[sawyer]

Here in NJ we have a huge bear problem. In the last 3 days I've seen 6 differant bears and my wife seen 2 more that I didn't see and thats just on my farm between my sawmill and my house. yesterday I had a bear in my sawmill building. He just tipped over the garbage cans I'm really surprized he didn't get into the refrigerator. Anyway my beehive is at the sawmill. It's out in the log yard between some piles of logs. So since the bears are prowling around I put up an electric fence around the hive. I bought a solar powered one that is good for 2 miles of fence. I made a 20x20' square with the hive in the middle along with the fence box and ran 3 strands of wire. One about 10" off the ground the next about 18"and the last about 30 " high. Did anyone else fence there hives in? How did you do it? how many strands of wire and at what spacing did you use? I'm thinking of running a 4th strand just to make myself feel better.

 

[JPK]

use tape not wire, wire is nearly invisible.

don't forget to bait the fence so you can "train" the bear.

 

[Allen Martens]

If the fencer you are using is rated for 2 miles I think it is probably to small for bears. Something like a 12 V Parmak which is rated for 30 miles works well with bears.

Bears like going under the fence or through the fence. High strands don't help much to keep bears out. I run 5 wires about 6 inches apart. If I'm concerned about the ground being to dry to provide a proper ground I'll run a ground wire between the bottom two wires.

 

[Dale]

use tape not wire, wire is nearly invisible.

don't forget to bait the fence so you can "train" the bear.

Yep, put a few Bacon strips on the wire. Zaps the tender mouth parts. And get the game wardens out there to relocate them. That many looking for eat's is a problem.

 

[brac]

From the NJ DEP...The number of Category 1 bear incidents, involving black bears exhibiting behavior that is an immediate threat to human safety, or causing agricultural damage or severe property damage, increased 96 percent from 2006 to 2009

That's alot of bears!

 

[sawyer]

Being in the most remote part of NJ this is where all the problem bears are relocated to. I Don't think it does a bit of good to relocate them even a 100 miles away they can be back in 3 days. Farmers around here can get permits to shoot them a lot of good it does after they destroy your crops.

 

[alpha6]

Here in Colorado mountain country we have big bear problems also. Here is a link to pics and diagram as well as parts list on the type of fences we build. I have had good luck with these keeping the bears out...no bear damage yet...knock on wood. Also we don't bait our yards as we don't want food associated with them in any way.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/sets/72157620927612220/

 

[sawyer]

I'll agree with the thought of not associating food with whats inside the fence. We have a lot of bears and houses are broken into daily. The police usally are called to handle things. But now my local police dept is being disbanded. The fish and game dept is run by the DEP and will tell you to call them when you have a problem and they say call the local police. Our last bear season was 5 yrs ago and if the do gooders have there way no bears will be killed.
I had a thought last night I think I will run a single strand about 12" off the ground about 2 feet outside the 3 strands I have. This way any bear will have to step over that strand and then try to get threw the 3 strands without getting burned.

 

[pchelovod]

A good ground is very important for maximum effect, including a long ground rod(s). But I also love to cheat. I lay a piece of chicken wire fence flat on the ground, directly underneath the "hot" wires of the fence, and then run a wire from the chicken wire to the ground terminal on the charger.

Then I hang bacon on the fence directly above the grounded chicken wire, so that current has a nice metal-to-metal path through the bear. (With a standard electric fence, current returns through the soil, which conducts worse than metal).

It should be a very memorable experience for the bear. If it's a really small fence, you can underlay all of it with chicken wire, but that's generally not practical.

 

[brac]

Sawyer,
They can smell the honey, so they already assoiate the area with food. Bacon on the wire just shows them that the food is OFF LIMITS.

Bears are hard headed, big time, a simple shock is like a bee sting.

You take any pictures of them yet?

 

[NewbeeNnc]

No bear season in 5 years is why you have a 96% increase. Last I looked we were put on the earth to care and manage the animals. To me that means limit them when there are too many, and help build them back up when there is not enough and eat well when it's a surplus. There is a line there, but it sounds like to me it's time for a extended bear season.

Could you imagine what it would be like if some states didn't have a deer season for 5 years? There wouldn't be a drivable car in that state.