At 08:47 PM 6/7/96 +0000, you wrote:
>
> Much has been written about electric fences, and I don't plan on
> recapping all of that. There are many excellent products on the
> fencing market that will deter a bear who just *happens* onto an
> apiary. The best possible fencing option for the hobbyist who has
> his hives in the backyard, reasonably close to 120V is to buy an AC
> livestock fencer (the ole weed burner). These products produce a great
> "bang for the buck" and provide a pulsing charge that will continue to
> zap for as long as there is contact with it.
>
> For the large numbers of bee keeps that have hives remotely located
> there are battery powered or solar powered electric fence units. There
> is much who-hah about how many volts these units produce to which I
> reply "so what?". The property that you're going after here is current
> flow. I confess that I don't know what the amperage is of these DC
units
> (or the AC ones either), but I do know that it can't be a large amount.
>
> The old saying is voltage will get your attention, but its the current
> that kills you. Electro Static Discharge (static electricity)
> is generated in 10's of thousand's of volts (a typical shock from the
> carpet in your house with an excellent generator like wool socks will
> generate 8000-10000 volts charge), but the current flow is very small
> so you don't die you just yell DAMN!!!! Much the same as if you came in
> contact with an electric fence. But I digress.
>
> The bad news about charged DC fences is that once they have discharged
> there is a time factor to consider before the fence is ready to zap
> again. Batteries are, after all great big honkin capacitors, and
>capacitors
> can hold a tremendous charge, but once its gone, time is required to
>build
> the charge back to the previous level. Bears are much faster than this
> time factor.
>
> As I mentioned above, none of these measures will stop a bear who knows
> what a treat is held in those hives and is hungry and/or determined
> enough to get to them.
>
> Another measure that has been tried is live-trapping and transporting
> out of the area. This is extremely costly, is usually done by the
> state fish and game and is difficult to coordinate. And it doesn't
> always work. The bear's grazing range is huge, and I have read stories
> where a bear was taken 100 miles, tagged and released and still
>returned
> to the same hives two weeks later!
>
> Something that I have wanted to try that is popular up here (NE VT) is
> to have the local hunters run the bear with their huntings dogs. This
> practice is done to train the dogs and the bear is not physically
>harmed
> (just treed and scared half to death!) and seems an effective way to
> discourage the bear from returning to the area where the dogs found
>him.
> Bears HATE dogs. I have asked the game warden to put me in touch with
> one of these guys, but it hasn't happened yet.
>
> I guess none of what I've said paints a very rosy picture if you've had
> bears attack your hives and are trying to figure out a way to stop
them.
> I'm sorry I can't give a definitive solution to this problem.
>
> My own method of dealing with bears is not something which can be mass-
> marketed. I have my hives approx 75' from a breaker box that serves my
> poultry coops. My original design was to wire a 30amp breaker with #10
> romex and then connect the neutral lead to one sheet of metal
>roofing and
> the hot lead to another sheet of roofing. the neutral plate goes on the
> ground in front and behind the hives (kept isolated from the earth by
> 6x6's) and the hot plate goes on top of the hives. The theory is
>that the
> bear must step on the neutral plate to reach the hives. When he
>reaches to
> push the hive over he completes the circuit....and BANGO!!!! I can't
> report on the effectiveness of this because I have yet to zap even one
> hapless bruin with this method. Just yesterday I changed my layout to
> be less cumbersome by setting up a typical fence line around the
>hives, but
> I used #12awg bear (pun inteded) copper as my fencing, connected to the
> #10 romex and the 30amp breaker. This should also be an effective
>deterrent.
> A bit sadistic perhaps, but probably effective. Obviously, this set-up
> could not be used in a more populated area where someone may wander
>into it
> or anyplace where there be small children or large pets. I only
>energize my
> 'fence' during night hours, when bear attacks are most likely.
>
> Well that's all folks. I apoligize to the bw police. I know this is
>long.
> I hope this info is of some help.
>
> Reference: Bee Culture magazine, March 1996
>Tim Peters, Kirby VT
>[log in to unmask]
>KirBee Apiary, Bear Bait Honey
>I rather be flying!
>
Hi Tim
Did you know that your car is capable of approximately 6000 revolutions pre
minute and that the plugs fire at half that rate? Did you also know that a
capacitor discharge ignition system is used to furnish those 50,000volt
pulses 3000 times a minute? And did you know that this is also the same
system used in fence chargers? The main difference is that fence chargers
are designed to work slower to make the battery last longer. The old brush
burner type fence chargers are very hard to find because they tend to start
fires and their sale is forbidden in most states. Also most fence chargers
only use about 6000 volts. If you really want to deter bears, go to an
auto parts store and get a high performance electronic ignition system and
take to your local community college and have them design a trigger circuit
for about 2 to 3 thousand pulses per minute and mount the whole thing in a
weather proof box. Believe me, 50,000 volt 2000 times per min. will deter
the most determined bear.
Now the main reason I' replying to your post is that you are suggesting
using household AC voltage and current to deter bears. These voltages kill
more people in the US each year than all others combined. It only takes 1/2
amp of current through your heart to kill.. 120 VAC and 240 VAC is not high
enough to knock human loose form the contact but does cause muscle
contraction. At this point the human body is electrocuted. Now is someone
stagers into your bear trap at night by mistake, you are going to have a
dead person on your hand, make no mistake about it. This is not something
I would not want on my conscience.
Frank Humphrey
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Franklin D. Humphrey Sr.
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