Welcome, Guest

Author Topic: How to deal with possible bears??  (Read 7311 times)

Offline annette

  • Galactic Bee
  • ******
  • Posts: 5353
  • Gender: Female
How to deal with possible bears??
« on: August 14, 2008, 03:51:03 am »
I am in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains. The bees are located at about 1400 feet. To date I have not had to worry about bears or electric fences, but lately there has been some news about the bears coming down to the lower elevations due to no food available.

Not sure how far down they are coming, but I am starting to get a little worried.

So how well do these solar electric fences work?? Are they hard to install??

Help appreciated
Annette

Offline TwT

  • Senior Forum
  • Galactic Bee
  • ******
  • Posts: 3396
  • Ted
Re: How to deal with possible bears??
« Reply #1 on: August 14, 2008, 05:49:36 am »
they work very well on cows I know (thats what I have on my out yard to keep cows out), heard good things about them on bears, one guy I talked to put his hive in the mountains of north Ga (sourwood) and uses about 5 of them, said he hasn't had a problem as long as the fences stays up, tree's or limbs falling on fence during storms...
THAT's ME TO THE LEFT JUST 5 MONTHS FROM NOW!!!!!!!!

Never be afraid to try something new.
Amateurs built the ark,
Professionals built the Titanic

Offline SgtMaj

  • Queen Bee
  • ****
  • Posts: 1464
  • Gender: Male
Re: How to deal with possible bears??
« Reply #2 on: August 14, 2008, 07:31:56 am »
I was about to chime in with something like:  it's not worth the price.

But then I thought I should look up the price first.  Turns out, it probably is worth the price.  Who knew they could be so cheap?  Not I.

Offline mswartfager

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 74
  • Gender: Male
Re: How to deal with possible bears??
« Reply #3 on: August 14, 2008, 09:32:44 am »
Black bears seem to be more plentiful around my house in NW PA.  The Beekeepers here all of have electric fences that I know of.  I don't think the solar ones work well around here due to not enough regular exposure to the sun.  I use a DC fencer from Zareba with a Marine/RV Deep Cycle Battery.  I have to recharge the battery about once every 40 days.  It puts about 5000+ volts through the fence and was recommended for this application.  Zarebasystems.com has pretty good information for making a decision.

Offline annette

  • Galactic Bee
  • ******
  • Posts: 5353
  • Gender: Female
Re: How to deal with possible bears??
« Reply #4 on: August 14, 2008, 05:55:34 pm »
OK something to look into. It does have to be solar though because there is no electricity up on the knoll where the bees are. Sure have plenty of sunlight.

Thanks
Annette

Offline Moonshae

  • Field Bee
  • ***
  • Posts: 988
  • Gender: Male
Re: How to deal with possible bears??
« Reply #5 on: August 14, 2008, 09:26:07 pm »
I was about to chime in with something like:  it's not worth the price.


Even if they weren't cheap, being able to avoid having your beeyard devastated by a bear every year makes it worth it. With the cost of new bees, replacing the destroyed pieces of woodenware, and the loss of income, it wouldn't take long for a fence to pay for itself.
"The mouth of a perfectly contented man is filled with beer." - Egyptian Proverb, 2200 BC

Offline Frantz

  • Field Bee
  • ***
  • Posts: 504
  • Gender: Male
Re: How to deal with possible bears??
« Reply #6 on: August 14, 2008, 10:03:16 pm »
Make sure you take some time and study some of the tricks that go along with the fences. Making sure the height that you set the fence is important. If it is too high the bears will go under them and the shock will just be to their back and will not be much of a deterent. To low and they will hop over and the same thing. I have heard of a couple of buddies that started tieing bacon to the fence as the bears will reach up with their mouth to get the bacon and Wamo!!! :shock: :shock: they get the intended result right in the mouth. I have heard of that working very well, and the logic seems very solid. But I have not tried the bacon myslef.
Good luck,
F
Don't be yourself, "Be the man you would want your daughters to marry!!"

Offline annette

  • Galactic Bee
  • ******
  • Posts: 5353
  • Gender: Female
Re: How to deal with possible bears??
« Reply #7 on: August 15, 2008, 01:28:54 am »
Good Advice as well. Thanks. When it gets closer to my actually doing this, I may like to post here on the exact measurements the fence should be. This way I will not be guessing. If anyone wants to give me this information now, that would be great because then I can get a better estimate.

Come to think of it, bears come in all sizes so how to measure????

Annette

Offline BenC

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 158
  • Gender: Male
Re: How to deal with possible bears??
« Reply #8 on: August 15, 2008, 01:48:04 pm »
They work on black bears, get the fence up and running before they learn your hive= food or a fence won't stop them.  Bait it as Frantz said.  That's the only way to teach them, on the nose, their fur is too thick. 

Here is a simple set-up:

http://maarec.psu.edu/pdfs/bearsBees.pdf

Posts and charger are the big part, wire is cheap so don't hesitate to step it up to something like 9-strands.  A good strong ground is what will really determine how well it shocks.

Offline annette

  • Galactic Bee
  • ******
  • Posts: 5353
  • Gender: Female
Re: How to deal with possible bears??
« Reply #9 on: August 15, 2008, 05:00:45 pm »
Thanks for the info. I printed it out and will show it to my electrician.

Offline BEES4U

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 94
  • Gender: Male
    • E. B. LUCAS APIARIES
Re: How to deal with possible bears??
« Reply #10 on: September 27, 2008, 12:42:02 am »

The electric bear fence  needs a very good ground!
You may need to haul water into the location for two reasons: one is to soften the ground for the steel posts and a good ground.
Without a good ground the fence is worthless.
You may want to look into the old ABC & XYZ of beekeeping for details. I used their ideas and it worked quite well.
You will need a roll of 3' high chicken wire as a 2nd ground for the bear to be grounded.
You will need a 3/4" x 5' pipe to drive into the ground to attach your ground line. I ran a splitter off the charger to the common ground, the pipe, and the chicken wire mat which was placed around the perimeter of the yard. I used two pieces of flat metal that have holes in them so that I could tighten the chicken wire between them for good conductivity. I hung danger electric fence metal tags and a keep out sign as a safety precaution for people.
The bear, or another bear, returned after I completed the fence. He was standing on the chicken wire ground mat and was double grounded when he hit the fence. He left a rather large pile of bear scat with bee heads in it and never returned. The fence was rated for 20 miles and is not allowed in some states for human safety and to prevent grass fires.
Regards,
Ernie
E. B. LUCAS APIARIES
bees4u.com
(Queen Breeder)

Offline Robo

  • Technical
  • Administrator
  • Galactic Bee
  • *******
  • Posts: 6778
  • Gender: Male
  • Beekeep On!
    • Bushkill Bee Vac
Re: How to deal with possible bears??
« Reply #11 on: September 27, 2008, 08:22:01 am »
I live in the heart of bear country and the only thing I have found to work is a baited electric fence.  I've had bears scale the side of a building to get to hives on the roof, climb of a 25ft high roof top, and rip thru 8ft high fencing.  I have also found out that all electric fences are not created equal, and you get what you pay for.....go figure. :roll:

I have found Parmak fencers to work well and they have become my fencer of choice.  I have had their solar ones covered in snow for months at a time and still continue to work.  On the other hand I had (gave it away now) a Zareba solar one that couldn't go more than a few cloudy days before dying.

Baiting the fence is critical.  If they don't get zapped on the nose/tongue they will just walk right through the fence as their fur insulates them from the fence.   I take strips of metal screening and fold it around the fence and smear peanut butter on it.

It doesn't take more than a few strands of baited wire to protect your hives.  For what it is worth,  a few years ago I had 4 bears in my yard and they got into my chicken coop killed a couple of guineas hens and drug out a bag of feed.  The kept coming back for days trying to tear the door of the coop until I finally put a single baited wire around it.  Didn't have any trouble after that.   All during this time,  I had a trailer of bees not more than 50ft away that was never touched.
"Opportunity is missed by most people because it comes dressed in overalls and looks like work." - Thomas Edison



Offline mtman1849

  • Assistant Social Director
  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 200
  • Gender: Male
Re: How to deal with possible bears??
« Reply #12 on: September 27, 2008, 09:17:52 am »
hey Robo is that a greenhouse in the background did you build it yourself, I am going to build one of those before long

Offline Robo

  • Technical
  • Administrator
  • Galactic Bee
  • *******
  • Posts: 6778
  • Gender: Male
  • Beekeep On!
    • Bushkill Bee Vac
Re: How to deal with possible bears??
« Reply #13 on: September 27, 2008, 07:39:27 pm »
hey Robo is that a greenhouse in the background did you build it yourself, I am going to build one of those before long

You betcha!

http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,8649.msg55296.html#msg55296
"Opportunity is missed by most people because it comes dressed in overalls and looks like work." - Thomas Edison



Offline 1of6

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 196
  • Always learning...
Re: How to deal with possible bears??
« Reply #14 on: October 01, 2008, 09:33:15 pm »
See these threads...
http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,17255.0.html

and

http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,17544.0.html

Hope something here helps in your decisions.  Of particular value are the previous comments in this thread about the ground rods.  You can use multiple rods and chain them, or use just one.  IN some areas it pays to take a bucket of water along when you go to the yard and wet the ground where the ground rod is to provide better ground in dry times.  Jus ta thought.  Here's a little FAQ to look through.  The note about the fencer not staying hot brings up one consideration - sometimes you need to replace the rechargable battery packs in these solar fences.  Anyhoo, here's a little info - hope it helps.

http://www.zarebasystems.com/PRODUCTS/fence_planning_electric_faq.aspx




 

anything