Post by bk on Apr 14, 2015 21:52:46 GMT -5
Spent some really informative time with a USDA Wildlife Specialist last evening on the issue of bears and bees. Wish I could have picked his brain when I first started this adventure. He deals with most of NW Wisconsin and has been dealing with bear damage for about 20 years. Lots of great stories, pictures, and examples to share.
I heard one time that there are two kinds of bee keepers in bear country, those with a bear problem and those that will have one. I'm pretty much convinced that is true at this point. Contrary to popular understanding, bears are not drawn to the honey (though that is like desert), they are drawn to the brood - high energy protein in a large single supply. As bee keepers, we are already "baiting" the bears with our hives. Bears find out hives by following their nose.
Electric fences are the cheapest way to keep black bears out of our bee yards. Though bears have a dense coat, they have excellent grounding capability with their four padded feet. Since they tend to forage primarily at night, the ground is often damp or even wet, which only helps us. They tend to investigate with their nose or mouth, which is perfect for a bee keepers electric fence.
A few pointers for building an electric bear fence. It doesn't need to keep the bear out physically - it just needs to remind them that it isn't worth their efforts to get through it. The fencer, if AC power is not readily available, should be at least 6 volt running .17 joules. Since most bee yards are fairly small that means a solar powered rated for 10 miles will work just great. Use polytape if you are purchasing from scratch (with Speedrite being a very high quality tape) rather than wire. It flutters and bears can see it easier and tend to check it out. I used wire because I didn't know much about bear mentality. Never use barbed wire. Experiments with barbed wire bear fences have shown the bears almost always goes through the fence due to the shock and the barbs and ends up destroying the fence and often the bee yard. Spacing of the wires should be at 6", 18" and 30" is using three strands. If using four strands, use a spacing of 6", 18" 27" and 36 inches. Fences need not be very high for black bears. All hives should be a minimum of 5 feet inside the fence. Corner post should be wood or steel while line posts can be almost anything with step-in nylon or fiberglass being cheap and effective. Two or three 6' galvanized or copper ground rods are recommended, leaving 8-12 inches exposed for your ground wire and clamp. Your grounding system is key to a quality electric fence. If in a public location, warning signs are a good idea.
It is recommended that you bait the fence with either peanut butter on aluminum foil or bacon strips. It aids in conditioning the bear to your fence. This isn't something I've ever done, but something I'm considering. You are already attracting the bear with your hives, you now want to attract them to the fence - so they learn it bites, and they will leave your hives alone.
Fence does require some maintenance. You need to keep the grass and weeds down around the wires. Some folks spray while others use carpet scraps, felt paper, etc to keep the vegetation down so the fence doesn't ground out. Fence should be checked every time you check the bees. That isn't something I've ever done, but plan to add the tester to my bee bucket for hive inspections. You are looking for at least 3000 volts on the fence, with 5000 being better. Checked mine tonight and I'm getting 5500, so I feel good about that.
If I can make photobucket cooperate, I'll post some fencing pictures.
I am really liking you back saving work stand.
