Bear convicted for theft of honey

[DonAsoka]

Hola Fellow Beekeepers !
Thought this might be interesting for those of you that have problems with Hungry Honey Bears ?¿ here in the north of Spain the bears are protected and the government usually picks up the bill, was wondering as to how others defend there hives n ie, electric cattle fence, or perhaps the spore of a larger animal, ?¿   :shock: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7295559.stm

[Michael Bush]

I don't have any bears around here (thank goodness) but the most common solution is a good electric fence with some hog wire (heavy wire with about 4" holes or so) staked to the ground so they will be grounded and some bacon on the wire for bait to get them to bite the wire.  And, or course, the hottest charger you can buy.

[reinbeau]

We've got an electric fence around our hives up in Maine, and we're pretty sure it's stopped a bear already (there's one in the area, and I found a pile of scat about a bear's distance from the hive - 8,500 volts shocked the poop right out of her  :evil:)

[CBEE]

Electric fence ... backed up by a heavy dose of powder and lead if necessary :-D

[sean]

how many of you guys have had the pleasure of personally testing your fences

[Cindi]

Ann, ooooh, what a great picture.  Lovely.  It is wonderful to see pictures of my forum friends, I love that, and I love to see how everyone has their colonies set up.  I wish that more would put their pictures in here for us to see and get to know each other better.

Your set up is magnificent!!!  That bear fence is absolutely and perfectly wonderful.  I can see that it would really really work, and the scat to prove it is wonderful in itself.  Yeah!!!!  Thank goodness you and Greg put up that great fence, surely that bear would have torn the hives apart to get at the protein and sweets inside, yeah!!!

What a beautiful place your place in Maine must be, no wonder you love to go there, you are a lucky woman, and thank you for taking us into this part of your life.  Have the most beautiful and wonderfulest day, many more to come,  Cindi

[Cindi]

Sean, you asked a very valid question.  I can attest to many events surrounding the testing of our bear fence, hee, hee.  The dogs are the best testers, let me tell you, the large dogs, the little dogs are just short enough that their backs are just below the bottom wire when they snoop around.  The big dogs, well, just let me say, they don't even come within 3 feet of the apiary.  They know better,  :evil: :evil:, smiling.

Now my Husband on the other hand, that guy never learns, hee, hee, he has a shaved head, and I really think that that conducts electricity very well.  He has had that punch several times.  One time I remember he was leaning over to pick up my hive tool that I had left on the ground outside the fenced area, bent over, hee, hee, eeeks, whammo, right on the baldy head, ouch.  Another time he was throwing something else in there and he bent over, got it again, oh brother, some people never learn, (I have that evil side that laughs when people are in pain, oops, did I say that, oh no!!!).

I have had the experience many times when I have been weeding around the fence.  Sometimes I turn off the power, but so many times I am just too lazy and just work with it.  The shock actually really, really hurts......got it on the rear end one time when I was bending over to pick up some rocks, you know me and my rock pile, I am compelled to pick up rocks and throw them onto the ever-getting-larger rock pile.  Pretty soon I have to put a before and after picture in here of the pile, it is getting rather large, I can't help it, I am compulsive about some things, and rocks are one for sure. 

Back to the topic, bears, oops, nothing more to add.  But you are gonna hear some pretty funny stories about bears and the fences I am sure.  This is what my bear fence looks like, in case other's haven't seen it.  Have the most beautiful and wonderfulest day, lovin' this life we all share.  Cindi

We haven't ever had a bear attempt to get in, the fence is electric and stock wire too, it stands about 6 feet tall, we are along a bear path, they follow the ravine in the late spring.  The picture was taken May of last year, just after I got the packages and nucs

[CBEE]

>how many of you guys have had the pleasure of personally testing your fences>

I have tested them many times :shock: Not by choice :roll:
We use high joule weed burners and when you get hit it is anything but a pleasure except for the guy that just saw you get nailed :evil:

[Jerrymac]

I think he means have you seen bears get into the fence testing

[blckoakbees]

I have tested the electric fence unfortunately. My husband claims that was part of the job of keeping bees.  Such a gentleman.  My dog knows better then to go near the fence.

We have a solar electric fence and have had not problems with Bears.  I saw the Bear scat and it was hugh.  I did not want to see the Bear.  I also saw the paw print bigger than my hand and unfortuately there was a little print right next to it.

My theory is you leave the Bears alone and hope they will leave you alone.  We did have a skunk knock over a hive and eat the bees.  We got a new charger for the fence after that. 

No problem and installing the fence and charger took less than an hour using the tape for horses.

Good luck.

[bassman1977]

We did have a skunk knock over a hive and eat the bees.

Wow.  I never knew they were that strong.  :shock:

[CBEE]

I'd hate to see the size of that skunk :shock:

[Brian D. Bray]

Being where he is the best solution for the beekeeper who had a bear convicted of theft in absentina is to use hogwire (2X4 or 4X4 woven or welded wire) strung 6 inches of the ground (use grounding straps) and 4-6 (1.5 to 2 meters) feet high.  Power it with a solar fence charging unit so it doesn't run out of power during storms and other outages.  Bait it with strips of bacon for a while and after a few tries the bear will leave the hives alone--until another bear comes along in which case the hogwire and electric charger should keep it out.

BTW; the bears prefer the brood combs to honey combs (Sorry Pooh) and will often leave bits of combed honey but never the brood comb behind.