Securing Chicken Feed From Black Bears

[buffy-the-eggpile-layer]

Hi all, a few days ago we introduced our inaugural round of chicks to their new coop... AND shortly thereafter spotted a mother black bear and her cubs nearby our property (of course we'd never seen any before until now!). We've read that the chicken feed is what would likely draw them towards the coop/run, so every night, we plan to remove the feed from the run and store it somewhere more bear-proof. 2 questions:

1. Would storing feed in a airtight container within a large, locked shed, still attract bears? If so, we might put it in our basement instead.
2. Does anyone have any pointers for preventing a bear massacre? We've thought of literally every other predator BESIDES bears, and coop-proofed accordingly. But now that we've seen bears we are panicking!

Thanks in advance for your help--any and all insights are much appreciated!

 

[Mvan42]

Just had a bear mishap a few days ago. Messed up two coops one was a tractor supply one and the other I got from amazon.. lost three rabbits.. any way. I keep our feed in plastic totes now inside our big coop (just moved the chickens in this one a week. Before the bear came to visit). We never had problems with bear until now. Before we built the big coop it was in my storage shed.

I think our bear incident was 1. A young bear and 2 my son had let a lot of feed spill from the feeders and it soured (smelled real bad) I think this drew it in.

Hope this helps..

 

[DobieLover]

Hi all, a few days ago we introduced our inaugural round of chicks to their new coop... AND shortly thereafter spotted a mother black bear and her cubs nearby our property (of course we'd never seen any before until now!). We've read that the chicken feed is what would likely draw them towards the coop/run, so every night, we plan to remove the feed from the run and store it somewhere more bear-proof. 2 questions:

1. Would storing feed in a airtight container within a large, locked shed, still attract bears? If so, we might put it in our basement instead.
2. Does anyone have any pointers for preventing a bear massacre? We've thought of literally every other predator BESIDES bears, and coop-proofed accordingly. But now that we've seen bears we are panicking!

Thanks in advance for your help--any and all insights are much appreciated!

I have a mother black bear too. She was around last year and seen at the neighbors house with 2 cubs.
We have a 10,000 volt/1.2 Joule output electric charger charging our poultry netting that surrounds the coop and run. I am still under construction but we will also run hot wires around the coop run too so everything is doubly protected with the electric fence. We've never had a problem with her.

 

[azygous]

You've come to the right place. Yours truly has had just about every kind of bear encounter possible, this side of being mauled. (But close)

To answer your question will feed be okay in an air tight container in a shed? No. Bears have just about the most powerful sense of smell of any mammal, maybe except for elephants. (The size of the nose is a clue to the power of the ability to smell things.)

Bears can smell pancakes left to cool on the kitchen counter through a window left open just a couple inches from over a mile away. I found this out when I returned after being gone ten minutes to find a bear inside trashing every room in my house, helping himself to the food in the freezer, smashed the microwave because it smelled like food, and even ate the shampoo in the shower.

You can put the feed inside a plastic garbage barrel and lock it in a shed without any windows, and the bear will take the shed apart to get to it. One time I left a garage window open just a few inches, and a bear entered and hauled an unopened 50 pound sack of scratch grain out through the high window and I was able to follow the trail of grain all the way down the mountain as it spilled out of a tear as the bear carried it off.

I've found that the only deterrence is a hot wire rigged around coop and run. Of course, it has to be on in order to do any good. I had a full grown adult male black bear just last week tear off the screening to the door on my run, and he also tore off the vent screening and vent cover of one of my coops trying to get to the baby chicks inside.

If I had just remembered to turn the charger on I could have saved myself the intense pain of the blow-back from the pepper spray as I shot it at the bear. When I could see again, I ran into the house and returned with my 12 gauge loaded with "stingers", hard plastic rounds the size of marbles. When all else fails, these rubber shotgun rounds work splendidly to convince a bear he shouldn't return.

Where do you live?

 

[Mvan42]

You've come to the right place. Yours truly has had just about every kind of bear encounter possible, this side of being mauled. (But close)

To answer your question will feed be okay in an air tight container in a shed? No. Bears have just about the most powerful sense of smell of any mammal, maybe except for elephants. (The size of the nose is a clue to the power of the ability to smell things.)

Bears can smell pancakes left to cool on the kitchen counter through a window left open just a couple inches from over a mile away. I found this out when I returned after being gone ten minutes to find a bear inside trashing every room in my house, helping himself to the food in the freezer, smashed the microwave because it smelled like food, and even ate the shampoo in the shower.

You can put the feed inside a plastic garbage barrel and lock it in a shed without any windows, and the bear will take the shed apart to get to it. One time I left a garage window open just a few inches, and a bear entered and hauled an unopened 50 pound sack of scratch grain out through the high window and I was able to follow the trail of grain all the way down the mountain as it spilled out of a tear as the bear carried it off.

I've found that the only deterrence is a hot wire rigged around coop and run. Of course, it has to be on in order to do any good. I had a full grown adult male black bear just last week tear off the screening to the door on my run, and he also tore off the vent screening and vent cover of one of my coops trying to get to the baby chicks inside.

If I had just remembered to turn the charger on I could have saved myself the intense pain of the blow-back from the pepper spray as I shot it at the bear. When I could see again, I ran into the house and returned with my 12 gauge loaded with "stingers", hard plastic rounds the size of marbles. When all else fails, these rubber shotgun rounds work splendidly to convince a bear he shouldn't return.

Where do you live?

Wow you must live in a area where bear don’t get much natural food. I have kept feed in my building for years and have never had a bear even attempt to tear it apart. And I live in The woods. The only opening aroundMy house is for my drive way and a 4wheeler path

 

[azygous]

Wow you must live in a area where bear don’t get much natural food. I have kept feed in my building for years and have never had a bear even attempt to tear it apart. And I live in The woods. The only opening aroundMy house is for my drive way and a 4wheeler path

When it comes to bears, never say "never" or they'll make an effort to discover you.

 

[buffy-the-eggpile-layer]

Just had a bear mishap a few days ago. Messed up two coops one was a tractor supply one and the other I got from amazon.. lost three rabbits.. any way. I keep our feed in plastic totes now inside our big coop (just moved the chickens in this one a week. Before the bear came to visit). We never had problems with bear until now. Before we built the big coop it was in my storage shed.

I think our bear incident was 1. A young bear and 2 my son had let a lot of feed spill from the feeders and it soured (smelled real bad) I think this drew it in.

Hope this helps..

I'm so sorry about your poor rabbits. And thanks for the head's up about feed spills, I didn't think about my clumsiness being another risk factor!

 

[buffy-the-eggpile-layer]

I have a mother black bear too. She was around last year and seen at the neighbors house with 2 cubs.
We have a 10,000 volt/1.2 Joule output electric charger charging our poultry netting that surrounds the coop and run. I am still under construction but we will also run hot wires around the coop run too so everything is doubly protected with the electric fence. We've never had a problem with her.

Good luck as you wrap up construction, sounds like you've got a great system. This is what we aspire to do one day, till then fingers crossed!

 

[Folly's place]

As Azygous reported, only very good electric fencing will keep a motivated bear out!
Plastic containers won't keep mice and rats out either; plan on metal garbage cans for rodent protection.
We don't yet have bears here, but that may change, and more electric fencing will be necessary then.
Mary

 

[buffy-the-eggpile-layer]

You've come to the right place. Yours truly has had just about every kind of bear encounter possible, this side of being mauled. (But close)

To answer your question will feed be okay in an air tight container in a shed? No. Bears have just about the most powerful sense of smell of any mammal, maybe except for elephants. (The size of the nose is a clue to the power of the ability to smell things.)

Bears can smell pancakes left to cool on the kitchen counter through a window left open just a couple inches from over a mile away. I found this out when I returned after being gone ten minutes to find a bear inside trashing every room in my house, helping himself to the food in the freezer, smashed the microwave because it smelled like food, and even ate the shampoo in the shower.

You can put the feed inside a plastic garbage barrel and lock it in a shed without any windows, and the bear will take the shed apart to get to it. One time I left a garage window open just a few inches, and a bear entered and hauled an unopened 50 pound sack of scratch grain out through the high window and I was able to follow the trail of grain all the way down the mountain as it spilled out of a tear as the bear carried it off.

I've found that the only deterrence is a hot wire rigged around coop and run. Of course, it has to be on in order to do any good. I had a full grown adult male black bear just last week tear off the screening to the door on my run, and he also tore off the vent screening and vent cover of one of my coops trying to get to the baby chicks inside.

If I had just remembered to turn the charger on I could have saved myself the intense pain of the blow-back from the pepper spray as I shot it at the bear. When I could see again, I ran into the house and returned with my 12 gauge loaded with "stingers", hard plastic rounds the size of marbles. When all else fails, these rubber shotgun rounds work splendidly to convince a bear he shouldn't return.

Where do you live?

Wow, sounds like you're in a battle zone over there. Thank you for all of the tips--we do plan to invest in an electric fence/hot wire system (it'd be small scale since we only have 7 chickens with a 14' x 16' run). I'm glad you've stayed safe despite all of your close encounters! I hope our resident bears are of the apathetic variety... That exists, right?