# Chickens and bees?



## jrbbees (Apr 4, 2010)

Use the search tool and search 'chicken' and 'chickens'.

The same wires could cover both areas but you don't want the hive in the chicken run.


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## Acebird (Mar 17, 2011)

> The same wires could cover both areas but you don't want the hive in the chicken run.


Why? Ours is. chickens will eat dead bees not live bees. They are a great partners because they will dig up all the bugs and beatle larve around the hive.


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## Tia (Nov 19, 2003)

My bees are in my chicken run and I have two other friends who keep their bees in the chicken run as well. I did have a serious confrontation once when I was moving a laying worker hive that had turned nasty, and actually lost a couple of hens from stings! So now I do lock the hens in the coop on the days I'll be working the bees just to play it safe. But there have been no incidences prior or since then. The hens will even jump up and sit on the hivestand between the hives with no problem. They also do a lot of scratching under the hives and the optimist in me says they're diggin' up and eating SHB larva!


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## Birds (Mar 28, 2011)

Birds said:


> Hi,
> I am setting two hives up this spring. In my area we will most definitely have to protect our hives from black bears. I am trying to come up with a plan to perhaps make use of the same general area that the chicken coop will occupy beside the garden. Does anyone ever keep bees near chickens. Please forgive me if this is a real crazy idea due to the chickens' obvious delight in eating bugs. I was just wondering if there was any way to utilize the same area and enclose the whole thing with the electrified fence. It would be nice to keep the bears away from the coop too.


What about the very high(5000-7000) volt electric fence?


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## 1littlefarmer (Nov 26, 2009)

I actually put our hives on top of the coop and it seems to work pretty well. The footprint of the coop is about 16'x20' so there's plenty of room to move around them (without falling off!).


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## Ted Kretschmann (Feb 2, 2011)

You beekeepers will be all right as long as your bees stay EHBs and not Africanized. Africanized honey bees for some strange reason like to sting chickens to death. It got so out of hand in Mexico, that the natives would call it the "chicken test" for AHB's. So if alot of chickens were killed, they knew their bees were Africanized. TK


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## mrsl (Apr 21, 2010)

My bees and chickens are fairly close to each other (within 30 yards or so), and I've not had any problems. I wouldn't put them close together if the chickens are confined to a small area though; they need room to run away if the bees have a bad day (same applies for any animals around a bee yard).


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## Birds (Mar 28, 2011)

I have read the "Bee Keeping for Dummies", and done extensive online research. I've watched You Tube and listened to several podcasts relating to beekeeping. I have gained much understanding but never yet had this topic addressed so I welcome any and all insight!


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## tommyt (Aug 7, 2010)

The chickens are good with bees they will even clean out bad comb
they pick it clean

They will leave if the bees buzz them

Tommyt


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

I've had free range chickens and bees for 36 years with no issues.


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## Powerbee (Mar 25, 2011)

The people at Zareba told me to use a high voltage, low impedence electric for bears. 

Rather than alternating ground and hot wires on posts, local keepers and F&G recommended baiting the fence with bacon, with the current passing mouth to feet/ground rather than trying to penetrate fur. The idea is not physically keeping the bears out, but adverse conditioning to the area instead. A visitor's dog tried the bacon one day, yelped, ran and hid in the truck, so I guess if it works with dogs...

The baiting becomes a possible problem, since the chickens would probably peck the bacon, and with a fence charge meant for bear, a little bird might not fare so well.


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## Scrapfe (Jul 25, 2008)

Powerbee said:


> ... The idea is not physically keeping the bears out, but adverse conditioning to the area... A visitor's dog tried the bacon one day, yelped, ran and hid in the truck...


I built a temporary one wire electric fence twenty feet inside my pasture then I bull dozed the over grown pasture fence to make way for a new web wire fence. I fed my cattle every day and my pureblooded Yeller dog, Bob always accompanied me. 

When Bob jumped down from the truck bed he followed me past where the old web wire fence once was. I stepped over the temporary electric fence but when Bob followed me he touched the wire with his neck or back.

For the next six or seven years or as long as he lived, Bob would never cross the line where that electric fence once was. Bob still accompanied me to feed but he would go all the way around the pasture maybe 3/4 mile out of his way and crawl under the web fence at a water gap in back. This is the reaction you want bears to have. You want them to avoid the area, and not learn to just avoid the wire.

Now when returning to the truck, Bob never showed the least bit of fear crossing (in the opposite direction) the line where the temporary electric fence once was. I suspect you would be best served by "bacon baiting bears" on all three or four legs of an anti-bear fence. Then repeat every year or as needed to school young bears. Remember, salty bacon conducts electricity better than plain or smoked bacon.


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## Gord (Feb 8, 2011)

Don't worry about electrocuting your chickens.
I put an electric fencer (a big one) along the top of a fence to stop the squirrels from jumping onto my house from the adjacent fence. One day a huge squirrel jumped onto the fence. I waited, and the squirrel did the most awesome backflip! It made my day.
He came back another day, but never climbed the fence again.


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## ptwat (May 1, 2008)

tommyt said:


> The chickens are good with bees they will even clean out bad comb
> they pick it clean
> 
> They will leave if the bees buzz them
> ...


How do they know the difference between good and bad comb?


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## Powerbee (Mar 25, 2011)

But a squirrel standing on a fence is not grounded like a chicken in the yard would be. Thats why birds can sit and squirrels can run on overhead wires, no ground. Its only an issue when they cross over from the live wire to a ground. Zap!

I got beared badly my first year with no electric fence. He destroyed 6 hives over 4 nights, and came back looking for more for the next 2 weeks. Avoided the F&G trap, I actually think he scratched himself against it, judging by prints in the snow. 

My bear fence is 3 wires, first about 10" off ground, next 8-10" above that, and then again 8"-10". The highest wire is less than 3' off the ground. Like I said, its not supposed to create a physical barrier, and bears aren't know for jumping. I'm looking for nose/mouth level to elicit a bite.

I keep bees, but not chickens yet, so I'm just speaking on concerns, not experience. I also worked for the electric utility for many years and saw countless animals after high voltage contact. I know birds like suet, which is nothing more than animal fat, like bacon. I watched little birds peck away at my bear bait all winter, standing on the wires. Chickens stamnding on the ground, I'm not so sure. 

If anyone has more, I'd love more info on chickens and electric fences.


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## CapnChkn (Jun 23, 2010)

I like sudden fried chicken.


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## Tia (Nov 19, 2003)

Wildlife folks told me not to use bacon since that would attract other animals we might not want to harm. Rather, he suggested that I spread strips of aluminum foil with peanut butter and then fold the strips over so the peanut butter is inside so the bear has to bite into the aluminum foil to get at it. To avoid the chickens pecking it, hang it at bear height.


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## Cris (Mar 10, 2011)

capnchkn said:


> i like sudden fried chicken.


ftw!


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## VanBeek in MI (Dec 9, 2008)

I have a fairly large chicken yard from fall to late spring, (I use chickens to clean up my garden after the growing season).
I have hives in the garden as well with no problems at all, they seam to get along very well.

Jim


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## Acebird (Mar 17, 2011)

> (I use chickens to clean up my garden after the growing season).


We tried that but they dig up all the garlic. They won't eat it but they uproot it all. Now we just throw them what is left after the bees are done with the broccoli.


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## VanBeek in MI (Dec 9, 2008)

Acebird said:


> We tried that but they dig up all the garlic. They won't eat it but they uproot it all. Now we just throw them what is left after the bees are done with the broccoli.


We just put up a "sloppy" chicken wire fence around what we don't want them getting into. They sure keep the weeds down and I'm sure they eat a lot of seeds left over after fall clean up.


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