I'm not sure if he tried to get into the chicken coop of if he was just making a mess wherever he went. The fence to our garden was all bent up and he bent one of the posts there (the garden is right next to our chicken coop) and some of the wire on the chicken coop was bent also. He also ended up yanking out two of the railroad ties on our bank. Good grief!!
So, we headed to the thrift store to buy a bunch of old pot tops to tie together and put on the chicken coop (why yes, we are from the South, why do you ask?). We figured, even if it does not scare him off, at least it will alert us. Here are a few pics - notice how big the chickens are already getting!!!! We stopped on our way home yesterday and bought two more so now we have 10!
If anyone has any brilliant suggestions for keeping the bear away from our chickens, I am all ears (well, eyes really but you know what I mean). We have also put up a few of those "driveway alerts" around our property and they beep in the house when something crosses their path outside. These are GREAT but of course, they are only helpful if we are here to hear them! I am hoping he comes back tonight because Wayne is going to go out there and shoot his shotgun a few times and REALLY scare the dickens out of him (not shoot him, just to make the noise to scare him - please don't send me any PETA letters! We would never shoot him unless we absolutely HAD to). So, we'll see what happens.
Then, we had to go to the feed store so that I could give Petey a kennel cough vaccine which I totally forgot that he needed and we were taking him to board the next day! Don't worry - he has already had it and he is only like a week late so he still has protection. We just needed to get it for the paperwork, ya know? Well, of course they were closed so I ended up running him up to the vet to get it.
THEN, we realized that the back tire was making a bad noise, which stinks because Wayne just replaced the brakes not too long ago. Come to find out that the brakes are wearing unevenly (something about calipers or some car related language like that) so he had to replace the brakes again! Especially since we were heading back out to Atlanta the next day and would then be driving home with a full trailer.
I tell ya, it's a good thing we came back home instead of staying down in Atlanta for an extra day!!
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4 comments:
Have you thought about installing some of those auto motion sensor security lights out by the chicken coop and garden? We don't have bears here in Texas (aww shucks) but our family has dealt with them in NM and Colo. and all we'd have to do is flip a light on and they would take off. But you don't want to leave outside lights on all the time because then the bear would get used to that. But then again, when the bulb burned out you'd know it because the bear would come knock on your door and say "hey what's up with the lighting? I'm trying to work here."
What a Brut! I was wondering too about motion sensor lights? But, also you DO have a lot of critters, would the lights be constantly tripped then?
I looked for bear deterrent tips on the internet but a roomful of chicks would be unbearably enticing to a hungry bear, I'd think. I hope your "Southern" (ha ha) pot tops do the trick.
We ran black bears out of our area decades ago, so, of course, I'd give anything to have one in my yard. :o) Good luck with your visitor.
And sorry about the brakes! :o(
It was so great to see you and Wayne this weekend- I hope you guys had a very successful show! :)
I don't know what would work for the bear, but do you have a tractor supply place or outdoor store close to you? I know that they sell deer deterrent liquid (if they're getting into your garden or somesuch) and I would think that they would sell something similar to help ward off bears.
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