely feel it at six inches length and it starts to get quite tangy at touching with a 3 inch length.

I dont know how the resistance of bacon is compared to green blade of grass but the short answer is No, that would not help your game!

 

[crofter]

Natural History Article: "Bears are thought to have the best sense of smell of any animal on earth. For example, the average dog’s sense of smell is 100 times better than a humans. A blood hound’s is 300 times better. A bear’s sense of smell is 7 times better than a blood hound’s or 2,100 times better than a human"...


Why on earth would anyone think that they have to use a bait on their electric fence to attract a bear? If you do that and they breach your electric barrier wouldn't you feel like a real fool?

I dont disagree with your appraisal of a bees sense of smell. I have read they can smell behives for 15 miles if the wind is right. I do think though you have a different vision than I have about what will play out as a bee approaches a bee yard.

Because his nose is so good he can smell bee hives, honey and brood for miles; that will be his main target but since an unbaited fence would have no smell to it, his attention would be otherwise focused on the goodies inside. His fur is thick and a good insulator so he could well be through the fence without feeling it. Bears are used to running through brush unconcerned.

I want something to get his attention with a smelly treat to sniff at before he gets part way through the fence; I want him to stick his nose or tongue on the bait which will send him backwards. I want him to educate himself in terms he wont forget. The bait pretty well guarantees the strongest impression on his tenderest conductive spots before he gets his body into the picture.

I am not too worried about having to eat crow on this one!

 

[Fivej]

Frank, sorry for being dense, but are you saying that I should not ground the bacon to the fence ground wire? In other words, just attach it to the hot wire?
Risky: I would never bait an apiary fence if the bears have not discovered it. But once they do, they will be back. I have little doubt it will be back tonight. As Frank said, they will walk right through the fence unless they get a good jolt at a sensitive spot. Thus the baiting. J

 

[Bear Creek Steve]

Fivej,

See my post # 11 at: https://www.beesource.com/forums/sh...s-and-Bees&highlight=bear+creek+steveost # 11

I live in arid Colorado and have to ensure that the bear is standing on a good ground, ie. the well grounded sheet metal. I have lots of bears and my fence has always worked. I have never had to go to the extreme of bating with bacon, but if I did I would wrap the bacon in aluminum foul and tie it to the "hot" side of the fence.

Good luck with your bear situation.

Cheers,
Steve

 

[Fivej]

Thanks Steve. Ground here is wet and its raining so it will have a good ground. Bacon treats are now just on hot wire and wrapped in foil, loose around the bacon but tight on the wire. We shall see. Thanks everyone. J

 

[Bear Creek Steve]

Fivej,

For clarification, by "good ground", I mean a good electrical ground. My sheet metal apron ground outside of the electrically "hot" fence is soldered to a continuous copper wire which is attached to an eight foot long copper clad ground rod driven the full eight feet into the ground. The ground lug terminal on the (solar) fence charger is also wired to this same eight foot grounding rod. One must also be certain that the "hot" fence is properly insulated and that it does not make contact with any brush, grass, or dirt.

Cheers,
Steve

Cheers,
Steve

 

[bushpilot]

If you are baiting the fence, it should only be on the hot.

 

[enjambres]

John,

I have nothing to add to the bacon and grounding discussion, but I wanted to say I am very sorry to hear about this.

We have queens for sale at work. (My "office" is currently in the queen room so I listen to them quacking all day long when I am there.) But didn't you make some splits and give your daughter bees last year? If so, you could get a new start of those queenlines from her, if you're sentimentally inclined.

Nancy

 

[Fivej]

Well, the bear did not cause any trouble last night. I will go out later to see if it came and had a bad bacon encounter. I did wind up just wiring it to the hot line and wrapped the strips in foil. Thanks to everyone for the help.
Nancy, I gave my whole hive Viola to my daughter last summer. She became queenless late fall when it was too late to do anything about it and they failed to make a new queen with donated eggs. Surprisingly, the hive made it through the winter until the winter bees finally died off. We never figured out what happened. Mite count was very low, hive looked healthy,plenty of stores. I was planning on splitting Rhett to take Viola's place. So if Rhett is still alive, I will split her and keep the line going. My other hive Rachael was a swarm that I requeened with a queen from Singing Cedars in Orwell, VT. I wanted to try a new queenline to observe the differences. I got her late summer so not enough time for a good test and was looking forward to seeing how she would produce this summer. I did notice that Rachael brooded up faster than Rhett and had almost wall to wall brood in two deeps last week. If necessary, I will requeen Rhett with a Betterbee queen and will probably try Singing Cedars queen again, although I am concerned I may be on swarm control all spring and summer.
Assuming the queen(s) survived, how soon will I see eggs? Are they likely to shut down for a bit? Right now, I am in no hurry to look. As expected they are super defensive and attack when I get within 25 feet of apiary. Fixing the fence and wiring the bacon was quite the ordeal. But we only got stung a few times. Thanks all. J

 

[Fivej]

BEAR GOT ME AGAIN. This time my shed. The bacon apparently worked on my electric fence around the apiary. This am I discovered foil from a bacon strip on the ground. All was well at the apiary. However, as I came back to my house I noticed my shed. It tore off 2- 1x 12" rough cut boards on the door and got to the 2 deeps with damaged frames from its first attack. It took the deeps and frames out and demolished them. I called the game warden and no call back. All my bee stuff is now in my attached garage which makes me nervous. I tried to jury rig an electric wire on the shed with a battery charger but can't seem to get it to work. Wire heats up, but no jolt. So have a aluminum extension ladder against it which will hopefully wake me up if it comes back tonight. If you have bears, get an electric fence and maintain it. J

 

[BDT123]

Sorry to hear this, J
My fencer is working so far this year, and we got bears! Lots of bears.
Power Wizard 6000, fencer in my shop and leads out to a 3 tier fence around the apiary. Moist soil.
Bears can’t hear the ‘tick’ of the fencer, working well for 2 years now.
Good luck,
Brian

 

[elmer_fud]

Wire heats up, but no jolt. So have a aluminum extension ladder against it which will hopefully wake me up if it comes back tonight.

This is sort of what we did at boundary waters. We would put all of the food between multiple aluminum canoes with the idea the noise from the bear would wake us or would scare the bear away.