Hi Justin,

I look at bear fences as insurance. You insure things you can’t afford to lose.

Electric fencers are best rated by joules, not miles of fencing. The number of joules needed depends on ground moisture - with dry ground you need more joules. 

You can compensate for dry ground by placing wire mesh on the ground outside the fence. I do this when placing bees in fireweed. I get discard rolls of stucco mesh from a factory that makes the stuff. The mesh size is two inches by one inch. Rolls are four feet wide and I cut them in half . I place the two foot wide strip around the fence where the bear is likely to stand and ground the mesh back to the fencer. The fencer is also grounded to a six foot galvanized ground rod that is driven five and a half feet into the ground.

For temporary yards I use flexinet fences. This is four foot high fence is made of four inch squares of poly strands.  Only the horizontal poly strands have stainless steel wire imbedded in them so only they are electrified. You can use part of the fence and leave the rest rolled up. The posts have a four inch spike on their bottom that you stick into the ground for support. You need to anchor the corners. Flexinets are 160 feet long and cost about $120. One drawback with flexinets is that the bottom wire is only four inches off the ground so will short out quickly if you have growing vegetation. Experts recommend the bottom wire of a bear fence be eight inches off the ground.

I also use a 12 volt deep cycle battery with solar charger to power the fencer.  

Solar chargers are rated by watts  - although I’m not exactly sure what a watt is. In my experience you need a five watt solar panel to keep the battery charged when it is powering a one joule fencer; ten watt panel for two joules and fifteen watt panel for three joules.

If you want to sleep peacefully at night without dreams of a bear whacking all your hives into kindling I would go with a three joule fencer ($350), a fifteen watt solar panel with the proper gizmo to keep it from overcharging your battery ($180), a 12 volt battery ($100) and a flexi net ($120). Prices in Canadian $$ and vary depending on brands. Total $750 - less than the price of two beehives these days. 

You asked about killing small animals with an electric fence. I have found the odd toad shocked to death but nothing bigger. And I’m sure the toad was up to no good.

Eat the bacon grease. I have never been a fan of the bacon grease/ punctured-can-of-sardines trick. In my experience bears are cautious and sniff the fence under normal circumstances before trying to climb over or go under. Luring them in from a mile off seems kinda risky to me. If the fence is working and the bear hasn’t already encountered the thrill of eating a beehive, an electric shock will cure his curiosity. If the fence quits for some reason and you lure them in with cooked pork and dead fish…..did I mention that nightmare?

One final tip is to make sure you have at least six feet between any hive and the fence. Ten feet is better.

 Ted   

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