Hello Gang,

Last week a bear paid me a visit and demolished one hive and
damaged another. This is not unusual by any means here in
Grafton county NH where the black bear population has tripled
in the past ten years.

As luck would have it we were away for the weekend and it rained
hard on the remaining bees lying in the open. I scooped up what was
left and pulled a frame of brood with eggs from another hive and
ordered a new queen for this patched  up colony.

Still there is nothing unusual so far.

This is a smart bear, I found and insulated fence wire unhooked
from the electrified fence and left on the ground. The wire was
at bear nose height. It makes me wonder about just where he was
while I opened the gate during hive visits?

No, I did not leave the wire on the ground myself, thus inviting
the attack. The wires were in their place, closing up the fence.
The insulators have been replaced with bare metal springs.
I also took this opportunity to bring up to seven, the number of wires
on the fence. The fence is about five feet high with wires about eight
inches apart.

I am also replacing the oak survey stakes with metal ones to hold the
corners fast. This will allow me to tighten up the fence tension as the
summer heat expands the metal wire causing a slight droop as well as a
loose fitting gate spring. I'm about half done with the job now.
The corner posts were 3/8 inch fiberglass rods and are being replaced
with 5/8 fiberglass rods. They are much stiffer and will allow the fence
to be physically stronger.

I bought a new fence energizer too. The old one was a Parmak, which is
advertised to shock through weeds, not so! There were some blades of
grass touching the bottom wire, and not much of it either.
I'd say about 25 feet of fence had some grass touching it. This caused
the Parmak unit to degrade to 2.9 kilo volts. After cutting the grass
the voltage came up to 3.5 kilo volts.

The new energizer is a Speedrite and puts out 6.6 kilo volts from a
New Zealand style fencer, on the same battery that had the Parmak on
it. Good things do come in little packages.

The fence has been properly baited with bacon, and the fence energizer
is in the fast mode, recommended for training animals to what the fence
is all about. I thought that I had done a good job on the fence initially.
But now, after the enhancements, I am certain that this fence is indeed
improved. Live and learn.


Grist Mill Apiary

Ernie Gregoire

Canaan, NH. USA


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05/31/99 19:33:24