Jerry wrote: >I have the >luxury of keeping our research hives on elevated stands - which also >completely eliminates skunk problems - they don't climb nor jump well. As long as >the stand is taller than the skunk, never have a problem. Barricades, >pepper, tack strips - none of these work reliably, and our main yard is by >the river. We've lots of skunks. I use a mesh electric fence, the kind usually advertised as a portable pasture fence for sheep (typically eight strands and 3 ft / 1 m tall), and a solar charger. Besides keeping the bears out, it also keeps the skunks out. I have a large population here (sometimes the smell wafts thru the house on a summer night and is overpowering), and have live-trapped many, when I was keeping chickens. The large spoor around the perimeter of the fence I assume is bear, the smaller spoor I assume is skunk. They dig up the grubs all over the yard, right up to the fence, but I have never seen any signs of scratching or other damage on my hives, as long as the fence is up and working. Bill *********************************************** The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html Guidelines for posting to BEE-L can be found at: http://honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm